How do culture and history change how people think?
I am an assistant professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. This is my personal website. I am also a Co-PI of the Chicago Culture Lab, and you can find our lab website here.
In July 2026, I will be moving to Harvard University, where I will be an assistant professor in the psychology department.
My research focuses on the intersection of cultural evolution and psychology. I study how people’s psychologies change as societies become larger, more diverse, more economically developed, and more connected to each other. I have applied this lens to many different societal changes—from early state formation to the modern rise of robotics and social media—and many different psychological processes—from moral psychology, to emotion, to belief systems. Underlying all these studies is a deeper interest in how our minds adapt to a rapidly changing world.
In the “Research” tab of this website, you can read more of my papers, broken down into papers that have have (a) tested basic questions about the cultural evolution of the mind, (b) developed methods of studying cultural evolution, and (c) shown how basic findings about cultural variation could have implications for policy and inter-group relations. You can find this research in the “Research” tab.
You can also find my biography on this website in the “About” tab, job opportunities and mentorship information in the “Collaborate” tab, and a list of popular press articles that I have written in the “Popular Press” tab. You can also find my CV in the “Vita” tab.