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Wendy Johnson
University of Edinburgh, UK http://www.psy.ed.ac.uk/people/view.php?name=wendy-johnson What does your research focus on? My research explores how genetic and environmental influences transact to shape the way people move through their lives and become the varied individuals we see around us. This is really broad, I know. I’m particularly interested in cognitive ability, how it develops in childhood, why and how it varies so much among individuals, what it is in the brain, how people use it or don’t, how it is integrated with personality and emotional expression, how it is shaped during education, and how it changes in old age.
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Aarti Iyer
University of Queensland, Australia http://www.psy.uq.edu.au/directory/index.html?id=1239 What does your research focus on? In one line of research, I investigate people’s emotional responses to inequality and injustice, and the ways in which these emotions predict distinct political attitudes and behaviors. I also study institutional efforts to address inequality (e.g. affirmative action), focusing on beneficiaries’ and non-beneficiaries’ emotional and political responses to these programs. In a third line of work, I examine the ways in which identity change processes shape people’s experiences of life transitions. What drew you to this line of research? Why is it exciting to you?
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Yong He
National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, China http://psychbrain.bnu.edu.cn/teachcms/heyong.htm What does your research focus on? Much of my research focuses on the methodology and applications of the human brain connectome by using non-invasive neuroimaging techniques, including structural MRI, diffusion MRI and resting-state fMRI. Specifically, I am interested in (1) exploring the relation between brain structural and functional connectivity and personal behaviors, and (2) studying abnormal connectivity patterns in neurological and psychiatric diseases. What drew you to this line of research? Why is it exciting to you?
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Karen Gonsalkorale
The University of Sydney, Australia http://www.psych.usyd.edu.au/staff/kareng/ What does your research focus on? My research interests are in the areas of social cognition, intergroup relations, and stereotyping and prejudice. I’m currently exploring the ways in which people think about their social groups and how these cognitions influence intergroup relations. Other research focuses on intergroup biases that people may not personally endorse or even be aware of having. I’m interested in what causes these biases, whether people can control them, and how they influence behaviour toward members of other groups. What drew you to this line of research? Why is it exciting to you?
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Hal E. Hershfield
Stern School of Business, New York University, USA http://people.stern.nyu.edu/hhershfi/ What does your research focus on? Broadly, I study the ways that thinking about time can transform the emotions people feel and alter the judgments and decisions that they make. Within this framework, I have carried out two related lines of research. First, I study the role that considerations of the future play in guiding emotional experience and directing decision-making. In this vein, I have studied how an awareness of imminent endings (a) gives rise to a mixture of happiness and sadness and (b) directs one’s attention and even one’s gaze toward positive information.
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Lisa DeBruine
University of Aberdeen, UK http://facelab.org What does your research focus on? Interpreting a wide range of signals from the face is at the center of social interaction. My original focus of research was on human kin recognition and how people respond to facial resemblance. As predicted by biological theories of inclusive fitness and inbreeding, I find that people perceive computer-generated facial resemblance as “trustworthy, but not lust-worthy”.
