David Sherman and his lab conduct research dedicated to advancing our understanding of how people cope with threatening events and information, and to developing psychologically-grounded interventions for pervasive social issues.
Members
Principal Investigator
Graduate Students
Connor Gibbs researches how we respond to various forms of transition (including leaving military service, entering a new profession, and changes in structure/control).
Hana Lee is interested in how individuals respond to climate change in various social contexts. Her recent work focuses on the effects of social exclusion, such as experiences of ostracism, on pro-environmental behavior.
Jungbin's research interests broadly concern the influence of social narratives and norms in the formation of self-defensive attitudes in contentious social issues. His research will focus on exploring interventions aimed at mitigating defensiveness to motivate individuals to be more open to information that may challenge their initial opinions.
Devlin O'Keefe is interested in behavioral responses to the impacts of climate change and personal health risks, specifically focusing on designing social interventions to increase protective behaviors. As a 2035 Initiative Fellow, Devlin will help to design effective campaigns to promote policy and increase climate protective behaviors.
Alumni
Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Psychology
Postdoctoral and Visiting Scholar, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2010 - 2014
Assistant Professor, Social Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Ph.D., Social Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2015
Lab Manager, STEPP Lab, Boston University College of Health
M.A., University of California Santa Barbara
Research Scientist, Sea Change Institute
Ph.D., Social Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2018
Assistant Professor, Singapore Management University
Ph.D., Social Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2018
In her psychological research at UCSB, Michelle studied the ways that experiencing extreme weather influences people's climate change beliefs, policy support, and behavior, using a variety of methods including analyzing search patterns on Google Trends, conducting a survey with a large online sample selected to be representative of the U.S. population, conducting a field experiment in Montecito, California after the debris flows occurred, and conducting a field experiment with citizen climate lobbyists in Washington, D.C.
Postdoctoral Scholar, UCSF School of Medicine
Ph.D., Social Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2015
Suyi is primarily interested in examining the influence of culture on addressing collective action problems (CAPs), such as public health and climate change crises. Specifically, her dissertation research maintained that collectivism would facilitate the process of addressing CAPS, as more collectivistic individuals tend to be more other-oriented, susceptible to the influences of social norms, and place greater trust in authorities.
Maître de conférences en psychologie sociale, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne / Laboratoire Cognition, Santé, Socialisation
Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2011-2013