I am an Associate Professor of Political Science at Brigham Young University, and also Program Coordinator for the Middle Eastern Studies/Arabic program in the Kennedy Center for International Studies.
As a political psychologist, I conduct research exploring the the micromotives of interpersonal and intergroup aggression, with a focus on identifying tools for prejudice reduction. My current research focuses on the role of affect and emotion in motivating change and on the use of artificial intelligence, in particular large-scale language models, to explore human psychology.
Interests
- Intergroup Cooperation and Conflict
- Affect and Emotion
- Prejudice Reduction
- Persuasion and Motivation
Education
- PhD in Political Science, 2011
University of Michigan—Ann Arbor - M.A in Middle Eastern Studies-Political Science, 2005
University of Utah - Fellow at the Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA), 2003-2004
American University in Cario, Egypt - B.A in Near Eastern Studies-Arabic, 2002
Brigham Young University