Assistant Professor of Psychology · Soka University
I study how aesthetic experiences (e.g., music, art, and everyday beauty) impact social cognition and mind perception.
I have a PhD in Psychology from UC San Diego, a masters in music from Oxford University, and bachelors degrees in Cognitive Science and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. (Fun fact: I also worked in finance for seven years!)
Many activities are pursued for their own sake, motivated by beauty or enjoyment rather than a functional goal. I study the judgments we make about others who are intrinsically motivated by beauty, finding that aesthetic motivation signals heightened emotional capacity and prosocial tendencies. This work has been funded by the GRAMMY Museum Foundation and the CARTA Institute.
Selected Publications
Life's most meaningful interpersonal moments involve social emotions like being moved, awe, and tenderness. Surprisingly, these same emotions are also evoked by abstract art forms in non-interpersonal scenarios. I explore the role self-transcendent emotions play in the link between aesthetic engagement and prosociality. This work is supported by the Pacific Basin Research Center.
Selected Publications
Music is a particularly important aesthetic domain because of its ubiquity. In work funded by the GRAMMY Museum Foundation, we find that observing others' musicality impacts moral judgments. People judge musical entities (humans and animals) as more wrong to harm, because musicality signals a richer emotional and mental life. We also show that this can be leveraged to reducing dehumanization and prejudice toward marginalized groups (e.g. people in prison), and improving moral attitudes toward animals.
Selected Publications
Without conscious thought, listeners link events in the world to sounds they hear. We study one surprising example: people can judge the temperature of water simply from hearing it being poured. Our findings with adults and children suggest that experience and perceptual learning play a key role in this ability.
Selected Publications
View full list on Google Scholar →
Research Assistant
I am an undergraduate liberal arts student concentrating in Social and Behavioral Science at Soka University of America. I have taken multiple psychology courses, which have allowed me to deepen my interest in the complexity of the human mind - and I aspire to be a psychologist now. Specifically, I am interested in how early different educational styles affect children's long-term well-being. In my free time, I love walking around campus and reading Japanese literature.
Research Assistant
Hi! I am an undergraduate student concentrating in Social and Behavioral Sciences at Soka University of America. I am passionate about children's development and hope to pursue a career in developmental psychology to better understand how children grow and the factors that influence their behaviors. In my free time, I enjoy staying active, playing sports, and going to the beach!
Research Assistant
Hi! I'm a psychology undergraduate at Soka University of America. I am interested in the intersection of psychology and education, particularly how insights from educational psychology can enhance curriculum design. Apart from school, I enjoy watching anime, playing taiko, and traveling to new places.
Research Assistant
My name is Kamoho Chan and I am a Native Hawaiian undergraduate at Soka University of America studying Social Science, specifically psychology and political science. I take pride in my native tongue, diverse views, and family. I am interested in family law and child developmental psychology. My favorite food is sushi and in my free time I love to play volleyball and make ceramics with some friends.
I welcome undergraduate students who want to gain research experience. Research assistants help with all phases of the research, and I work with you to tailor the experience to your educational goals. To apply, please email me with your CV or resume, a brief statement of your research interests, and your availability (hours per week, semesters).
I am passionate about working with students to show them that psychology is ultimately the study of their own wonderfully complex minds and experiences. I love teaching them to approach science from multiple perspectives, and equip them with the tools needed for genuinely interdisciplinary conversations that balance open-mindedness and critical thinking.
I had a lot of help making these syllabi, and would love to pay it forward! Please email me if you would like to see more details like readings, slides, quizzes, etc.