A Bit About Me

I am a professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management and Department of Psychology. If there is a theme throughout what I do, I seek to build a better us, mainly by understanding how we can improve cooperation based on what we are discovering about the psychology of ingroups and outgroups. 
 

If you wish to learn more about my current thoughts, feel free to follow me on twitter or LinkedIn.  For more about my academic history, publication list, research, and teaching, see my curriculum vitae (CV). You can also download biographies I have put together to introduce me to general audiences or academic ones. 

Personal interests: Skiing, dogs, exploring, travel, southern cooking, laughing.  

Research history: My interest in studying human effectiveness originates with an interest in the self; at university, I decided that core human experiences of inspiration, talent, success, and leadership find their home in how people see themselves. The mentors I had along the way helped flourish and guide my research interests. At the University of North Carolina, Constantine Sedikides'class on the self and his tutelage throughout the honors thesis process motivated me to study the self through the lens of social psychology. At the Ohio State University, where I received my Ph.D. in social psychology, I worked with Marilynn Brewer and Bob Arkin on the role of self-perception in group processes and personal performance. In collaboration with these fine people, I studied optimal distinctiveness theory, implicit theories of intelligence, and self-assessments of ability. In 2002, I left for the Kellogg School of Management where I investigated self-perception in negotiations and dispute resolution, joining the Rotman School in 2004.