MECC Lab Cluster

Culture and Cognition Lab: We are interested in examining the mutual interactions between the functioning of indivdiual minds and widely shared beliefs and their material effects, that is cultures. Research in the lab spans a wide range of topics, including cultural variablity and universality in cognition, the psychological foundations of culture, and religious cognition.

Social Cognition Laboratory: Our research addresses questions about how people think about other people, and the implications that these cognitions have for social behavior. In a lot of work, we draw on an evolutionary perspective to deduce - and then test - hypotheses about these social psychological processes. In some of our research, we examine additional cultural consequences of these psychological processes.

Culture and Self Lab: Our lab is currently working on three distinct research programs, which we refer to as Cultural Psychology - what psychological processes are universal to all, and what processes are largely limited to certain cultural groups?, Meaning Maintenance - exploring how people strive to maintain a sense of meaning in their lives when they encounter anomalies which they are unable to make any sense of, and Genetic Essentialism - considering how people understand essences and genetic foundations for human behavior.

Culture, Cognition and Coevolution Lab : Our research program aims to construct a vertically integrated approach to culture and cultural evolution that synthesizes theory and methods from across the sciences, particularly from psychology, economics, biology, and anthropology.