About

I am a social psychologist who studies culture, morality, and human diversity. My work asks how people come to understand right and wrong, why moral values vary across societies and historical periods, and how culture shapes the ways people judge, cooperate, disagree, and sometimes divide the world into “us” and “them.”

My research takes a cultural-evolutionary approach to morality. I study how moral values and social norms emerge, spread, persist, and change across time and space. Some of this work examines how people perceive moral transgressions in social contexts; how moral alignment can strengthen group bonds while also fueling prejudice in radicalized networks; and how cultural dimensions such as individualism, collectivism, and honor shape moral judgment and behavior. My work has also examined how artificial intelligence and large language models represent human psychology—and when these systems distort, stereotype, or compress the diversity of real populations.

I am also committed to making academia more open, humane, and inclusive. I especially welcome students and collaborators who are interested in culture, morality, historical psychology, and the social implications of AI. If you are curious about graduate school, research, or academic life more broadly, please feel free to reach out. 

Outside of research, I am NOT interested in rock climbing, hiking, or camping. I prefer to hang out with friends, watch old European movies, or read Persian poetry.