Research
While earning my Ph.D. in Educational Psychology (Applied Cognition and Development) at the University of Georgia, I researched how people think and feel about harming animals in specific ways (e.g. eating meat), and how to change these thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. I am also interested in researching how digital media and educational technologies influence moral education through harm perception.Research Interests
- Moral Psychology and Moral Education about Animal Ethics
- Folk Beliefs about Animal Minds (Mind Perception of Animals)
- Moral Judgements and Moral Emotions (e.g. guilt) about Harming Animals
- Rationalizations for Harming Animals
- Relationship between Mind Perception of Animals and Moral Motivation to Harm Animals
- Moral Education through Digital Media and Educational Technologies
- Design Strategies for Influencing Moral Attitudes Through Harm Perception
- Hiding Harm through Dark Patterns
Research Methods
- Online Experiments
- Ethnography
Current Projects
- Animal Welfare Ontology
- I am starting to design an ontology for animal welfare so that farmers and food companies can have a standard schema for sharing information about animal welfare data during the food production process.
Past Projects
- Doctoral Dissertation
- The Influence of Beliefs about Animal Agency on Moral Judgments about Harming Animals I researched how beliefs about the minds of animals influence moral concern for harming them in terms of moral judgments, feelings of guilt, and behavioral intentions.
- Masters Thesis
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We the undersigned: anonymous dissent and the struggle for personal identity in online petitions I researched how online petitions functioned rhetorically.
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