Principal Investigator
Arber Tasimi
Arber is interested in the origins and development of morality. He joined the faculty at Emory in 2020 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford. Before that, he earned his PhD in Psychology at Yale and his BA in Psychology at UPenn. When Arber was a child, he spent a lot of time playing school with his sister. He still can't believe that he gets to work with, and learn from, all of the incredible people below!
Lab Manager
Kylee Novick
Kylee graduated from Emory University in 2022 with a BA in Psychology. She is interested in morality as it applies to social identity characteristics, the development of intergroup attitudes, and notions of punishment and justice. When she was younger, Kylee wanted to be a lab manager in a developmental psychology lab… or a veterinarian.
Graduate Students
Anastasiia Grigoreva
Broadly speaking, Anastasiia is interested in the how’s, why’s, and when’s of people’s tendencies to locate various entities within or outside the scope of their moral concern. She received her BA in Cognitive Science from Franklin & Marshall College and her MA in Philosophy from Georgia State University. When Anastasiia was a child, her parents would ask her “why” instead of telling her “no” whenever she tried to do something dumb. Typically, she would stop whatever she was doing in futile attempts to produce an answer. Anastasiia’s family blames this parenting technique for her subsequent decision to go to graduate school.
Lesenia Fish
Lesenia is interested in when moral concepts emerge and how they change throughout early childhood. One area she is excited to explore is how children think and feel about climate change and other social issues. She earned her B.S. in Psychology and Neurobiology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2018. She then worked with Dr. Sara Cordes at Boston College for a few years before beginning her PhD at Emory in 2022. While her background is in math cognition and STEM gender stereotypes, she is excited to work on projects related to morality. Beyond research, she enjoys cooking, baking, hiking, and bar trivia.
Undergraduate Students
M. Egberongbe
Lab Alumni
Thomas Costello
Tom graduated his Ph.D in Clinical Psychology in Spring 2022 and is now a post-doctoral fellow at MIT, working with David Rand.
Tom leverages the tools and expertise of personality psychology and clinical science to understand, measure, and statistically model the cognitive and personological causes and correlates of maladaptive political attitudes and behaviors (e.g., violence, extreme partisanship, authoritarianism). Tom received his BA in Psychology and Philosophy at Binghamton University (SUNY), where he was mentored by Steven Jay Lynn. He once hit a stand-up triple in little league, and it’s all been downhill from there.
Shauna Bowes
Shauna graduated his Ph.D in Clinical Psychology in Spring 2023 and is now a post-doctoral fellow at Vanderbilt, working with Lisa Fazio.
Shauna examines the intersection between dispositions and beliefs, focusing on intellectual humility, conspiratorial ideation, critical-thinking, and political and religious polarization. She leverages experimental and developmental paradigms to address how beliefs form and why they are maintained. She received her B.S. in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology from Emory University, where she was mentored by Scott Lilienfeld. When Shauna was young, she wanted to be a vet or a marine biologist (she loves all animals!). In her free time, she loves baking, going on walks, traveling, eating new foods, being with her 80 pound dog, watching reality TV, and reading fiction.