Research
My research examines how people make legal decisions—and whether those decisions align with the assumptions embedded in law. I use social-cognitive psychology theories and experimental methods to investigate questions at the intersection of psychology, law, and public policy, with a particular focus on Fourth Amendment doctrine and privacy.
My dissertation examines legal decision-making in cases where abortion is criminalized following Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022). I’m investigating how judges, police, prosecutors, medical professionals, and jurors distinguish pregnancy losses from suspected abortions—and how remaining constitutional protections, including Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures, operate in this new legal landscape.
Much of my research investigates how cognitive biases affect legal judgments about searches and seizures. Courts often require decision-makers to evaluate police conduct based only on what was known before a search—but decades of psychology research shows that outcome knowledge distorts judgments of the past. My work has found that hindsight bias may be especially pronounced when officers discover evidence they didn’t expect, and that judges and laypeople show different susceptibility patterns. These findings have implications for how courts evaluate searches and for how researchers design studies on legal decision-making.
I’ve also examined why people consent to police searches even when they possess contraband—using both vignette studies and an in-person experimental paradigm where participants are placed in situations that encourage cheating and then asked to consent to a search. Related work examines privacy expectations for electronic communications, social media searches, and cell phone data, exploring how sharing decisions and platform-specific privacy settings should inform Fourth Amendment analysis.
My research interests extend beyond the Fourth Amendment to juror decision-making, expert testimony, digital contract terms of service, computer-mediated crimes, and the Electoral College.
Teaching
Courses I’ve taught, workshops I lead, and guest lectures on psychology, law, and research methods.
Blog-ish
Hodge-podge of notes, tutorials, and things I’ve figured out (mostly for my own reference, but occasionally useful to others).
