Converse, Benjamin
Primary Appointment
Associate Professor of Public Policy & Psychology, Psychology
Contact Information
Telephone: 243-2885
Email: bac5w@virginia.edu
Website: https://pages.shanti.virginia.edu/Benjamin_A_Converse/
Research Disciplines
Psychology, Public Policy
Research Interests
goal pursuit and motivation; social judgment; behavioral decision making; cooperation and competition
Research Description
goal pursuit and motivation; social judgment; behavioral decision making; cooperation and competition
UNLEASH (Undergraduate Research)
Work in our lab revolves around goal pursuit and decision-making, across individual-, cooperative-, and competitive environments. For example, how do people evaluate their helpers and their rivals? Does the way people think about their rivals affect their style of competition or their motivation to win? What factors influence people’s emotional and behavioral responses to receiving help from others? More generally, we examine the consequences of motivation and decision-making in contexts as diverse as voting behavior, academic motivation, and consumer decision making. We conduct lab experiments, field studies, and online studies, and make an effort to extend our investigations beyond undergraduate samples to also include community samples and specialized samples such as professional organizations.
RAs will have the opportunity to participate in weekly lab meetings and many phases of the research process, including preparing and conducting experiments and surveys, managing study data, and working with the research team to refine experimental procedures. As RAs become more experienced in the lab, there will be opportunities to take a more advanced role in the research process.
Contact: Annalisa Myer: am7mv@virginia.edu