I’m a sociologist and social psychologist whose research tests interventions aimed at major societal challenges. Working across sociology, social psychology, political science, organizational behavior, and cognitive science, I focus on three areas: strengthening democracy, advancing social change, and applying AI for public benefit.

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Across this work, I combine causal research designs with practical implementation in real-world settings. I use experimental and computational methods to identify interventions that can improve institutions, public discourse, and collective well-being.

Through the Politics and Social Change Lab at Stanford, I study how political communication, public opinion, and institutional design can influence democratic functioning and social change. This includes work on democratic attitudes and norms, civic engagement, and support for structural democratic reforms, including large-scale projects such as the Strengthening Democracy Challenge and the Structural Democratic Reforms Project. I also examine political persuasion, public opinion, and the consequences of activist tactics, studying which messages, messengers, and movement strategies increase support for reform on issues such as economic inequality, public health, immigration, climate change, and political violence. 

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At Stanford, I also direct the AI for Public Benefit Lab, an interdisciplinary research collaborative that develops and tests AI tools for public and social-sector use. The lab combines advances in large language models and computational methods with social and behavioral science to improve forecasting of social behavior, design and evaluate tools for democratic participation and public service delivery, and identify and mitigate potential harms.

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I employ a diverse methodological toolkit, including survey and field experiments, computational analysis of large datasets, natural language processing, fMRI, social network analysis, and quasi-experimental designs. I collaborate with institutional and civic partners to pilot and scale interventions.

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I have consulted for or partnered with organizations on evidence-based communication, behavior change, and policy implementation, including the White House COVID-19 Response Team, the U.S. Surgeon General, the U.S. Department of Justice, Anthropic, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and two presidential campaigns.

I have published widely in disciplinary and general science journals, including Science, Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature Human Behaviour, American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Annual Review of Sociology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychological Science, Administrative Science Quarterly, and Organization Science.

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My writing on political persuasion, polarization, democracy, and elections has appeared in outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Scientific American, Los Angeles Times, CNN, and Vox. I have appeared on NBC Nightly News, PBS NewsHour, Morning Joe, Fox News, and NPR, and my research has been covered globally by more than 100 media outlets.

My 2017 TED talk, “How to Have Better Political Conversations,” has been viewed more than 3 million times. I regularly speak to academic, policy, philanthropic, and civic audiences, including at the Aspen Ideas Festival. For speaking engagements, I am represented by The Lavin Agency.

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Before joining Stanford, I was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where my course “Self and Society” was the highest-enrollment course at UC Berkeley and (on CourseRank) the university’s highest-rated course. In 2009, I received the Golden Apple, UC Berkeley’s only student-selected teaching award. I earned a PhD and MA in sociology from Cornell University and a BA in sociology from the University of Iowa. Before academia, I worked as a line cook, dishwasher, construction worker, pizza delivery driver, call center operator, and mover. I grew up in Kansas and South Carolina. My background continues to shape my interest in understanding how people from different walks of life view their lives, communities, and society, and my commitment to producing research that is rigorous, modest in its claims, and designed to generate evidence that people can use to improve their lives and the systems they rely on.