Research Interests Profile in my CV

My research interests span a broad range of topics in social psychology including culture (both as phenomena to be explained as well as a causal factor of social behavior), gender, sexism and politics. During my PhD, I have developed an increasing interest in studying ‘culture’ as phenomena to be explained; that is, how certain cultural norms develop and come to be accepted by the members of a given group/society, why they change over time, and what insights they give us about human psychology. For instance, why do norms of chivalry still operate in our culture, prescribing men to act courteous and protective towards women, and women to accept such treatment from men? Why do some societies still operate with codes of honor, and retaliation and aggressive reactions to offenses are considered appropriate behavior? What are the individual-level psychological mechanisms and social conditions that contribute to the genesis and transmission of these cultural trends? And how do cultural norms are implicated in various individual and collective behavior? These are some of the questions I am passionate about finding out the answers for, and expanding our understanding of human psychology.