Jean Decety
Jean Decety (Ph.D. in Neuroscience, University Claude Bernard, France) is Irving B. Harris Professor of Psychology and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Chicago and the College. He is the Director of the Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab and the Child Neurosuite. His research relies on multilevel analyses and interdisciplinary perspectives. Jean highly values teaching as it encourages to think about the long road, and find meaningful links with other disciplines such as economics, education, mental health, sociology and political science.
email: decety [AT] uchicago.edu
For a list of Dr. Decety’s courses
Post doctoral scholars and graduate students
Mika Armenta
Prior joining the Integrative Neuroscience graduate program, Mika completed a B.A. in psychology and international studies at the University of New Mexico where she investigated the effects of cognitive-behavioral training and non-invasive brain stimulation on cognitive/affective processes. She has also worked on studies of human performance and visual cognition at Sandia National Laboratories. Mika is interested in understanding the ultimate causes and proximate mechanisms underlying revenge and forgiveness. She values an approach that integrates evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics to understand group social processes.
email: armenta [AT] uchicago.edu
Elizabeth Huppert
Elizabeth Huppert received a B.A. in psychology and classics from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. She then completed a M.A. degree at the University of Chicago, studying the effects of scarcity on moral judgment and behavior in adults. Now Elizabeth is examining the impact of resource shortage on children’s moral cognition, prosocial behavior, and concern with reputation. Additionally, she is investigating social decision-making and distributive justice in a cross-cultural project combining behavioral economics and developmental psychology in North and South America, Africa, Europe, Middle East, the Caribbean and Asia.
email: ehuppert [AT] uchicago.edu
Marisa Wakely
Marisa Wakely received her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from George Mason University. As an undergraduate she pursued research on impulsivity, and completed an honors thesis studying the effects of sleep deprivation on binge-eating. After her undergraduate studies, Marisa received a Master of Arts degree in the Social Sciences with a concentration in psychology at the University of Chicago, studying how individuals’ moral and financial status influences how they are perceived by others. Marisa joined the SCNL team as the Lab Manager.
email: mwakely [AT] uchicago.edu
Krystal Wang
Krystal is a graduate student in the Master of Arts Program in Social Science. She got a BA in psychology, econometrics and quantitative economics from the University of Rochester. Krystal is working on a project investigating socio-emotional processing, empathy, prosocial behavior, and their interaction with group dynamics and resource scarcity in young children.
email: xinzi [AT] uchicago.edu
Cliff Workman
Cliff Workman received his Ph.D. (Medicine) from the University of Manchester (United Kingdom) where he investigated the relationship of moral cognition and emotions to the physiopathology of major depression. Before, he completed a B.S. in psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, where he worked on studies of clinical, cognitive, and social functioning. After college, Cliff worked at Johns Hopkins University on neuroimaging studies of psychiatric disorders. He joined the SCNL in 2016 as a post-doctoral scholar to investigate the neurobiological and social bases of susceptibility to persuasion with terrorist propaganda.
Savannah Yerman
Savannah is a graduate student in the Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences. She received her B.A. in psychology from Loyola Marymount University, where she also minored in theater. She conducted an undergraduate honors thesis that looked at interactions between dispositional and manipulated empathy, and its cognitive and affective components, on actual and hypothetical prosocial behavior. Savannah is now interested in using the perspectives of evolutionary psychology and social neuroscience to examine moral conviction, political attitudes, and social influence.
email: syerman [AT] uchicago.edu
Keith Yoder
Keith Yoder received his Ph.D. (Psychology) from the University of Chicago where he used behavioral economics and cognitive neuroscience to investigate justice motivation. He received a B.S. in Human Development from Cornell University while working with EEG in the Laboratory for the Neuroscience of Autism. Keith joined the SCNL in 2010 and received a M.A. in Social Science the following year. Currently, he is using functional MRI and diffusion tensor imaging to investigate socioemotional processing abnormalities associated with psychopathic traits in incarcerated females. Keith is also interested in using neuroeconomics and neurolaw to inform social policy and criminal justice.
email: kjyoder [AT] uchicago.edu
James Yoon
James received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, Denver. He is currently a graduate student in the Master of Arts Program in Social Science. He is working on understanding political polarization among undergraduate students by combining political psychology, social psychology, and cognitive neuroscience.
email: yoonja [AT] uchicago.edu
Undergraduate students
Hanna Czeladko
Second year at the College
Majoring in neuroscience & pre-med
Eitan Ezra
Third year at the College
Majoring in political science & psychology
Angela Fung
Second year at the College
Majoring in neuroscience
Mint Poonpatanapricha
Second year at the College
Majoring in psychology & pre-med
Medha Reddy
Second year at the College
Majoring in neuroscience & pre-med