Team

Ashwini is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard and the director of the We-Search Lab. Ashwini's work broadly asks how psychological processes related to identity and language help (or harm) the realization of democratic ideals. Her recent work has studied technologically mediated environments to illuminate how identity processes impact political deliberation and discussion, and social cohesion in the digital age. Ashwini was part of the team that built LIWC-22. 

Ashwini was previously an Assistant Professor of Psychology at NYU and a postdoctoral fellow at the Polarization and Social Change Lab at Stanford. She received her PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 2021. 

Outside of lab, Ashwini likes to hang out at coffee shops, listen to podcasts, and wander around new cities. 

Ashwin is a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard in the We-Search Lab. He received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Southern California in 2026. His research develops computational methods for measuring affective polarization in online communities - how strongly people are divided, the role of identity in these divisions, and how the interaction between identity and ideology shapes people’s opinions. More recently, he has used agentic AI to run simulations that test interventions to mitigate polarization.

His current interests focus on how Human-AI interaction shapes political cognition, collective identity, and polarization, as well as how AI tools can be leveraged to design and test interventions that promote depolarization.

Before Harvard, Ashwin was a visiting researcher at the University of Maryland, College Park, and the University of Amsterdam. Outside the lab, he enjoys traveling, cooking, and reading about conspiracy theories.

Yige is a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard. She received her PhD from Peking University and her BS from Beijing Normal University.

Her research centers on existential questions: how people understand their existence and find meaning in it. Her earlier work examined meaning at the personal level, exploring how memories and emotions shape it. She now investigates these questions in collective contexts, studying how people make sense of the political, technological, and historical forces shaping their lives, how they come to identify with groups and act collectively, and how shared events shape their beliefs and sense of the world and themselves.

Outside the lab, you'll find her at a live rock gig, running along the Charles River, or pretending to be productive in a coffee shop.

Evelina is a fifth-year PhD student in the NYU social psychology program. She received her BA in Psychology and BS in Computer Science from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles in 2022.

Her research explores people’s emotional reactions to social events and how emotions shape people’s beliefs and behaviors. Specifically, her research asks: 1) What emotions do people experience when discussing social issues? 2) How can we, as social psychologists, regulate these emotions to promote belief updating and engagement in collective actions to facilitate changes in society?

Outside the lab, she loves traveling, photography, music, and good food.

Jules is a third-year PhD student at Harvard. She graduated with a MSc in Clinical Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience from LMU Munich in Germany.

Jules investigates how identity, polarization, and intergroup dynamics shape political discourse and constrain societal progress. Her research examines how perceived intergroup threat and partisan identity influence individuals’ propensity to self-censor critical views of their political party. She seeks to understand how this self-censorship, in turn, may inhibit constructive dialogue, fuel polarization, and undermine democratic resilience.

In her spare time, Jules is an avid traveler with a deep love for books, food, and (German) music.

Lin is a second-year PhD student at Harvard. She managed the WE-search Lab and graduated from Georgetown University with a BSFS in International Political Economy and minors in Psychology and Mathematics. 

Lin is interested in how people use verbal narratives to transmit causal knowledge in society. Social phenomena like intergroup conflicts and inequality result from highly complex causal relations. How do people compress them into compact narratives? What makes some narratives more popular than others? How do goals shape which narratives people tell and hear? How do narratives co-evolve with culture and technology?

Outside of the lab, Lin enjoys long walks, live music, space movies, and (almost) everything in nature.

Su is a first-year PhD student at Harvard. She received her B.S. in Data Science and B.A. in Psychology from The University of Chicago. Later, she completed a pre-doctoral research position at Stanford University.

Her research interests examine how individuals choose to convey information with a communicative intent. She is particularly interested in how these intentional acts of narrative construction aggregate into broader social phenomena (with the help of global information networks), shaping collective norms and discourse.

Outside of the lab, Su enjoys exploring new places—sometimes by intentionally getting lost—and befriending all the animals along her way.

Aymin is a predoctoral researcher at Harvard and the lab manager for the We-Search Lab. He received his B.S. in Psychology from Michigan State University where he was mentored by Prof. Mark Brandt in the Belief Systems Lab.

He aims to understand the cognitive mechanisms that shape the political mind, and ultimately how those mechanisms play a role in maintaining or challenging larger social structures. His previous work has examined how people with different political ideologies interpret cues from their party/party leaders (finding they're similar).

Outside of research, he enjoys biking around Cambridge, spending time with his cat (Alex), and making music.

Kayley is a fifth year PhD student in the Social Psychology program at NYU. She received her BA in Psychology from Boston College and previously worked in clinical psychology before transitioning to social psychology.

Her research focuses on intergroup conflict and political polarization, with an emphasis on belief formation. She is particularly interested in how people form beliefs in opposition to those they dislike. Her work explores the psychological mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, examining how partisan identity, affective polarization, and social norms shape self-concept and political attitudes. She also investigates the broader consequences of polarization, including its effects on collective action and democratic engagement. 

Outside of the lab, you can find her traveling with friends or curled up on the couch with a fantasy novel. 

Jenna is a fourth-year PhD student in the Social Psychology program at NYU. She received her B.S. in Human Development (Department of Psychology) from Cornell University. 

Jenna is interested in when and how we generate inferences about others’ intentions, and how these inferences are biased by our motivations, expectations, and social relationships. She is interested in how these inferences turn into decisions in domains including social action and the law. 

In her spare time, you might find Jenna figure skating at Bryant Park, watching stand-up at the Comedy Cellar, or searching for the best cannoli in NYC.

Ugur is a second-year PhD student in Social Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. He earned his master’s degree in Psychology from New York University as a Fulbright Scholar.

Ugur’s research centers on intergroup conflict resolution, perceived threat, minority groups, and intersectional identities. He aims to explore and integrate different social-psychological interventions to reduce group-based disparities and enhance the well-being of stigmatized groups.

Outside of the lab, Ugur loves playing squash, crocheting, cooking Turkish vegetarian dishes, and singing-literally anytime, anywhere.