Samantha Joel

St. George
Advisor: Geoff MacDonald

RESEARCH

Samantha is interested in how people make decisions about their romantic relationships, such as whether to pursue a love interest, whether to invest in a foundling relationship, or whether to break up with a romantic partner. Her research draws from the judgment and decision making literature to better understand the processes by which people make these important choices. Samantha currently has two main lines of work – one examining empathy- or morality-based motivations to maintain a romantic relationship, and one investigating the mechanisms that underlie states of indecisiveness or ambivalence over relationship choices.