Do intentions mitigate emotional reactions to reciprocal altruism situations? The short answer: Yes. The long answer: Previous research has found that when someone breaks an agreement to provide help with the understanding that the other person will help them in return, they can have strong emotional reactions as a result. These can include emotions such as anger, shame, and pride. The strength of these reactions, especially when the other person doesn't hold up their end, can be altered by intention, however. This line of research seeks to investigate the role of intention in altering these emotional reactions in hypothetical reciprocal altruism situations.

What factors into the costly altruistic decision to donate an organ to someone else? Are we considering our emotional closeness to the recipient? Or maybe the genetic closeness, which should influence us to donate only to closely related individuals per Hamilton's Rule? Through a series of studies aimed at determining what constitutes a costly organ donation and who qualifies as "close" both genetically and emotionally, I have sought to answer at least some of these questions. Stay tuned for upcoming work in this area!

To help or not to help? My newest area of research is aimed at determining which factors people are considering when making the decision to help someone. In a one-shot interaction, are people considering the costs of their actions? What about the benefit to the person they're helping? Through a series of field and hypothetical studies that systematically vary costs and benefits of helping as well as ingroup and outgroup affiliation, this line of research aims to determine which factors are being considered when making the decision to help or not to help. Stay tuned for upcoming work in this area!