My research explores how truths are constructed and experienced as believable, focusing on the interplay of cognition and rationalization. I examine how human intuition (cognitive preferences)*, cultural symbols, and systematic feedback shape perceptions of reality, influencing identity internalization and interpretive belief systems that lead to their behavior.

Central to my work is understanding how individuals as cultural beings construct meaning and make decisions through perspective-taking and social cognition. In my undergraduate research labs, I have used experimental psychology to explore collective memory & experience of historical racial injustice, artificial power & decision-making, exploring how these elements influence both individual and group’s understanding of truth and their use of such. Through ethnographic studies, I have delved into religious identity and ritualistic devotion, trying to observe people’s relationship with their religious identity and how it influences people’s interaction with socioeconomic conditions and their explanation of lived perceptions of reality.

My desire to continue my research in psychology/anthropology is motivated by how we can use our understanding to help people. To learn and develop mechanisms to explain how these processes converge to create the lived realities that guide human behavior, and how we can intervene when those cognitive preferences lead to systematic negative consequences.

（I’m hoping to find a suitable institution and mentors to expand my research at Graduate School.)