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Current: United States Army |
PositionEducation
B.A. in Sociology from South Dakota State University (1996)
M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University (2006)
M.S. in Social Psychology from the University of Michigan (2014)
Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Michigan (2015)
Research interests
I would like to incorporate the science of judgment and decision making (JDM) into my research on interpersonal moral judgment.
The scientific investigation of interpersonal moral judgment lies at the intersection of two critically important domains of human behavior: interpersonal relationships & moral cognition.
The overarching question that drives my research is, “(How) is our morality shaped by our relationships, and conversely, (how) are our relationships shaped by our morality?”
For my PhD, I’m examining the regulatory effect of relational distance on interpersonal moral judgment and how social distance and self-construal influence this process.
To this extent, my work in the decision lab will look at the following question(s):
- What should be considered the “rational” or “correct” choice in moral dilemmas, specifically those involving conflicting loyalties?
- If utilitarian thinking is the rational choice, how do we explain (and calculate), from a JDM perspective, the pull (or bias) of our interpersonal relationships in these types of moral dilemmas?
Publications
Lester, P.B., Harms, P.D., Herian, M., & Sowden, W.J. (2014). A force of change: the U.S. Army’s Global Assessment Tool. Journal of Positive Psychology.
Hannah, S.T., & Sowden, W.J. (2012). Leadership in the profession of arms. In M. Rumsey (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of Leadership. Oxford University Press: New York.
Doty, J., & Sowden, W.J. (2009). Character vs. competency, it must be both! Military Review, 89 (6), 69-76.
