Principal Investigator
Andras Molnar [CV]
Andras Molnar is an Assistant Professor of Psychology, with education and research training at the intersection of psychology, economics, and business. His research focuses on motivated preferences for information and the role of beliefs in social interactions, especially those involving moral behavior. He studies situations in which people have “non-instrumental” reasons to care about what they and others believe, as well as the implications of these motives for theories of decision-making, organizations, and public policy. Before joining the University of Michigan, he worked as a Principal Researcher at the University of Chicago and obtained his Ph.D. in Behavioral Decision Research at Carnegie Mellon University.
Lab manager
Lizz Gallinari
Lizz Gallinari is the Lab Manager for the Beliefs and Decision Making lab at the University of Michigan. Before this position, she received her Ph.D. in experimental social psychology from the University of Toledo. As a graduate student, her research focused on online comparative processes and how they impact well-being and future behavior. Her academic background reflects an understanding of the theoretical foundations of psychology, combined with hands-on experience in the practical application of research methodologies.
Graduate students
Atakan Atamer
Atakan Atamer is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience program. In his recent research, he investigates whether experiencing processing difficulty promotes analytical reasoning. His primary interest lies in topics related to reasoning, judgment and decision-making, and mental effort.
Hyeran Kang
Hyeran is a first-year PhD student in the Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience (CCN) area. Her research focuses on how beliefs are formed, how they lead to biases in decision-making, information-seeking, and avoidance behaviors, and how people navigate the social world. Ultimately, she aims to better understand how our minds bridge the internal and external worlds. Her research interests span psychology, information science, economics, and social neuroscience. Outside the lab, she enjoys exploring new coffee shops, trying out new sports, discovering new brands, and secretly analyzing what makes certain brands more popular.
Sıla Mutaf
Sıla Mutaf is a first-year PhD student in the Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience (CCN) area. Her research focuses on collective narratives, political decision making and cultural variations in cognition. Having studied in both History and Psychology prior to grad school, she aims to bring together two disciplines to capture various ways of human thinking. Outside the lab, she enjoys taking long walks while exploring new cities, biking along the Huron river and watching movies nobody has heard of.
Rose Wang
Rose Wang is a fourth year PhD student in the Developmental Psychology program. She is broadly interested in studying social cognition and decision making from a developmental perspective. Her current research investigates how people learn about others’ trustworthiness through experience and the developmental trajectory of implicit fairness preferences. Outside of the lab, she enjoys climbing, watching international movies, trying new foods and recipes, and traveling.
Jiaqi Zhu
Jiaqi (Julie) is a second-year master’s student studying Statistics, just got her first master’s degree in Economics at the UMich. She has been fascinated by behavioral economics and cognitive psychology, and was naturally attracted to the “immaterial, nonphysical concepts” like memory, expectations, motivation, belief, time, emotion, and morality. Her academic pursuit is to be a researcher who confronts authenticity.
Research assistants
Felix Lahann
Felix Lahann is a Sophomore at the University of Michigan studying Cognitive Science on the “Decision and Cognition” track and is planning on minoring in Computer Science. Additionally, he has an interest in researching the intersection between neuroeconomics, decision-making, and artificial intelligence. During his free time, he likes to read mystery novels and play soccer.
Helena Marano
I am a Junior at The University of Michigan studying economics and Cognitive Science; Decision and Cognition with a minor in Middle East Studies. I am interested in decision making, particularly in the context of digital behavior and influence. For the credits I have that are not filled by economics, cognitive science, or information science, I will be in as many history classes as I can fit.
Lila Ellman
Lila Ellman is a sophomore studying Cognitive Science on the Computation and Cognition track and is minoring in Computer Science. Additionally, she is interested in the intersection of cognitive science and artificial intelligence. Outside the lab, she enjoys being active and playing sports, reading, and spending time in the sun.
