About Me

My research, at a broad level, investigates how social identities — people’s own, as well as those of others — influence evaluations and decisions. What role does identity play when deciding to engage in non-normative behavior, as well as reacting to examples of deviance and dissent? How do our identities shape our perceptions of right and wrong? When might our identities make us more receptive to the benefits of diversity and difference? I also tackle methodological questions in psychology. For example, what do implicit measures of bias — which have grown in popularity over the last decade — actually measure? Taken together, my research interests address the psychology underlying intragroup and intergroup processes: cooperation, conflict and everything in between.

I teach Principles of Psychology, in addition to upper-level seminars such as the Psychology of Gender and Psychology, Culture and Ethnicity. I also teach Research Methods, which I believe is one of the most valuable courses a student can take. Research methods — the ways in which we measure people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors; as well as the ways in which we draw conclusions from those measurements — is the engine of psychological discovery. These skills are a great strength to all students, regardless of their eventual career.

Other Information

• Lab website: www.ungsonlab.com 
  • Lab Location: Fisher Hall, Room 103
• Twitter: @NickUngson (www.twitter.com/NickUngson)

Professional Experience

PUBLICATIONS

* Susquehanna University undergraduate student

Packer, D. J., & Ungson, N. D. (in press). Peer pressure. In S. T. Allison, J. K., Beggan, & G. R. Goethals (Ed.), Encyclopedia of heroism studies. Springer.

Van Bavel, J. J., Packer, D. J., Ray, J. L., Robertson, C., & Ungson, N. D. (in press). Beyond intuition and reason: How social identity tunes moral judgments. In N. Ellemers, S. Pagliaro, & F. van Nunspeet (Ed.), Handbook on the psychology of morality. Routledge.

Ungson, N. D., *Bucher, K., Marsh, J., Lamadrid, A., & Packer, D. J. (2023). Won’t you be my neighbor? Local community identification predicted decreased stress over the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Social and Personality Psychology Compass.

Azevedo, F., Pavlović, T., Rêgo, G. G., Ay, F. C., Gjoneska, B., Etienne, T., … Ungson, N. D., … Sampaio, W. M. (2023). Social and moral psychology of COVID-19 across 69 countries. Scientific Data.

Pavlović, T., Azevedo, F., De, K., Riaño-Moreno, J.C., Maglić, M., Gkinopoulos, T., … Ungson, N. D., … Van Bavel, J. J. (2022). Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning. PNAS Nexus.

Van Bavel, J. J., Cichocka, A., Capraro, V., Sjåstad, H., Nezlek, J. B., Alfano, M., … Ungson, N. D., … Boggio, P. S. (2022). National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic: Results from 67 nations. Nature Communications.

Zamora, J., Ungson, N. D., & Seidman, G. (2022). The end justifies the me: Self-interest moderates the relationship between Dark Triad traits and utilitarian moral decisions. Personality and Individual Differences, 184, 111134.

Marsh, J. K., Ungson, N. D., & Packer, D. J. (2021). Bring out your experts: The relationship between perceived expert causal understanding and pandemic behaviors. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 27(4), 785-802.

Marsh, J. K., Ungson, N. D., & Packer, D. J. (2021). Of pandemics and zombies: The influence of prior concepts on COVID-19 pandemic-related behaviors. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(10), 5207.

Packer, D. J., Ungson, N. D., & Marsh, J.K. (2021). Conformity and reactions to deviance in the time of COVD-19. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 24(2), 311-317.

Evans, T. R., Johannes, N., Winska, J., Glinkska-Newes, A., van Stekelenburg, A., Nilsonne, G., … Ungson, N. D. (2020). Exploring the Consistency and Value of Humour Style Profiles. Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology.

Gill, M. J., & Ungson, N. D. (2018). How much blame does he truly deserve? Historicist narratives engender uncertainty about blameworthiness, facilitating motivated cognition in moral judgment. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 77, 11-23.

Packer, D. J., Miners, C. T. H., & Ungson, N. D. (2018). Benefiting from diversity: How groups’ coordinating mechanisms affect leadership opportunities for marginalized individuals. Journal of Social Issues, 74(1), 56-74.

Ungson, N. D., & Packer, D. J. (2018). Dissent. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Packer, D. J., & Ungson, N. D. (2017). Group decision-making: Revisiting Janis’ groupthink studies. In J. R. Smith & S. A. Haslam (Eds.), Social psychology: Revisiting the classic studies (2nd ed., pp. 182-200). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

THESIS, CAPSTONE, AND PROJECT ADVISING

Advisor, Honors Thesis | Laney Kauffman, Anticipated May 2023, Susquehanna University Thesis Title: The Social Psychology of Music Fandom

Advisor, Senior Honors Thesis | Isabel Skovera, 2021, Albright College Thesis Title: How Liberals React to Deviant Protests in the Time of Black Lives Matter

Departmental Reader, Senior Honors Thesis | Jaelynn Walker, 2021, Albright College Thesis Title: Risk Framing and COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories

Departmental Reader, Senior Honors Thesis | Allison Ludwig, 2021, Albright College Thesis Title: The effects of Fitspiration and Self-Compassion on Body Dissatisfaction, Self-Esteem, and Exercise Motivation in College aged Women

Departmental Reader, Senior Honors Thesis | Jessica Zamora, 2020, Albright College Thesis Title: The Dark Triad of Personality and Moral Decisions

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANTS AND COLLABORATORS

Susquehanna University: Katelyn Bucher, Emily Erdman, Jeffrey Lind, Madelyn Correllus, Johnnie Bryant

Albright College: Isabel Skovera, Jessica Zamora, Jed Paolo Dela Torre, Tajae Reese

Lehigh University: Leah Charash, Annie Karras, Nada Younies, Sallyan Rusnak, Drew Parton, Imani Brown, Yung Ching Yang, Caroline Gonzalez, Michelle Vollmuller, Ryan Lonergan, Xiao Meng, Laura DeFelice, Joey Dille, Katherine Jalboot, Alysse Weinberg, Alexandra Pizzuto, Wade Homer

PRESENTATIONS

* Susquehanna University undergraduate student

Wohl, M. J. A. & Packer, D. J., Ungson, N. D., & Stefaniak, A. (2023, June). Strong leaders for polarized nations: Concern about political polarization predicts support for strong unifying figures via civic nostalgia. Paper presented at the European Association for Social Psychology Conference, Krakow, Poland.

*Erdman, E., *Lind, J., *Bucher, K., *Correllus, M., & Ungson, N. D. (2023, March). The healing power of community connection during the early COVID-19 pandemic [Conference Presentation]. Eastern Psychological Association Annual Conference, 2023.

*Bucher, K., & Ungson, N. D. (2023, February). Local community identification predicted coping during COVID-19 [Conference Presentation]. Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Conference 2023.

*Bucher, K., & Ungson, N. D. (2022, July). Stress and community identification during COVID-19 [Conference Presentation]. Susquehanna Valley Undergraduate Research (SVUR) Symposium, 2022.

Ungson, N. D., *Correllus, M, & *Bryant, J. (2022, March). Institutional trust predicts intergroup cooperation [Conference Presentation]. Eastern Psychological Conference Annual Conference, 2022.

Packer, D. J., Sefaniak, A., Ungson, N. D., & Wohl, M. A. (2021, July). Citizens’ concerns about political polarization and their preferences for strong leaders [Conference Presentation]. Society of Experimental Social Psychology Conference, 2021.

Marsh, J. K., Ungson, N. D., & Packer, D. J. (2021, July). Perceived expert causal understanding and pandemic health behaviors [Conference Presentation]. Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition Conference 2021.

Skovera, I., & Ungson, N. D. (2021, April). How liberals react to deviant protests in the time of Black Lives Matter [Poster Presentation]. 22nd Annual Berks County Undergraduate Research & Creativity Conference, Reading, PA.

Ungson, N. D., Packer, D. J., Marsh, J. K., Abrahams, D., Casagrande, D. G., & Lamadrid, A. J. (2021, February). Rising to the challenge: Community disruptions due to COVID-19 are associated with feelings of rallying around common purpose [Conference Presentation]. Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Conference 2021.

Skovera, I., & Ungson, N. D. (2021, February). How liberals react to deviant protests in the time of Black Lives Matter [Poster Presentation]. Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Conference 2021.

Ungson, N. D., Marsh, J. K., Packer, D. J., & Abrahams, D. (2020, November). The effect of causal beliefs about COVID-19 on Health-Related Decision-Making [Poster Presentation]. Psychonomic Society 61st Annual Meeting.

Zamora, J. A., Seidman, G., & Ungson, N. D. (2020, May). The Dark Triad of personality and utilitarian moral decisions: The role of self-interest [Poster presentation]. Association for Psychological Science Annual Conference, Chicago, IL. (Conference cancelled due to COVID-19)

Reese, T., & Ungson, N. D. (2020, April). Ingroup bias in the application of historical information to blame judgments [Poster presentation]. 21st Annual Berks County Undergraduate Research & Creativity Conference, Reading, PA.

Ungson, N. D., Thalla, N. L, & Packer, D. J. (2020, February). Joke to Woke? The effect of humor on dissent and receptivity to ingroup criticism [Poster Presentation]. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations Pre-Conference at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA.

Ungson, N. D., Thalla, N. L, & Packer, D. J. (2019, February). Choose wisely! Developing a novel partner selection task to examine ingroup bias [Poster Presentation]. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations Pre-Conference at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Conference, Portland, OR.

Ungson, N. D., & Packer, D. J. (2018, June). Reverberations of the distance past: Legacies of slavery and its effect on modern-day implicit bias [Paper Presentation]. Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, Pittsburgh, PA.

Ungson, N. D., & Packer, D. J. (2018, March). Eeny meeny miny moe: “Catching” intergroup cooperation using a novel partner selection task [Poster Presentation]. Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA.

Braun, D. A., & Ungson, N. D. (2017, November). Open science and reproducibility: Saving the world, one preregistration at a time. Lehigh University Psychology Department Brown Bag, Bethlehem, PA.

Ungson, N. D., & Packer, D. J. (2017, March). Increasing intergroup cooperation: External mechanisms and signaling as cooperative affordances. Lehigh University Psychology Department Brown Bag, Bethlehem, PA

Ungson, N. D., & Packer, D. J. (2017, January). Forms of Loyalty Across Contexts: Social Judgments in Job Promotion and Hiring Scenarios [Poster Presentation]. Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Conference, San Antonio, TX

Gill, M. J., Cerce, S., & Ungson, N. D. (2016, September). On the importance of history: Historicist narratives regarding wrongdoers temper blame and punitiveness via a novel mechanism of mitigation [Conference Presentation]. German Psychological Society Annual Congress, Leipzig, Germany.

Ungson, N. D., & Gill, M. J. (2016, May). Negativity or “negativity”? Historicism moderates the link between IAT scores and prosociality toward a black conversation partner [Poster Presentation]. Association for Psychological Science Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.

Ungson, N. D., & Gill, M. J. (2016, March). To blame or not to blame, that is the question: Ambivalence and flexibility during blame processing. Lehigh University Psychology Department Brown Bag, Bethlehem, PA.

Ungson, N. D., & Packer, D. J. (2016, January). The complexity of loyalty conceptions and their relation to whistleblowing [Poster Presentation]. Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Conference, San Diego, CA.

Packer, D. J., & Ungson, N. D. (2015, July). The motivational dynamics of decisions to dissent. In Unexpected leadership: How marginal individuals and groups lead social transformation [Conference Presentation]. European Association of Social Psychology Small Group Meeting, Sheffield, UK

Ungson, N. D., & Packer, D. J. (2015, May). Clever or cunning? Positive traits in disloyal ingroup members are perceived with ambivalence [Poster Presentation]. Association for Psychological Science Annual Meeting, New York, NY.

Ungson, N. D., & Packer, D. J. (2015, April). Loyal is as loyal does: Group loyalty & intragroup evaluation. Lehigh University Psychology Department Brown Bag, Bethlehem, PA.

Ungson, N. D., & Gill, M. J. (2015, March). Reducing blame via historicist narratives: Ambivalence and flexibility in moral judgments [Poster Presentation]. Eastern Psychological Association Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

Ungson, N. D., & Packer, D. J. (2015, February). How thick are thieves? The complexity of group loyalty and its relevance to whistleblowing [Poster Presentation]. Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Conference, Long Beach, CA.

Ungson, N. D., & Packer, D. J. (2015, April). How thick are thieves? Group loyalty and whistleblowing. Lehigh University Psychology Department Brown Bag, Bethlehem, PA.
Last Updated: 2023-05-29

Ungson, N. D., Gantman, A. P., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2013, April). Is morality motivated? The effect of injustice exposure on perception of moral words [Poster Presentation]. New York University MA Poster Conference, New York, NY.

Ungson, N.D., Feygina, I., & Trope, Y. (2012, April). Mindset abstractness and relational-collective dimensions of group membership [Poster Presentation]. New York University MA Poster Conference, New York, NY.

SERVICE

Member, Academic Judicial Honesty Board | Susquehanna University, 2023 –
Member, Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics | Susquehanna University, 2022 –
Faculty Advisor, International Student Association | Susquehanna University, 2022 –
College of Arts & Sciences Dean’s External Advisory Council | Lehigh University, 2019
College of Arts & Sciences Dean Search Committee | Lehigh University, 2018-2019
President, Graduate Student Senate | Lehigh University, 2017-2018
Council of Student Presidents | Lehigh University, 2017-2018
University Committee on Discipline | Lehigh University, 2015-2018
Education Policy Committee for Undergraduates | Lehigh University, 2015-2016
Travel Grants Officer, Graduate Student Senate | Lehigh University, 2015-2017
Symposium Moderator, 2015 LVAIC Undergraduate Psychology Conference | Lehigh University, 2015
Graduate Ambassador, College of Arts and Sciences | Lehigh University, 2014-2017
College of Arts & Sciences Dean’s Graduate Student Advisory Council | Lehigh University, 2014-2015
Senator, Psychology Department, Graduate Student Senate | Lehigh University, 2014-2015
Communications Officer, Graduate Psychology Association | New York University, 2012-2013
Co-Editor, University of Florida Journal of Psychological Science | University of Florida, 2010-2011
Newsletter Officer, Psi Chi | University of Florida, 2009-2010

TEACHING

Directed Research Capstone in Social Psychology

Instructor for undergraduate course: Susquehanna University

Social Psychology

Instructor for undergraduate course: Susquehanna University

Psychology, Culture, and Ethnicity

Instructor for undergraduate course: Susquehanna University

Principles of Psychology

Instructor for undergraduate course: Susquehanna University

Research Methods in Psychology

Instructor for undergraduate course: Susquehanna University

Psychology of Gender

Instructor for undergraduate course: Susquehanna University

Research Design and Analysis II | Spring 2021, Spring 2020

Instructor for undergraduate course: Albright College

Introduction to Psychology | Spring 2021, Spring 2020, Fall 2019, Summer 2019, Summer 2016

Instructor for undergraduate course: Albright College, Lehigh University

Research Design and Analysis I | Fall 2020, Fall 2019

Instructor for undergraduate course: Albright College

Moral Psychology | Fall 2020

Instructor for undergraduate course: Albright College

Social Psychology | Summer 2020, Spring 2019, Summer 2018

Instructor for undergraduate course: Lehigh University

Theories of Personality | Spring 2020

Instructor for undergraduate course: Albright College

Experimental Research Methods and Laboratory | Fall 2018

Instructor for undergraduate course: Lehigh University

GRANTS & FELLOWSHIPS

Faculty Research Grant, Susquehanna University, 2023-2024

Albright College Research Experience (ACRE) Internal Research Grant, Albright College, January 2021

Albright College Research Experience (ACRE) Internal Research Grant, Albright College, January 2020

Grant-in-Aid, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, 2017

Forum Student Research Grant, Lehigh University, 2015

Strohl Graduate Summer Research Fellowship, Lehigh University, 2014

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Guest Editor
Translational Issues in Psychological Science

Ad-Hoc Reviewer
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations
HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues
International Society for Humor Studies
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
American Psychological Society
Eastern Psychological Association
Psi Chi International Honors Society in Psychology

Courses Taught