nathan-liang-headshot.webp

nathan liang[?](he/him/his)

psych phd @ cornell

nl453 {at} cornell {dot} edu

πŸ‘‹πŸ»  about
Hey! I'm a 1st-year psychology Ph.D. student at Cornell supervised by Professor Laura Niemi in the Applied Moral Psychology Lab. Previously, I was employed as a project manager in the πŸ¦… Morality Lab (Professor Liane Young) and Social Influence and Social Change Lab (Professor Gregg R. Sparkman) in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Boston College. I work concurrently as a research coordinator for the MiT Applied Cooperation Initiative (Professor David Rand & Dr. Erez Yoeli).

Previously, I was a lab manager and research specialist in the πŸ… Princeton Social Neuroscience Lab (Professor Diana I. Tamir) working across the Princeton Neuroscience Institute and Department of Psychology at Princeton University.

I received my B.S. in psychology and minor in philosophy from Duke University in 2020, graduating early during the pandemic. I primarily worked as a research assistant in the 🧒 Mind at Large Lab (Professor Paul Seli) and as a postgraduate research fellow in the Imagination and Modal Cognition Lab (Professor Felipe De Brigard) as well as the Moral Attitudes and Decision-Making Lab (Professor Walter Sinnott-Armstrong).

My research interests are diverse, but I'd currently describe it along two general axes: (1) open questions in moral psychology (particularly concerning the influence of social norms and moral emotions on our everyday judgment and decision-making); and (2) applying computational methods from machine learning and natural language processing to understand empathy and social connection. I also maintain a keen interest in the experimental philosophy of religion, especially as it interfaces with individuals' (meta)ethical beliefs. I have experience in data science, and I have freelanced as a UI/UX and graphic design artist for a startup.



βš—οΈ  research
2021
  1. Murray, S., Liang, N., Brosowsky, N., & Seli, P. (2021). What are the benefits of mind wandering to creativity? Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts.
  2. Hard, B. M., Liang, N., Wong, M., & Flusberg, S. J. (2021). Metaphors we teach by: Uncovering the structure of metaphorical lay theories of teaching. Metaphor and the Social World.
under review
  1. Sridhar, H.S., Kimble, A., King, M.M., Johnson, C.P., Shah, R.J., Dietzel, J.M., Yoo, C.H., Moreno, M.P., Pant, P., Edwards, J.A., Lester, R.L., Linares, A.R., Wong, K.E., Vandekerckhove, V., Suh, Y.J., Stout, C.D., Stanback, I.E., Staley, T.G., Srivatsa, S.V., . . ., Liang, N., . . ., Samanez-Larkin, G.R. (2019, under review). Lower sleep variability associated with higher academic performance across the semester in college students.
in (various stages of) prep
  1. Liang, N.*, Grayson, S. J.*, Mildner, J. N., & Tamir, D. I. (in prep.). ”Call me, beep me, if you wanna reach me:” The impact of virtual social interaction on well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  2. Liang, N.*, Parikh, N.*, LaBar, K. S., & De Brigard, F. (in prep.). Impoverished episodic counterfactual simulation associated with increased anxiety.
  3. Gerdin, E., Liang, N. , & Kraft-Todd, G. (in prep.). Dimensions of dehumanization: Integrating theoretical perspectives using exploratory factor analysis.