Principal Researcher Jennifer Abel

Background

Jennifer Abel is a Principal Researcher working with Emma Levine. She received her PhD in Organizational Behavior from Harvard Business School. She has a BA in Cognitive Science from UC Berkeley, where she also worked as a research lab manager at the Haas School of Business and in the Psychology Department.

Research Interests

Jennifer's research employs experimental methods to examine the psychological processes underlying people’s decisions to trust others. Broadly, she is interested in understanding when and why people choose to extend the "benefit of the doubt," trusting that others are guided by acceptable motives and values despite reasons for skepticism.

Her research primarily examines factors that shape trust in expert sources of information and institutions, including science, news media, and healthcare. For instance, she studies how people evaluate experts who communicate about topics informed by their lived experience and explores how laypeople understand and evaluate bias—including what bias means to them and how concerns about it can be mitigated. She also investigates the factors that facilitate trust and constructive dialogue across ideological divides.

Selected Publications & Presentations

Abel, J. E., Vani, P., Abi-Esber, N., Blunden, H., & Schroeder, J. (2022). Kindness in short supply: Evidence for inadequate prosocial input. Current Opinion in Psychology, 48, 101458.

Abi-Esber, N., Abel, J. E., Schroeder, J., & Gino, F. (2022). “Just letting you know…” Underestimating others’ desire for constructive feedback. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 123(6), 1362.