My research focuses on the motivational underpinnings and the social and psychological consequences of belief systems, with a focus on political and religious ideologies. In particular, I am interested in (1) how uncertainty and threat may lead people to adopt more conservative political and religious belief systems that can imbue the world with order, meaning, and justice; (2) how the differential experiences of advantaged vs. disadvantaged group members can lead to different rationalizations of the status quo (e.g., inequality, namely, beliefs that the system is fair and meritocratic vs. beliefs that the system is natural or divinely dictated; and (3) the consequences of system-justifying beliefs on subjective well-being.

My research suggests that justification of system-level inequalities, including income and gender inequality, is related to increased subjective well-being for members of both advantaged and disadvantaged groups, even though these beliefs can bolster systems that negatively affect objective well-being. In my work, I combine classic social-psychological experimental methods with advanced statistical techniques using large-scale survey data, such as multilevel modeling and structural equation methods.