Behavioral Science Researcher
The Wharton School
Research Areas
Impression Management
Social Self-Awareness
In my main line of research, I examine how a novel dimension of social perception affects important interpersonal assessments and decisions: Namely, I study how people evaluate a target individual based on how socially self-aware the target seems - i.e., based on whether the target seems to accurately know what others think of them or not. I find that social self-awareness is perceived as a desirable quality in others in many cases, but I also uncover cases in which we trust others less when they appear to be more socially self-aware. Further, I examine when and why people evaluate others' social self-awareness in the first place.
Relevant papers:
Wald, K. A., Chaudhry, S. J., & Risen, J. L. (2024). The credibility dilemma: When acknowledging a (perceived) lack of credibility can make a boast more believable. (In press at Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes). Link here
Wald, K.A. & Chaudhry, S. J. (2024). Ignorance can be trustworthy: The effect of social self-awareness on trust. (Second round revise & resubmit at Journal of Personality and Social Psychology). Manuscript link here
Other Areas of Impression Management
In addition to the above, I examine other facets of impression management more broadly. For instance, I have studied how we perceive others' failures, how we evaluate others based on how variable their behavior is, how much we trust others based on their emotional expressions, and how gendered beliefs affect professional decisions.
Relevant papers:
Wald, K. A., Abraham, M., Pike, B. E., & Galinsky, A. D. (20240). Are there gender differences in climbing up the ladder? Why experience matters more for women than men. (In press at Psychological Science). Link coming soon!
Wald, K. A., & O'Brien, E. (2022). Repeated exposure to success harshens reactions to failure. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 103, 1-18. Link here
Levine, E. E., & Wald, K. A. (2020). Fibbing about your feelings: How feigning happiness in the face of personal hardship affects trust. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 156, 135-154. Link here
Communication & Conflict Management
I also study other types of interpersonal dynamics, such as communication and conflict management. For instance, I have studied how people discuss disagreement, and have found that 1) people anticipate that discussing political disagreement will be worse than it actually is, and 2) the goal with which one approaches a disagreement can affect the outcomes of the discussion. I also have research related to learning in conversations and costly signaling in communication.
Relevant papers:
Wald, K. A., Kardas, M., & Epley, N. (2024). Misplaced divides? Discussing political disagreement with strangers can be unexpectedly positive. Psychological Science, 35(5), 471-488. Link here
Atir, S., Wald, K. A., & Epley, N. (2022). Talking with strangers is surprisingly informative. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(34), 1-8. Link here
Chaudhry, S. J., & Wald, K. A. (2022). Overcoming listener skepticism: Costly signaling in communication increases perceived honesty. Current Opinion in Psychology, 101442. Link here