Behavioral Science Researcher
The Wharton School
Research Areas
I study how people interpret and navigate interpersonal uncertainty. Specifically, my research focuses on two key related areas: 1) how people use observable information about others to form inferences about their intentions and make predictions about their future behavior, and 2) how people approach social interactions they expect to be difficult, such as discussing disagreement.
Across both of these areas, one particular high-level theme that I explore is when and why engaging in a (seemingly) negative social display or interaction leads to positive versus negative outcomes on social judgment and social interaction. I find that expressing negative information about oneself can lead to positive social inferences and outcomes when it signals positive traits, such as self-awareness, honesty, and resilience, and that seemingly negative social interactions, such as discussing an area of disagreement, can go better than people expect due to mistaken beliefs. On the other hand, I find that expressing negative information about oneself can lead to negative social inferences and outcomes when it signals negative traits like harmful intentions, immaturity, and a lack of ability, and that some ways of approaching disagreements can go more negatively than necessary.
Across my research, I connect these inferences and choices to downstream organizational outcomes by measuring behaviors such as hiring choices, leader selection, workplace task performance, and advice-taking.
Stream 1: How do people use observable information about others to form inferences about their intentions and make predictions about their future behavior?
I explore the social inferences and forecasts that people make based on some observable aspect of a person’s behavior or character. As mentioned above, many of these projects have examined the effects of expressing or exhibiting some sort of negative information or characteristic; I find some cases in which doing so leads to positive social inferences and others in which it leads to negative social inferences.
Relevant published papers:
Wald, K.A. & Chaudhry, S. J. (2025). Ignorance can be trustworthy: The effect of social self-awareness on trust. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 128(3), 611-638. Link here
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. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 183, 104351. Link here
Wald, K. A., Abraham, M., Pike, B. E., & Galinsky, A. D. (2024). Gender differences in climbing up the ladder: Why experience closes the ambition gender gap. Psychological Science, 35(11), 1287-1307. Link here
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
Chaudhry, S. J., & Wald, K. A. (2022). Overcoming listener skepticism: Costly signaling in communication increases perceived honesty. Current Opinion in Psychology, 48, 101442. 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
Stream 2: How do people approach social interactions that they expect to be difficult, such as discussing disagreement?
I also explore how people navigate the uncertainty of social interactions that they expect to be difficult, primarily disagreements or other types of conversations. Similar to my work in the social inference stream, much of the work in this stream has examined how a seemingly negative social interaction can actually have positive effects (and also finds instances in which those effects are not as positive).
Relevant published papers:
Wald, K. A. (2026). Self-awareness and negotiations. Current Opinion in Psychology, 73, 102391. Link here
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