Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
for Prospective Graduate Students
Are you taking students this year?
Yes, I am accepting graduate students in the 2024-2025 admission cycle.
How do I apply?
Click here to view application instructions. You'll need to submit an application to the Duke Graduate School, and mark my name as your preferred supervisor.
I want to learn more about your lab & research. Can we meet?
To ensure that everyone has a fair chance, I generally do not take meetings with prospective students. I look forward to reading your materials, if you do decide to apply.
Do you have any advice for the application?
I do! My main advice is to treat the Statement of Purpose as a persuasive essay. I usually link people to this great thread from Roman Feiman that explains the process. To summarize here, the statement should have three acts:
Act I: Research interests — what do you want to study and why?
Act II: Supporting evidence — what background/experience do you have that supports your ability to pursue these interests?
Act III: Fit to the faculty & department — why me? why the MACLab? Why Duke Psychology & Neuroscience?
What does your lab work on?
Our lab investigates the ways in which our psychologies develop across diverse cultural settings, with a particular focus on judgment and decision-making.
A prototypical lab project is a quantitative experiment with children and adults across or within cultures which seeks to understand how the environment influences the construct of interest. We are particularly interested in elucidating the causal mechanisms of variation and often employ behavioral games and tasks borrowed from behavioral economics. Some current topics of interest in the lab involve the emergence of cooperation, coordination, and morality.
Our lab is a basic science lab focused on cognitive development. We do not employ methods from neuroscience or clinical psychology.
What are you looking for in a graduate student?
The ideal graduate student at the MACLab has a keen interest in cross-cultural work, experience working with children in a professional or research setting, a Bachelor's or Master's degree in psychology or biological anthropology, and a passion for understanding human cognition.
In terms of skillset, I highly value experience with experimental design, quantitative data analysis in R, additional language skills (Spanish a plus), and past experience traveling or working internationally (Latin America a plus).
I encourage graduate students in the MACLab to develop their own relationships with communities and universities who have been historically underrepresented in the psychological literature, and to set up their own, independent "field site". If this is something that appeals to you, make sure to mention it in detail in your materials.