I am an Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations & Behavioral Decision Making at the Anderson School of Management, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). My research is concerned with: 1) group influence over long-lasting behavioral changes, and 2) decision processes under resource disparity and social inequality. I received my Ph.D. in Psychology at Princeton University with a doctoral joint degree in Social Policy, advised by Drs Betsy Levy Paluck and Eldar Shafir, and B.A. in psychology and economics from University of Virginia.

My area of interest generally falls into these overlapping categories:

Group dynamics
Behavioral change
Social inequality and scarcity
Judgment and decision making
Research methodology

As a social psychologist and behavioral scientist, I study the equilibrium of forces--from the individual, the group, and the social environment--driving long-term behavior and attitudes in the real world. My primary area of research is social psychology and the interplay of psychology and economics, centered around the overlapping themes of interconnection and inequality. My program of research is founded on the idea that if we understand the dynamic interactions of social forces, we may be able to shift behavior in an enduring way, rather than influencing one-time deviations from a pattern. Specifically, I employ canonical and emerging methods and theories to investigate social and group influence on behavioral and attitudinal changes.

Some of my current research questions ask: How can groups motivate us, and sustain behavior change? How do different forms of participatory decision making impact our performance and subjective experience? How do we perceive and respond to social inequality, and what’s the impact of resource scarcity and inequality on people’s decision processes and psychological outcomes? Lastly, how do we design behavioral interventions to improve the system and sustain behavior change?

I’m a broad thinker, and also an active promoter of multidisciplinary collaboration. In the meantime, I keenly follow the Lewinian tradition of being a practical theorist.

Interconnection: Group dynamics, Social influence, and Behavioral change

* indicates equal first authorship, and † denotes student collaborators.

Wu, S. J., Mai, M., Zhuang, M., & Yi, F. (2024). A large-scale field experiment on democratic decision-making in China. Nature Human Behaviour, 8, 2119-2126. -Best Publication Award, Behavioral Science & Policy Association (BSPA)

Wu, S. J., & Paluck, E. L. (2022). Having a voice in your group: Increasing productivity through group influence. Behavioural Public Policy, 9(1), 192-211. Pre-registration and data code files

Wu, S. J., & Paluck, E. L. (2020). Participatory practices at work change attitudes and behavior toward societal authority and justice. Nature Communications, 11, 2633. [blog post].[Pre-registration and data code files] -Cialdini Award

Wu, S. J., & Paluck, E. L. (2021). Designing nudges for the context: Golden coin decals nudge workplace behavior in China. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 163, 43-50. Pre-registration and data code files

Wu, S. J., Mei, B., & Cervantez, J. (2022). Perceptions and preferences of workplace participation: A cross-cultural study. Frontiers in Psychology, 305.

Wu, S. J. (2025). Group Participation, Localized Democracy, and Authoritarianism. In O. Rathkolb & S. Steinbacher (Eds.), Authoritarian Trends and Parliamentary Democracy in Europe (pp. 246-258). Wallstein.

Project in progress (Manuscript in prep): Increasing productivity and morale at work: A field experiment at an elite university.

Project in progress: Celebrity media influence and charitable giving (with David Rand-MIT, Betsy Levy Paluck, Robin Gomila, Zivvy Epstein-MIT).

Project in progress: How ideological diversity affects performance and inclusion on college campuses. With Betsy Levy Paluck & Cecilia Rouse.

Inequality: Decision-making and Social Perceptions, in Response to Scarcity and Inequality

Project in progress (Manuscript in prep): Striving to survive or to thrive? Interdependence promotes aid acceptance.

Project in progress: Changing poverty narratives.

*†Lee-Yoon, A., *Wu, S. J., †Chin, J., Caruso, E., & Caruso, H. (accepted pending minor revisions). Pluralistic ignorance of stigma impedes take-up of welfare benefits.

Wu, S. J., †Cheek, N., & Shafir, E. (revision and resubmission). Scarcity undermines pleasurable thinking.

*†Jiang, E. & *Wu, S. J. (in press). Messenger-Message Discordance: Who advocates how matters in expressing allyship. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Wu., S. J., & Cai, X. (2023). Adding Up Peer Beliefs: Experimental and Field Evidence on the Effect of Peer Influence on Math Performance. Psychological Science, 34(8), 851-862. [Pre-registration] -Cialdini Award

Wu., S. J., & Coman, A. (2023). Altering the past to shape the future: Manipulating information accessibility to influence case-based reasoning. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 104, 104407. Data and study materials

Talhelm, T., Wu, S. J., Lyu, C., Zhou, H., & Zhang, X. (2023). People in Rice-Farming Cultures Perceive Emotions More Accurately. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 4, 100122.

†Cui, Z., †Liu, L., †Li, D., Wu, S. J., †Zhai, X. (2022). Safety messaging boosts parental vaccination intention for children ages 5-11. Vaccines, 10, 1205.

Little, A. S., & Wu, S. J. (2021). Cognitive bias and neurological decision making. Journal of Neurosurgery, 1(aop), 1-6.

Wu., S. J., Bai, X., & Fiske, S. T. (2018). Admired rich or resented rich? How two cultures vary in envy. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 49(7), 1114-1143. Data and study materials

Paluck, E. L., Shafir, E., & Wu, S. J. (2017). Ignoring alarming news brings indifference: Learning about the world and the self. Cognition, 167, 160-171. Replication code: Study One, One-a, Two, Three

Duan, J., Wu, S. J.*, & Sun, L. (2017). Do the powerful discount the future less? The effects of power on temporal discounting. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1007. (*corresponding author)

Duan, J., Wu, S. J.*, & Xu, T., Liang, F. (2024). Differential effects of power and status on advice-taking behavior.

Methodology

Gantman, A., Gomila, R., Martinez, J. E., Matias, J. N., Paluck, E. L., Starck, J., Wu, S. J.*, & Yaffe, N. (2018). A pragmatic philosophy of psychological science and its implications for replication. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 41. (*authorship in alphabetical order)

Wu, S. J., & Littman, R. (2025). Field Research. In H.T. Reis, T. West, & C. M. Judd (Eds.) Handbook of Research Methods in Social and Personality Psychology. Cambridge University Press.

Wu, S. J. (2025). Intervention Science. In S. D. Stern (Eds.) Handbook of Experimental Social Psychology.

Wu, S. J. (forthcoming). Field Research Methods. In J. E. Edlund & A. L. Nichols (Eds.) Cambridge Handbook of Research Methods and Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Cambridge University Press.

A small corner of the factory production floor in our experimental site, in one of the world’s largest apparel manufacturing factories in China.

This is a young woman who I shadowed for several weeks in 2014 before we first designed a pilot field experiment. I learned that many migrant workers like her were extremely motivated, focused, and wanted to earn as much money as they could. But we know from the factory data that there was a lot of variation. People weren’t performing as well as they liked. This brings to our research question — how to use psychology to move the behavior of these workers, who were already highly motivated?

Last day of a five-day training session for graduate RAs in China, January 2016, before the commencement of data collection in spring. The RAs were interviewed and selected for their enthusiasm, communication skills, and time commitment for our work.

This picture illustrates the structure of assembly line work. Workers sit with their teams, but at their own workstation.

After we came back from the field every day (around 10 AM), I held debrief meetings with the RAs who worked for our factory experiment. This time, we drank coffee at a local Starbucks.