Olivia Roberts, Masters

I’ve always been fascinated by the gap between what people say they believe and how they actually behave. Social psychology offered tools for understanding those contradictions systematically rather than just complaining about human inconsistency. My dissertation research examined how group identity influences moral reasoning – basically, why good people sometimes make terrible ethical decisions when they’re part of certain social contexts.

Columbia’s social psychology program is methodologically rigorous in ways that can be intimidating initially. They expect you to design experiments that isolate specific psychological mechanisms while acknowledging the broader social systems that shape human behavior. That training taught me to think precisely about causation, measurement, and the limitations of any single study.

My expertise spans experimental social psychology, survey research, behavioral interventions, and applied psychology in organizational settings. What I bring to students is eight years of experience translating abstract psychological theories into testable research questions and practical applications. Psychology research should illuminate how human behavior actually works, not just confirm what we already think we know.

I’ve coached 280+ students across Social Psychology, Organizational Psychology, Health Psychology, Educational Psychology, and related fields. The diversity of applications keeps the work engaging – studying workplace bias one week, analyzing health behavior change the next, or helping someone design interventions to reduce intergroup conflict.

Technical skills include experimental design, statistical analysis for psychological research, survey methodology, behavioral coding, and intervention evaluation. I’m proficient with SPSS, R, and specialized psychology software. Understanding ethical considerations for human subjects research is fundamental – psychology studies often involve deception, manipulation, or sensitive personal information.

What distinguishes my coaching approach is emphasis on ecological validity – ensuring lab findings actually relate to real-world behavior. Social psychology has historically struggled with studies that produce interesting effects in artificial laboratory settings but don’t generalize to natural social contexts. I help students design research that balances experimental control with real-world relevance.

My philosophy centers on psychological research that addresses social problems. Individual behavior happens within social systems, so effective psychological interventions often require understanding structural factors like inequality, discrimination, or institutional practices. I encourage students to think systemically about individual-level phenomena.

The replication crisis in psychology has made methodological rigor more important than ever. I help students design studies with adequate sample sizes, pre-registered hypotheses, and transparent analytic approaches. Good psychology research should be reproducible and cumulative rather than producing flashy but unreliable findings.

Students often feel overwhelmed by the breadth of social psychology – it seems like everything human relates to everything else. I help them identify focused research questions that contribute to specific theoretical debates while acknowledging broader psychological and social dynamics. Precision doesn’t require ignoring complexity.

The application challenge is significant – how do you translate psychological findings into interventions that work outside laboratory settings? I work with students on designing research that considers implementation challenges from the beginning rather than treating application as an afterthought.

My 94% success rate reflects commitment to helping students develop both methodological skills and theoretical sophistication. Psychology research requires understanding statistical techniques, experimental design, and measurement theory, but also broader knowledge about human behavior, social systems, and ethical considerations.

What energies me most is research addressing prejudice, intergroup relations, and social justice psychology. How do stereotypes influence decision-making? What interventions effectively reduce bias? How do social identities shape political attitudes? These questions have implications for education, criminal justice, healthcare, and organizational practices.

The New York environment provides incredible opportunities for applied psychology research – diverse populations, complex social dynamics, major institutions willing to participate in studies. That access helps students understand how psychological processes play out in real social contexts rather than just laboratory abstractions.

When I’m not running statistical analyses, I’m usually exploring different neighborhoods (New York has incredible psychological diversity), practicing yoga (research stress is real), or volunteering with conflict mediation programs. I also mentor undergraduate research assistants – teaching research skills to the next generation of psychologists is part of building better science.