David DeSteno
David studies the ways that emotions guide decisions and behaviors fundamental to social living. By examining moral and economic behaviors such as compassion and trust, cooperation and resilience, and dishonesty and prejudice, his work tries to illuminate how emotions can optimize our actions in favor of the greater good or, by virtue of bugs in the system, lead to suboptimal or biased outcomes. His research continually demonstrates the variability of moral behavior and aims to develop strategies to improve it. These efforts include working with public and private sector partners to design strategies meant to enhance individual and collective wellbeing.