Nathan Cheek

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychological Sciences

Department of Psychological Sciences Research Area(s)

Social Psychology

Biography

Recruiting graduate students for Fall 2024 admission

My research lies at the intersection of social cognition and judgment and decision making, with an emphasis on (1) prejudice and inequality and (2) choice processes.

In my work on inequality, I study how biased beliefs drive the neglect and mistreatment of those already facing the greatest disadvantages. My work examines, for example, laypeople’s and professionals’ misunderstandings of the effects of poverty and biased perceptions of gender-based violence.

In my work on decision making, I explore how context (e.g., the number of options available, whether people choose alone or with another person, salient cultural values) shapes the goals choosers adopt and their subjective experiences during and after choice.

More broadly, I am interested in a wide range of theoretical and applied topics such as decision goals and strategies; discrimination; poverty; systemic inequality; injustices in the legal system and felony disenfranchisement; and social policy.

Education

PhD, Princeton University, 2021

Websites

Website

Current Courses

PSY 240 - Introduction to Social Psychology

Selected Publications

Cheek, N. N., & Shafir, E. (in press). The thick skin bias in judgments about people in poverty. Behavioural Public Policy.
Cheek, N. N., Reutskaja, E., & Schwartz, B. (in press). Balancing the freedom-security tradeoff during crises and disasters. Perspectives on Psychological Science.
Reutskaja, E., Cheek, N. N., Iyengar, S., & Schwartz, B. (in press). Choice deprivation, choice overload, and satisfaction with choices across six nations. Journal of International Marketing.
Cheek, N. N., Schwartz, B., & Shafir, E. (in press). Choice set size shapes self-expression. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
Goh, J. X., Bandt-Law, B., Cheek, N. N., Sinclair, S., & Kaiser, C. R. (2022). Narrow prototypes and neglected victims: Understanding perceptions of sexual harassment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 122, 873-893.