Brianna Middlewood

OK, yes, I'll admit it: I'm interested in getting people to do what I want. So, I'm studying experimental psychology.

I want people to: (1) care about climate change (2) seek out information (3) make sustainable choices (like riding a bike instead of driving a car, composting, and buying local)

At Penn State I have the luxury of being frank about this desire to make my research applicable to the social issues that matter to me in addition to studying the nature of the mind for knowledge's sake (basic research). Specifically, I'm an emotion person. How do our daily emotions inform what we do? How do they make us better people? How do our expectations about our feelings guide our actions and give our actions meaning? What makes the people who get upset (over climate change, minority oppression, or the shooting of unarmed black men) and do something different from the people who get upset and do nothing?