SOCIAL & EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY LAB

WHO WE ARE

Who We Are

Principal Investigator | Lab Director
Jaimie Arona Krems, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Psychology (Experimental)
Oklahoma State University

Ph.D., Social Psychology (Arizona State University)

M.Sc., Cognitive & Evolutionary Anthropology (University of Oxford)

M.L.A., focus in biological basis of behavior (University of Pennsylvania)

A.B., Classical & Near Eastern Archaeology (Bryn Mawr College)

Dr. Krems is a social psychologist with interdisciplinary training.

Her research draws on theoretical perspectives from social psychology, behavioral ecology, cognitive and evolutionary evolutionary anthropology, as well as animal behavior to investigate how people navigate their social worlds, maximizing the benefits and minimizing the costs of their interpersonal interactions.

Much of her work--on sociality (e.g., friendship, aggression), stereotpying--is driven by thinking first about women. Historically, social science research often assumed men's cognition and behavior to be the default. Thinking systematically about women and some of the sex/gender-typical challenges they have recurrently faced (e.g., pregnancy, aggressing while avoiding retaliation) generates novel research directions and facilitates the discovery of phenomena that are relevant across sex/gender (e.g., modes of friendship maintenance, competition).

CV

jaimie.krems@okstate.edu

@JaimieKrems

Graduate Student
Devanshi Patel

Graduate Student (Clinical)

Devanshi is a pre-internship graduate student in the Clinical program. Her research explores social perceptions of parenting and investigates stigma toward parents. Her thesis examines whether--and why--parents of children with "obesity" are stigmatized, and her future work will take intersectional approaches to understanding the role that body shape--along with target identity features (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity) play in weight stigma.

depatel@okstate.edu

Graduate Student
Laureon A. Merrie

Graduate Student (Experimental)

Laureon is a fourth-year graduate student working with Dr. Krems, Dr. Byrd-Craven, and Dr. Sznycer. Her interests are in female sociality--particularly in pairing both feminist and evolutionary perspectives to explore overlooked aspects of women's behavior.

Given the importance of information (e.g., secrets, gossip) in female social relationships, Laureon's recent work has focused on understanding the rules governing when we share information, and how the sharing of privileged information is perceived.

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laureon.merrie@okstate.edu

Graduate Student | RA Lab Coordinator
Tori Short

Graduate Student (Experimental)

Tori is a third-year graduate student working with Dr. Byrd-Craven and Dr. Krems. Her research utilizes approaches from developmental, evolutionary, and social psychology to examine the biological processes and behavioral strategies of female competition, health maintenance, and mate preferences. Considering the growing focus on positive reframing and self-image within society, Tori’s most recent work focuses on exploring how self-esteem may differentially cue mate- and friendship-value.

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tori.short@okstate.edu

Graduate Student | OCEAN Lab Coordinator
Nina Rodriguez

Graduate Student (Experimental)

Nina is a second-year graduate student working with Dr. Krems, Dr. Szyncer, & Dr. Byrd-Craven. She received her MA at California State University Fullerton, where she conducted research on personality and status motivation from an adaptationist perspective. Her research interests include from female competition and sociality, status acquisition, personality variation, and the influence of emotion and motivation on behavior. Her current work explores how people--and particularly women--bargain for better treatment in their social relationships.

website

ninrodr@okstate.edu

Graduate Student
Krystal Duarte

Graduate Student (Experimental)

Krystal is a second-year graduate student working with Dr. Byrd-Craven & Dr. Krems. She is a McNair scholar who previously worked on projects investigating romantic infatuation and flirting behavior. Her interests are in women's status and aggression from an evolutionary perspective. Her current work examines how women navigate competition within their friend groups.

website

krystal.duarte@okstate.edu

Graduate Student
Yunseo Wee

Graduate Student (Experimental)

Yunseo is a first-year student working with Dr. Sznycer & Dr. Krems. She is interested in issues of value--how people come to value things and other people,--and the implications such valuation can have for social interaction.

yunsuh.wee@okstate.edu

The OCEAN

The Krems Lab is one of several across Departments of Psychology and Integrative Biology, taking part in joint graduate lab meetings and furthering the OCEAN mission to: (1) conduct interdisciplinary research; (2) provide graduate students for careers as future faculty; (3) engage in educational outreach with the FOSSIL Conference + OCEAN Speaker Series

Undergraduate RA Team

The Krems Lab is lucky to have a vibrant, engaged group of RAs. We accept students on a term-by-term basis. No previous research is required--but curiosity is!

Dr. Krems and OCEAN graduate students provide a hands-on research and training experience that informs RAs about the background of the work being conducted, research methods and data analysis, and professional development (e.g., how to get into grad school).

Students can receive credit for hours in the lab, volunteer (typically after at least one term for credit), and complete independent research projects (e.g., honors thesis, freshman research scholar work). RAs often present their work at national conferences and many go on to graduate school. Learn more here.

Some Lab Alumni

Graduate Students

Dr. Jarrod Bock, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Towson University

Undergraduate Students

Malina Lemmons, graduate student, University of British Columbia
Ian Mumma, graduate student (Political Science), University of Delaware
Brett Keenan, graduate student (Psychology) at University of Oklahoma
De'Ja Broyles, graduate student (Psychology), University of Denver
Anna Crosswhite, graduate student (Counseling), Oklahoma State University
Mikayla Tolliver, graduate student + NSF GRFP recipient (Psychology) at University of Arkansas
Darling Arredondo, graduate student (Counseling), Oklahoma State University
Garrett Dugan, graduate student (Political Science) at University of Nebraska - Lincoln