Who We Are
Principal Investigator | Lab Director
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 bases 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, evolutionary biology and anthropology, as well as animal behavior to investigate how people use cues to strategically navigate their social worlds and meet their social goals. Her work primarily focuses on (a) female sociality and (b) the use of interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks to challenge our understanding of 'classic' topics in social psychology (e.g., stereotyping and prejudice).
Much of her work on sociality (e.g., friendship, aggression) is driven by thinking first about women's sociality. Historically, social science research often assumed men's cognition and behavior to be the default. Thinking systematically about women and some of the sex-typical challenges they have recurrently faced (e.g., pregnancy, aggressing while avoiding retaliation) generates novel research directions and facilitates the discovery of phenomena that both sexes engage in (e.g., modes of friendship maintenance, status competition).
jaimie.krems@okstate.edu
Graduate Student
Ashley M. Rankin, M.S.
Graduate Student (Experimental)
Funded via NSF-GRFP
Ashley is a last-year student working with Dr. Byrd-Craven and Dr. Krems. Her primary research investigates in how individuals choose to allocate their resources to different types of social relationships (e.g., friendships, strategic allies, romantic partners) as well as the psychobiology underlying friendship quality--especially among women.
ashley.rankin@okstate.edu
Graduate Student | Lab Manager
Devanshi Patel
Graduate Student (Clinical)
Incoming Lab Coordinator
Devanshi is a fourth-year graduate student in the Clinical program conducting research on social perceptions of parenting and stigma toward parents with Dr. Krems. 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, M.S.
Graduate Student (Experimental)
Outgoing Lab Coordinator
Laureon is a second-year graduate student working with Dr. Krems and Dr. Byrd-Craven. Her interests are in female sociality, and 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.
laureon.merrie@okstate.edu
Graduate Student
Tori Short
Graduate Student (Experimental)
Tori is a first-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 values across men and women.
tori.short@okstate.edu
Graduate Student
Krystal Duarte
Graduate Student (Experimental)
Krystal is an incoming first-year graduate student at Oklahoma State University working with Dr. Byrd-Craven and Dr. Krems. She is a McNair scholar who previously worked on projects that investigated romantic infatuation and flirting behavior. Her interests are in women's status and female aggression from an evolutionary perspective.
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 undergraduate RAs: Abigail Ferrell, Garrett Dugan, Anna Crosswhite, Malina Lemmons, De'ja Broyles, Kathryn Tierney, Brett Keenan, Bailey Crocker, Callie Pollett, Taylor Gladney, Miranda Koskela. (Zoom Lab Meeting, Spring 2020)
Collaborators
Meet some of the people our lab works with:
The Sznycer Lab at University of Montreal
PI: Daniel Sznycer
The Computational Mate Choice Lab at University of California, Santa Barbara
PI: Daniel Conroy-Beam
Stigma & Motivation Lab at The University of Toronto
PI: Rebecca Neel
The Psychology, Evolution, & Law Lab at Hamilton College
PI: Keelah E. G. Williams
Evolution and Social Cognition (ESC) Lab at The University of Colorado, Boulder
PI: Eric Pedersen
The Culture and Ecology Lab at Arizona State University
PI: Michael Varnum
ThePolitics and Evolution Lab at Aarhus University
PI: Michael Bang Petersen
Nicole Hess, Ph.D. at Washington State University
The Brain and Behaviour Lab at McMaster University
PI: Tracy Vaillancourt
Evolutionary Social Cognition Lab at Arizona State University
PIs: Steven Neuberg, Douglas Kenrick, Vaughn Becker
Cooperation & Conflict Lab at Arizona State University
PI: Athena Aktipis
Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience Research Group at The University of Oxford
PI: Prof. Robin I. M. Dunbar
The General Experimental Laboratory at St. Mary's University
PI: Maryanne Fisher
