PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Jaimie Arona Krems
Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of California, Los Angeles
Krems is a social psychologist with interdisciplinary training. Her research draws on theoretical perspectives from cognitive + evolutionary anthropology, relationship science, + animal behavior to investigate how people create + navigate their social worlds.
Krems' primary research focus is on friendship. Much of her work is driven by thinking first about women. Historically, social science research often assumed men's cognition + behavior to be defaults. Thinking systematically about women + some of the sex/gender-typical challenges they have recurrently faced generates novel research directions + facilitates the discovery of phenomena relevant across sex/gender (e.g., modes of friendship maintenance, competition tactics).
Krems is an National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award-winner for her work on friendship. Her research has been published in Nature Human Behaviour, the Journal of Social and Personality Psychology, Psychological Science, + Evolution and Human Behavior. She currently serves as an elected member of the Executive Council at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society (HBES), where she is also chair of the Grievance Committee + creator/co-developer of the ADAPT (Advancing Diversity Through Anthropological and Psychological Training) Program, which provides undergraduates with access to rare, high-quality mentorship in evolutionary social science. Krems served as an Open Science Advisor at Psychological Science + currenty occupies other editorial positions at Evolution and Human Behavior (beg. 2024) + Human Nature. She has been named an HBES Rising Star + Fellow of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology.
CV
GoogleScholar
@JaimieKrems
jaimie.krems@ucla.edu
CURRENT GRADUATE STUDENTS
Devanshi Patel
Devanshi is a doctoral candidate and graduate student in the Clinical program at Oklahoma State University.
Her current 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)---play in related weight stigma.
depatel@okstate.edu
Laureon Merrie
Laureon is a fifth-year graduate student at Oklahoma State University. Her interests are in female sociality---and particularly in pairing both feminist and evolutionary perspectives to explore overlooked aspects of women's behavior.
Given the importance of information sharing (e.g., secrets, gossip) in women's social relationships, Laureon's recent work has also focused on understanding the rules governing when we share information and how the sharing of privileged information is perceived.
CV
laureon.merrie@okstate.edu
Tori Short
Tori is a fourth-year graduate student at Oklahoma State University, working with Dr. Jennifer Byrd-Craven + Dr. Krems.
Her research utilizes approaches from developmental, evolutionary, and social psychology to examine the biological processes and behavioral strategies of female competition and health maintenance. 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.
CV
tori.short@okstate.edu
Nina Rodriguez
Nina is a third-year graduate student at UCLA, working with Dr. Krems + Dr. Daniel Sznycer.
Nina received her M.A. at California State University-Fullerton, where she conducted research on personality and status motivation from an adaptationist perspective. Her research interests include female competition, status acquisition, personality variation, and the influence of emotion and motivation on behavior. Her current work explores how people---and particularly women and other 'lower-power' individuals---bargain for better treatment in their social relationships.
website
ninrodr@okstate.edu
Krystal Duarte
Krystal is a third-year graduate student and McNair Scholar at Oklahoma State University, working with Dr. Jennifer Byrd-Craven + Dr. Krems.
Krystal has previously worked on projects investigating romantic infatuation and flirting. Her interests involve understanding the challenges that women face in navigating sex/gender-typical aspects of competition and how women navigate these challenges.
website
krystal.duarte@okstate.edu
Yunsuh (Nike) Wee
Yunsuh (Nike) is a second-year graduate student working at Oklahoma State University working with Dr. Daniel Sznycer + Dr. Krems.
She is interested in issues of (a) value (e.g., how do people come to value things and other people) and (b) social processes surrounding information (e.g., what cognitive architecture regulates how people share information).
yunsuh.wee@okstate.edu
POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLAR
Lisa Walsh
Lisa Walsh (she/her) is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the UCLA Marriage and Close Relationships Lab. She completed her Ph.D. in Social/Personality Psychology at the University of California, Riverside under the mentorship of Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky. In broadest terms, her work aims to investigate the links between interpersonal relationships (with friends, family, and romantic partners) and well-being, as well as understand the effects of positive social behaviors (e.g., expressing gratitude, doing acts of kindness).
See more about Lisa here.
RESEARCH SCIENTISTS
Victor Kaufman
Victor Kaufman (he/him) is a former graduate student and current Research Scientist of the UCLA Marriage and Close Relationships Lab. He received a master's degree in Psychology from Pepperdine University in 2015 and a Ph.D. in Social Psychology at UCLA in 2020. He primarily studies adult friendship and how close relationship processes uniquely affect well-being. He is also interested in psychometrics and how its application can aid our measurement of various phenomena in close relationships.
David Pinsof
David received his PhD from UCLA in 2018, where he studied psychology and biological anthropology. David's research focuses on political attitudes, mating strategies, signaling theory, the psychology of status, public opinion, mathematical models of alliance formation, and the origins of political belief systems. He writes for a popular audience at everythingisbullshit.substack.com
AFFILIATED FACULTY + CENTERS
What is the psychology that enables people to interact with other people? Sznycer uses theories of selection pressures along with data from ancestral + modern humans to produce computation-level descriptions of our social psychology. His lab's research focus is on value computation, emotion, communication, morality, + institutions.
Krems + Sznycer often co-advise graduate students.
Williams is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Hamilton College, where she is also Director of Jurisprudice, Law and Justice Studies. She earned her JD and PhD concurrently.
Her work is multi-faceted, exploring stereotyping and prejudice at theintersection of justice and legal studies, friendship, and social affordances.
OCEAN (The Oklahoma Center for Evolutionary Analysis) is housed in the Department of Psychology at Oklahoma State University. OCEAN incorporates faculty + graduate students from across disciplinary boundaries---each using an evolutionary approach to understand social cognition + behavior.
OCEAN was founded in 2019 by Jennifer Byrd-Craven + Jaimie Arona Krems. OCEAN includes Jennifer Byrd-Craven, Jaimie Arona Krems, Daniel Sznycer, Juliana French, + multiple affiliated researchers.
The UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture (BEC) unites scholars exploring the connections among evolution, culture, the mind, + society.
BEC provides a framework to facilitate research and training on the interaction among natural selection, cultural transmission, social relations, and psychology.
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Jaimie Arona Krems
Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of California, Los Angeles
Ph.D., Social Psychology (Arizona State University)
M.Sc., Cognitive & Evolutionary Anthropology (University of Oxford)
M.L.A. (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, cognitive and evolutionary evolutionary anthropology, behavioral ecology, relationship science, + animal behavior to investigate how people navigate their social worlds.
Much of her work--including that on friendship and stereotpying/prejudice--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
Google Scholar
@JaimieKrems
jaimie.krems@ucla.edu
Graduate Student
Devanshi Patel
Graduate Student (Clinical)
Devanshi is a doctoral candidate and graduate student in the Clinical program at Oklahoma State University. For the 2023-2024 year, she will be on internship.
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, and also Drs. Byrd-Craven and Sznycer at Oklahoma State University.
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.
CV
laureon.merrie@okstate.edu
Graduate Student
Tori Short
Graduate Student (Experimental)
Tori is a third-year graduate student working with Dr. Byrd-Craven at Oklahoma State University and with Dr. Krems.
Her research utilizes approaches from developmental, evolutionary, and social psychology to examine the biological processes and behavioral strategies of female competition and health maintenance. 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.
CV
tori.short@okstate.edu
Graduate Student
Nina Rodriguez
Graduate Student
Nina is a second-year graduate student working with Dr. Krems at UCLA and with Dr. Szyncer at Oklahoma State.
Nina 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 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 and McNair scholar working with Dr. Byrd-Craven at Oklahoma State University and with Dr. Krems.
Krystal is previously worked on projects investigating romantic infatuation and flirting behavior. Her interests involve understanding the challenges that women face in navigating sex/gender-typical aspects of competition and how women navigate these challenges.
website
krystal.duarte@okstate.edu
Graduate Student
Yunsuh (Nike) Wee
Graduate Student (Experimental)
Yunseo is a first-year student working with Dr. Sznycer at Oklahoma State University and with Dr. Krems.
She is interested in issues of (a) value (e.g., how do people come to value things and other people) and (b) social processes surrounding information (e.g., what cognitive architecture regulates how people share information).
yunsuh.wee@okstate.edu
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 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 theses, freshman research scholar work). RAs often present their work at national conferences and many go on to graduate school. Learn more here.
Collaborators
Meet some of the people our lab works with:
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
ThePolitics and Evolution Lab at Aarhus University
PI: Michael Bang Petersen
The Culture and Ecology Lab at Arizona State University
PI: Michael Varnum
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
News & Links
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of California, Los Angeles
Ph.D., Social Psychology (Arizona State University)
M.Sc., Cognitive & Evolutionary Anthropology (University of Oxford)
M.L.A. (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, cognitive and evolutionary evolutionary anthropology, behavioral ecology, and animal behavior to investigate how people navigate their social worlds.
Much of her work--including that on friendship and stereotpying/prejudice--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
Google Scholar
@JaimieKrems
jaimie.krems@ucla.edu
Graduate Student
Devanshi Patel
Graduate Student (Clinical)
Devanshi is a doctoral candidate and graduate student in the Clinical program at Oklahoma State University. For the 2023-2024 year, she will be on internship.
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, and also Drs. Byrd-Craven and Sznycer at Oklahoma State University.
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.
CV
laureon.merrie@okstate.edu
Graduate Student
Tori Short
Graduate Student (Experimental)
Tori is a third-year graduate student working with Dr. Byrd-Craven at Oklahoma State University and with Dr. Krems.
Her research utilizes approaches from developmental, evolutionary, and social psychology to examine the biological processes and behavioral strategies of female competition and health maintenance. 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.
CV
tori.short@okstate.edu
Graduate Student
Nina Rodriguez
Graduate Student
Nina is a second-year graduate student working with Dr. Krems at UCLA and with Dr. Szyncer at Oklahoma State.
Nina 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 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 and McNair scholar working with Dr. Byrd-Craven at Oklahoma State University and with Dr. Krems.
Krystal is previously worked on projects investigating romantic infatuation and flirting behavior. Her interests involve understanding the challenges that women face in navigating sex/gender-typical aspects of competition and how women navigate these challenges.
website
krystal.duarte@okstate.edu
Graduate Student
Yunsuh (Nike) Wee
Graduate Student (Experimental)
Yunseo is a first-year student working with Dr. Sznycer at Oklahoma State University and with Dr. Krems.
She is interested in issues of (a) value (e.g., how do people come to value things and other people) and (b) social processes surrounding information (e.g., what cognitive architecture regulates how people share information).
yunsuh.wee@okstate.edu
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 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 theses, freshman research scholar work). RAs often present their work at national conferences and many go on to graduate school. Learn more here.
