I study how emerging technologies reshape the way we perceive, evaluate, and relate to one another—and what those changes reveal about morality, status, and social inequality.
Explore my research
My research examines how people perceive, evaluate, and relate to others, and how these processes are shaped by emerging technologies, moral beliefs, and social hierarchies. A central focus of my work is how artificial intelligence both becomes an object of social perception and changes the way we perceive one another. I investigate how people attribute social characteristics to AI, how automation reshapes judgments of human competence and value, and how moral beliefs influence our evaluations of individuals, organizations, and social behavior.
Several themes connect my work on social perception, morality, and emerging technologies.
People do not always treat AI as neutral. They attribute social identities, including race and status, to it. These perceptions shape whose advice they trust, whether they accept AI recommendations, and how they evaluate AI as a source of authority.
My research examines how the growing presence of AI changes the way people perceive and evaluate one another. As technologies take on tasks traditionally performed by humans, I investigate how this shift influences judgments of competence, leadership, and the qualities people value in others.
How moral motivations, beliefs, and rhetoric influence judgments of individuals, organizations, and causes, including in digital environments.
Our research on the perceived racial identity of artificial intelligence was highlighted in Nature Reviews Psychology.
Read the research highlight ↗I am recruiting a graduate student interested in social psychology for Fall 2027 at Purdue University. Students who are excited by questions at the intersection of social cognition, AI, morality, and intergroup dynamics are encouraged to explore my research and reach out.
Get in touchApplication deadline: December 1, 2026.
Learn more about Purdue's Psychological Sciences graduate admissions through the department's official resources. Research fit matters; the topics on this site are examples rather than an exhaustive list of possible projects.
For program details, admissions requirements, and links to apply, visit Purdue’s Social Psychology graduate program.
Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences
Purdue University
I received my PhD in Social Psychology from Northwestern University and my BA in Economics from Wellesley College. Before joining Purdue's Department of Psychological Sciences, I was an Assistant Professor in Technology Leadership & Innovation at Purdue, a Visiting Assistant Professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, and a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management.
My research connects fundamental questions about how we judge others with the changing technological and organizational environments in which those judgments unfold.
For research, collaboration, and prospective graduate student inquiries.
mgamezdj@purdue.edu ↗