​​​Hi, I'm Cliff. I’m a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at the University of Delaware, where I teach social psychology and methods. I’m also a visiting researcher in the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics directed by Professor Anjan Chatterjee at the University of Pennsylvania.

My research investigates the dark side of morality. Morality refers to the values and customs ​that guide social behavior within and between groups. When morality works properly, it enables compassion for those in need, it provides the courage to stand up to bad guys, and it stops us from hurting the people who anger us, and much more. What happens when morality fails to work properly, though?

Can our moral intuitions sometimes impair our social functioning? Are some of our moral intuitions about ourselves and others susceptible to features that aren’t relevan​​t (or shouldn’t be, at least), like the attractiveness of our social partners? Why do some people feel so convicted about moral issues that they think their moral obligations justify hurting other people? Can individuals unlearn such beliefs and learn to treat others better?

With these​ questions in mind, I am currently working on projects examining:

1. The neuroscience of moral cognition (e.g., beliefs), emotion (e.g., guilt), and motivation​​ (e.g., underpinning altruism), and how these facets of morality are shaped by learning.

2. Relations between morality and beauty (e.g., how moral emotions influence aesthe​tic evaluations), as well as their neural substrates and the extent to which they are shared.

3. Disturbances to normal moral functioning in healthy (e.g., supporting sociopolitical violence) and disordered populations (e.g., symptomatic guilt in major depression).​​​