I’m a social psychologist, behavioral researcher, and lab/people manager that believes in the ability of data to help us make better decisions and craft better behavioral interventions. I became interested in social psychology when pursuing an undergraduate degree in fashion merchandising and realizing how much of the way we communicate with and influence one another is happening completely outside of conscious awareness.
From there, I pivoted to the study of social psychology, running and working on studies related to consumer psychology, social influence, marketing, motivation, goals, and persuasion. Over my academic career, I worked in 4 different labs at the University of Georgia, the MIT Sloan School of Management, and Duke University on more than 100 research studies.
After the 2016 election, I decided to apply my background in persuasion to a career in politics. I set out to gain experience and education in political science by studying political psychology, immersing myself in the academic literature, and working as a campaign manager for a county commissioner candidate pro-bono in the 2018 election. These experiences helped me to understand how my existing skillset could be harnessed to influence and study political outcomes.
After graduating with my PhD in 2018, I worked as the Associate Director of Research and then the Director of Research at Sister District Action Network for almost 5 years. There we studied interventions to get people to register to vote, turn out to vote, and to vote for specific candidates or causes, as well as interventions that make people more likely to donate to candidates and to volunteer for a candidate. We also delved into archival research, using existing voter and candidate records to explore things like ballot roll-off and how it impacts state legislative candidates.
After Sister District, I worked at Galvanize USA/Action as the Research Director for about a year. There, my team focused on developing and testing effective messaging and advertising to move moderate white women to vote for progress and support prosocial stances on issues.
In my spare time, I throw pottery, do ALL the fiber crafts, play a lot of board games, hang out with my pittie Coco, and enjoy all of the amazing nature in North Carolina/wherever I travel. I was born in the Chicago-area, grew up in Alpharetta, GA, and currently live in Durham, NC.
Mallory K. Roman 