Eric Mercadante

My research investigates how and why people act unethically to attain indicators of social rank (e.g., wealth, power, status) using multiple methods, ranging from self- and other-report surveys in cross-sectional and longitudinal designs to big-data approaches like natural language processing and analysis of large archival datasets. I address this topic from both the perspective of the individual actors seeking these rewards, with a focus on the interplay between personality and emotion, and the observers who evaluate those actors and their behaviors, from close others to society at large.