Josh Ackerman
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BIO
Joshua M. Ackerman’s research explores the role that adaptive psychological mechanisms play in behavioral and decision-making contexts. Much of what we think about (or don’t think about), the decisions we make (or not), and the (dis)satisfaction we have with those decisions is driven by a fundamental set of evolved predispositions interacting with subtle features of our current environments. In approaching psychology from this perspective, his research has concentrated on interpersonal cognition how and why people think, prefer, choose, and act with or because of each other. This work has led to projects investigating threat identification, romantic relationships, self-control and risky decisions, and nonconscious effects of touch sensations. Currently, he is interested in understanding how exposure to cues of contagious disease and other socioecological features of one’s environment influence social thinking and behavior.
- Choi, Soyeon, Josh Ackerman. 2026. Infectious disease concerns predict narrow friendship networks. Evolution and Human Behavior
- Becker, D. Vaughn, Kenrick, Douglas T., Neuberg, Steven L., Varnum, Michael E.V., Sundie, Jill M., Pick, Cari M., Sng, Oliver, Williams, Keelah E.G., Ko, Ahra, Josh Ackerman, Krems, Jamie Arona, Griskevicius, Vladas, Li, Yexin J., Maner, Jon K., Schaller, Mark. 2026. Fundamental evolved motives meet environmental threats and opportunities. Evolution and Human Behavior 47(4):106860.
- Oliver Sng, Minyoung Choi, Josh Ackerman. 2025. The ecology of relatedness: How living around family (or not) matters. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 128(6):1243-1270.
- Josh Ackerman, Samore, Theodore, Fessler, Daniel M.T., Kupfer, Tom R., Choi, Soyeon, Merrell, Wilson N., Aarøe, Lene, Aavik, Toivo, Acabado, Stephen, Akello, Grace, Alfian, Ilham N., Al-Shawaf, Laith, Alvarez, Marinés M., Ammann, Jeanine, Arikan, Gizem, Asha, Saiyeda A., Astobiza, Anibal M., Barclay, Pat, Barlow, Fiona Kate, Bizarro, Lisiane, Žeželj, Iris. 2025. I see sick people: Beliefs about sensory detection of infectious disease are largely consistent across cultures. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
- Iris M. Wang, Mallory K. Roman, Gabrielle Goldstein, Josh Ackerman. 2024. Crowding at the ballot box: Germ aversion and voting methods in the 2020 U.S. general election. Political Psychology 45(5):841-852.
- Josh Ackerman, Merrell, Wilson N., Williams, Lawrence E.. 2024. Social Cognition and Consumer Psychology. The Oxford Handbook of Social Cognition, Second Edition (2nd edn)
- Wilson N. Merrell, Josh Ackerman. 2024. Flaunting Porsches or Paris? Comparing the Social Signaling Value of Experiential and Material Conspicuous Consumption. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Shinobu Kitayama, Salvador, Cristina E., Josh Ackerman. 2023. The Germ Aversion Paradox: When Germ Aversion Predicts Reduced Alpha Power Suppression to Norm Violations. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology 5:100150.
- Shinobu Kitayama, Salvador, Cristina E., Josh Ackerman. 2023. The germ aversion paradox: When germ aversion predicts reduced alpha power suppression to norm violations. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology 5:100150.
- Ackerman, Joshua Maxwell, Sng, Oliver . 2020. Too many people, women, men? The psychological effects of population density and sex ratio. Current Opinion in Psychology 32:38-42.