Wilson Merrell Ph.D.

Wilson Merrell, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral researcher within the Center for the Experimental-Philosophical Study of Discrimination at Aarhus University in Denmark. He received his doctorate in Social Psychology from the University of Michigan. His research focuses on how people manage threats and opportunities ubiquitous to our social world. For example, one line of research asks what psychological processes underpin how you weigh the benefits of making friends at a party against the costs of potentially getting sick while you're there. Another tackles why some people risk punishment to stand up for the underprivileged while others work to increase social inequality with (seemingly) little to no personal benefit.

Prior to graduate school, he tried on hats as an economic consultant, tennis coach, and part-time carney before settling on a career in social psychology. He grew up in Poughkeepsie, NY, a city best known for one of the longest walking bridges in the world, Vassar College, an eponymous episode of "Friends," and not a whole lot else.