Dr. Samantha Joel

Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
University of Utah
 

About Samantha

Samantha Joel worked as a post-doc in Dr. Eastwick's laboratory at UT Austin from 2015-2016. She studies how people make decisions about their romantic relationships. For example, what sort of factors do people take into consideration when they try to decide whether to pursue a potential date, invest in a new relationship, or break up with a romantic partner? In her research, she draws from the field of judgment and decision making (JDM) to better understand ways in which relationship decisions are similar to other types of decisions, as well as ways in which they might be unique. Read more about her laboratory here. 

Selected Publications

Joel, S., Spielmann, S. S., & MacDonald, G. (in press). Motivated use of numerical anchors for judgments relevant to the self. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Joel, S. & Eastwick, P. W. (2018). Intervening earlier: An upstream approach to improving relationship quality. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 5, 25-32. [Download Article]

Joel, S., Eastwick, P. W., & Finkel, E. J. (2018). Open sharing of data on close relationships and other sensitive social psychological topics: Challenges, tools, and future directions. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 1, 86-94. [Download Article]

Joel, S., Eastwick, P. W., & Finkel, E. J. (2017). Is romantic desire predictable? Machine learning applied to initial romantic attraction. Psychological Science, 28, 1478-1489. [Download Article] [Data] [Materials] [Dr. Joel's Tedx Talk] [Dr. Eastwick's BYURadio Interview]

Robinson, J. S., Joel, S., & Plaks, J. E (2015). Empathy for the group versus indifference toward the victim: Effects of anxious and avoidant attachment on moral judgment. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 56, 139-152. Download

Day, L. C., Muise, A., Joel, S., & Impett, E. A. (2015). To do it or not to do it? How communally motivated people navigate sexual interdependence dilemmas. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41, 791-804. Download

Joel, S., Teper, R., & MacDonald, G. (2014). People overestimate their willingness to reject potential romantic partners by overlooking their concern for others. Psychological Science, 25, 2233-2240. Download

Joel, S., MacDonald, G., & Plaks, J. E. (2013). Romantic relationships conceptualized as a judgment and decision-making domain. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22, 461-465. Download

Joel, S., Gordon, A. M., Impett, E. A., MacDonald, G., & Keltner, D. (2013). The things you do for me: Perceptions of a romantic partner’s investments promote gratitude and commitment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39, 1333-1345. Download