Professor Young’s research focuses on how face memory and the decoding of emotional expressions are shaped by contextual and situational factors. For example, his research on face recognition investigates how inter-group distinctions, perceived motives, and the social context in which a face is encountered compel individuals to carefully attend to and remember certain people (e.g., in-group members) or disregard and poorly encode others (e.g., out-group members). Similarly, he studies how social contexts and motives influence how accurately individuals decode emotional expressions. Separately, his research also explores how we perceive the important people in our lives and how losing social connections tunes our attention to social information that may facilitate forging new relationships. Collectively, his research reflects his overarching interest in the dynamic and reciprocal interactions between cognition, motivation, and emotion.
To inquire about professional collaboration or undergraduate research opportunities please email Steven.Young@baruch.cuny.edu