Truman School of Government and Public Affairs

Erin Hennes is the director of the Social Cognition of Social Change (SCSC) Laboratory located in the Department of Psychological Sciences and Harry S Truman School of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Missouri.

Research in the SCSC lab focuses on cognitive and motivated biases in information processing and person perception, particularly in the context of contemporary social issues such as environmental sustainability, and racial and gender inequality. Much of this research examines how concern for the maintenance of social stability and preferences for restorative vs. progressive change influence cognitive processes.

Translational research develops and examines the efficacy (and potential unintended consequences) of interventions that highlight status-quo injustices.

Hennes is also the director of the SuperPower Project, an NIH R01-funded interdisciplinary team committed to the development of new methods for supporting scientific best practice, with a focus on sample size determination.