Postdoctoral Scholar
Cameron Hecht is a psychologist in the Population Research Center and Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. His research seeks to identify psychological processes that contribute to societal problems, to develop theory-based interventions that target these processes, and to understand when and why these interventions are most effective. His work draws on theories of identity, motivation, and persuasion to understand and change how individuals experience societal institutions, such as schools and workplaces. In his work, he develops and tests interventions that (a) address the culturally socialized beliefs that can stand in the way of people’s success and (b) influence the individuals who hold power within and shape the environments that people inhabit. Using this approach, he tests basic questions about how people understand and respond to their social worlds while also developing novel and scalable solutions to pressing societal problems.