Dr. James Hillman
Affiliations
Assistant Professor
Contact information
Web presence
Background
Educational Background
Post Doctoral Fellowship The Ohio State University, 2026
Ph.D. Psychology, Queen's University, 2024
M.Sc. Psychology, Queen's University, 2019
B.Sc. Psychology, Queen's University, 2016
Biography
I completed my doctoral studies at Queen's University in the Mac Lab studying belonging and decision making. Afterword I was a SSHRC funded post doctoral researcher at The Ohio State University working in the Attitudes and Persuasion Lab on various projects relating to attitude extremity and extremism. I'm currently expanding the focus of my work on social cognition using a shared reality and social verification framework.
I am currently accepting applications for undergraduate thesis students and graduate students. Feel free to contact me if you're interested in being involved in the lab.
Research
Areas of Research
I study how people's needs for both understanding and belonging guide their interactions with others, particularly during conflict. This program of research explores many aspects of disagreement, such as language use, relationship roles, belief strength, and validation-seeking. The goal of this work is to help foster more collaborative disagreement between people and bridge ideological and communication divides.
Information Engagement
My research also focuses on how people engage with information and media. In particular, I study motivated and unmotivated biases in selection and processing of information. I am especially interested in how news and other informational media can be used to affirm verification and belonging needs, and how this tendency can lead to ideological polarization and exacerbate extremist tendencies.
Change and Narratives
Lastly, I'm interested in stories. Stories are among the oldest and most ubiquitous forms of social information. The main focus of this work has been exploring how people use stories (even fictional ones) as social information when they navigate their daily life. I have explored how this may reliably bias people's perceptions of change in a variety of domains and how these biases impact their behaviour such as willingness to engage in social action.
Courses
| Course number | Course title | Semester |
|---|---|---|
| PSYC 447 | Advanced Topics: Social Cognition | Fall 2026 |
| PSYC 345 | Social Psychology | Winter 2027 |
Awards
- Andrew McGhie Dissertation Prize, Queen's University. 2025
- Student Publication Prize: “The Improvement Default: Narrative intuitions of change across domains”, Society for Personality and Social Psychology. 2023
Publications
In the News
- Is Society Getting Better or Worse?. Context and Character. (2025)
- Why do I need validation from others? Here’s how to validate yourself.. Vox. (2025)
- A Psychologist Explains The ‘Balance Theory’ Of Relationship Conflict. Forbes. (2024)
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