Attitudes & Interpersonal Understanding Lab

Y. Andre Wang (he/him)

Lab Director

I am an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and the director of the Attitudes and Interpersonal Understanding Lab. My research examines how people connect abstract ideas to concrete experiences in a variety of domains, including impression formation, social inferences, empathy, and quantitative reasoning.

Leif D. Anderson (he/him)

PhD Student

Hey! My name is Leif (Lay-f) and I am a PhD student working with Dr. Y. Andre Wang in the Attitudes & Interpersonal Understanding (AIU) Lab at UTSC. I broadly study how people reason about empathy, and more specifically (1) how people evaluate empathizers based on the target of empathy, (2) people's moral beliefs about when and with whom they should versus should not empathize, and (3) what form(s) of empathy people actually want to receive. I am also interested in how people conceptualize and measure empathy, along with what motivations underlie people's decisions to empathize with others.

Beyond empathy, I also study how people think they should regulate their emotions when learning about uncomfortable topics and the role they believe different levels of government should play in helping them regulate their emotions.

If you are interested in talking about anything empathy, are curious about what life is like as a social psychology PhD, or would like to learn more about applying to grad school, please email me at leif.anderson@mail.utoronto.ca.

Gale Chong (she/her)

PhD Student

Hi! I’m Gale, a first-year PhD student in the Attitudes and Interpersonal Understanding Lab! :-) My general research interests include intergroup dynamics, diversity, prejudice, and stereotypes. Specifically, I am curious about intergroup emotions, empathy, and understanding; formation of social groups and categories; and prejudice and discrimination at multiple levels of scale (e.g., individual, cultural, institutional). Across these interests, I aim to focus on the interactions between individuals and context and on the understudied perspectives of minority groups.

Hi, everyone! I’m Ina (ee-nah), and I’m the Lab Manager of the AIU Lab. I’m a fifth-year student completing my Specialist program in Mental Health Studies, with a Minor in Applied Statistics. I love working with data and connecting it with contextual information to uncover the stories behind the numbers! I’m also passionate about social psychology and understanding how everyday interactions shape people’s experiences and behaviours. At the AIU Lab, I primarily oversee back-end operations and help keep everything running smoothly behind the scenes.