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Dr Amanda Rotella

Assistant Professor

Department: Psychology

I am an interdisciplinary researcher broadly interested in human social competition. I'm particularly interested in how socio-ecological factors shape competitive strategies (e.g., inequality, population density, reputation), and how, in-turn, competition influences cooperation, moral behaviours, and fertility decisions.

Before joining Northumbria University as an Assistant Professor in 2022, I was a Lecturer in social and health psychology at Kingston University, London. I also worked as as postdoctoral researcher at the University of Waterloo with Dr Igor Grossmann on a variety of topics, including cultural change, forecasting, and wise reasoning. I previously completed my PhD in 2020 at the University of Guelph, advised by Dr Pat Barclay, investigating when and why people make cooperative decisions.

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Broadly, I am an interdisciplinary researcher interested in how social, situational, and ecological factors shape human social competition (i.e., how, when, and why we compete), and, in-turn, how competition influences people's behaviours and decisions. I am interested in a variety of topics, including cooperation, cultural change, inequality, morality, reputation, social signals, and wise reasoning.

Key Publications

Observation moderates the moral licensing effect: A meta-analytic test of interpersonal and intrapsychic mechanisms, Rotella, A., Jung, J., Chinn, C., Barclay, P. 1 May 2025
Observation moderates the moral licensing effect: A meta-analytic test of interpersonal and intrapsychic mechanisms, Rotella, A., Jung, J., Chinn, C., Barclay, P. 2 May 2025, In: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Moral obligation, autonomous motivation, and vaccine hesitancy: Highlighting moral obligation increases reactance in hesitant individuals, Pavey, L., Rotella, A., Vallee-Tourangeau, G. 1 Nov 2024, In: Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being
The Wise Mind Balances the Abstract and the Concrete, Grossmann, I., Peetz, J., Dorfman, A., Rotella, A., Buehler, R. 28 Jun 2024, In: Open Mind
Insights into the accuracy of social scientists’ forecasts of societal change, Grossmann, I., Rotella, A., Hutcherson, C., Sharpinskyi, K., Varnum, M., Achter, S., Dhami, M., Guo, X., Kara-Yakoubian, M., Mandel, D., Raes, L., Tay, L., Vie, A., Wagner, L., Adamkovic, M., Arami, A., Arriaga, P., Bandara, K., Banik, G., Bartoš, F., Baskin, E., Bergmeir, C., Bialek, M., Børsting, C., Browne, D., Caruso, E., Chen, R., Chie, B., Chopik, W., Collins, R., Cong, C., Conway, L., Davis, M., Day, M., Dhaliwal, N., Durham, J., Dziekan, M., Elbaek, C., Shuman, E., Fabrykant, M., Firat, M., Fong, G., Frimer, J., Gallegos, J., Goldberg, S., Gollwitzer, A., Goyal, J., Graf-Vlachy, L., Gronlund, S., Hafenbrädl, S. 1 Apr 2023, In: Nature Human Behaviour
On the Accuracy, Media Representation, and Public Perception of Psychological Scientists’ Judgments of Societal Change, Hutcherson, C., Sharpinskyi, K., Varnum, M., Rotella, A., Wormley, A., Tay, L., Grossmann, I. 1 Nov 2023, In: American Psychologist
Public engagement on childhood vaccination: Democratizing policy decision-making through public deliberation, Chuong, K., Rotella, A., Cooper, E., O'Doherty, K. 29 Apr 2023, Democratizing Risk Governance, London, Springer
Examining the generalizability of research findings from archival data, Delios, A., Clemente, E., Wu, T., Tan, H., Wang, Y., Gordon, M., Viganola, D., Chen, Z., Dreber, A., Johannesson, M., Pfeiffer, T., Uhlmann, E., Al-Aziz, A., Abraham, A., Trojan, J., Adamkovic, M., Agadullina, E., Ahn, J., Akinci, C., Akkas, H., Albrecht, D., Alzahawi, S., Amaral-Baptista, M., Anand, R., Ang, K., Anseel, F., Aruta, J., Ashraf, M., Baker, B., Bao, X., Baskin, E., Bathula, H., Bauman, C., Bavolar, J., Bayraktar, S., Beckman, S., Benjamin, A., Brown, S., Buckley, J., Buitrago, R., Bution, J., Byrd, N., Carrera, C., Caruso, E., Chen, M., Chen, L., Cicerali, E., Cohen, E., Crede, M., Rotella, A. 26 Jul 2022, In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
A creative destruction approach to replication: Implicit work and sex morality across cultures, Tierney, W., Hardy, J., Ebersole, C., Viganola, D., Clemente, E., Gordon, M., Hoogeveen, S., Haaf, J., Dreber, A., Johannesson, M., Pfeiffer, T., Huang, J., Vaughn, L., DeMarree, K., Igou, E., Chapman, H., Gantman, A., Vanaman, M., Wylie, J., Storbeck, J., Andreychik, M., McPhetres, J., Uhlmann, E., Abraham, A., Adamkovic, M., Adam-Troian, J., Agadullina, E., Akkas, H., Amir, D., Anne, M., Arbeau, K., Arnestad, M., Aruta, J., Ashraf, M., Azar, O., Baker, B., Baník, G., Barbosa, S., Mendes, A., Baskin, E., Bauman, C., Bavolar, J., Beckman, S., Bendixen, T., Benjamin, A., Berkers, R., Bhattacharjee, A., Bodily, S., Bottom, V., Rotella, A. 1 Mar 2021, In: Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Increasing Population Densities Predict Decreasing Fertility Rates Over Time: A 174-Nation Investigation, Rotella, A., Varnum, M., Sng, O., Grossmann, I. 1 Sep 2021, In: American Psychologist

PGR Supervision

Aashira Sial The ‘Mean Girl’ effect: Investigating how economic inequality fosters competition and aggression in women Start Date: 01/10/2024

Qualifications

Psychology PhD June 30 2020
Psychology MSc September 15 2015
Biological Sciences BSc (Hons) June 07 2011

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