Christian Vaccaro

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT CHRISTIAN VACCARO

What fascinates me is how social science helps us understand why the same person can behave radically different between one situation and the next. This is because the demands of groups and social contexts are so influential, they sometimes can more accurately predict behavior than any traits of individuals. They can be so powerful that they even override our deepest beliefs, values, and judgements. My appreciation of these social facts shapes my academic career and focus my research on how social interactions between people in real world settings create patterned and stable sets of expectations and demands which shape how people feel and emote, see themselves and others, the decisions they make, and - in turn - how they behave. My research in this area has taken me to a lot of fascinating places and to study lots of interesting people; from grisly mixed martial arts fighters in dingy gyms striving to be the best, to constituents lobbying politicians on timely issues, to role players dressed in medieval costume and equipped with foam weapons seeking a taste of glory, to police, prosecutors, and first responders ensconced in efforts to prevent opioid overdoses, to marijuana users attempting to reduce the likelihood of their arrest or robbery during a drug transaction, and to executives and managers in the nonprofit and public sector engaged in leadership efforts of all types. Learning from these individuals and contexts, varied and unique as they are, helps to paint a picture of how people interacting with each other creates social expectations and demands, and sustain contexts which exert further behavioral influence on them more generally. I love the work I do because the hopeful take-away one can get from it is that when you understand these forces - you can exert a degree of influence over them. And that is an incredibly powerful lesson I will always enjoy sharing with my students at IUP.