RESEARCH

My social-cognitive psychological research program currently focuses on two broad topics—morality & misinformation—with recent work primarily situated within the political domain. Linked via the overarching goal of identifying pathways for reducing sociopolitical divisions, my various research streams address the following questions:

Morality: Moral Judgments & Perceptions. How do people form moral judgments of right and wrong? How do our identities & the stances we take on contentious issues shape our moral judgments of what is right vs. wrong and our perceptions of who is moral vs. immoral? What antecedents precede and consequences follow from moral (mis)perceptions of sociopolitical ingroups and outgroups?

Misinformation: Truth Judgments & Information Sharing. How do our identities & the stances we take on contentious issues shape our judgments of information as true vs. false? How do they affect our decisions to share relevant information?


See below for more information on my various lines of research and a list of relevant publications for each topic.

Morality

moral JUDGMENTS
& Perceptions

How do people judge whether an action is morally right or wrong? Do our identities and the stances we take on contentious issues shape our moral judgments of what is right and wrong and who is moral and immoral?

Given the centrality of harm in morality, knowledge of how people resolve moral problems, the conditions under which moral judgments shift, and the factors that shape moral perceptions of outgroups is crucial for understanding responses to policies with potential implications for harm and for identifying moral sources of sociopolitical conflict.

In this line of work, I primarily use a computational model of moral-dilemma judgments–the CNI model of moral judgments and decisions–to quantify morally-relevant behavioral response patterns. My research (1) examines individual and contextual factors shaping people’s judgments of moral acceptability and endorsements of moral actions, (2) investigates how political identity shapes moral judgments and perceptions of political ingroups and outgroups, and (3) addresses limitations of dominant paradigms in moral psychology.

For an overview of research relevant to this topic, see:

  • Social impressions and moral-dilemma judgments (2025)

    Ng, N. L. & Gawronski, B. Social Psychological and Personality Science. [doi] [osf]

    Moral-dilemma judgments (2025)

    Gawronski, B., Ng, N. L., & Dale, M. T. Handbook of Ethics and Social Psychology.

    Beyond trolleyology: The CNI model of moral-dilemma responses (2024)

    Gawronski, B. & Ng, N. L. Personality and Social Psychology Review. [doi][osf]

    Associations of aversive (‘dark’) traits and affiliative (‘light’) traits with moral-dilemma judgments: A preregistered exploratory analysis using the CNI model (2024)

    Ng, N. L., Neumann, C. S., Luke, D. M., & Gawronski, B. Journal of Research in Personality. [doi] [osf]

    Thinking about reasons for one’s choices increases sensitivity to moral norms in moral-dilemma judgments (2023)

    Ng, N. L., Luke, D. M., & Gawronski, B. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. [doi] [osf]

    Moral judgment under uncertainty: A CNI model analysis (2023)

    Ng, N. L., Luke, D. M., & Gawronski, B. European Journal of Social Psychology. [doi] [osf]

    Prediction of dishonest behavior using the CNI model of moral dilemma judgment: A registered report (2022)

    Ng, N. L., Luke, D. M., & Gawronski, B. Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology. [doi] [osf]

Misinformation

Truth Judgments
& Information Sharing

How do people judge whether the information they have received is true or false? What are the factors determining whether they share such information?

Even in a time when sociopolitical divisions seem particularly pronounced, there is a general consensus that misinformation threatens the healthy functioning of democracies. Knowledge of how people judge the truth of the information they are exposed to and decide whether to share it is crucial for combating misinformation.

In this line of work, I primarily use a signal detection approach to mathematically quantify people’s (1) ability to discern between true and false information and (2) general tendency to accept information. My research focuses on uncovering (1) factors shaping misinformation susceptibility and decisions to share information and (2) ways to reduce biases in truth judgments.

For representative articles on this topic, see:

  • Susceptibility to misinformation as a signal detection problem (2026)

    Gawronski, B., Ng, N. L., Nahon, L. S., Hubeny, T. J., & Wurzinger, F. M. European Review of Social Psychology. [doi] [osf]

    Who falls for misinformation and why? (2025)

    Hubeny, T. J., Nahon, L. S., Ng, N. L., & Gawronski, B. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. [doi] [osf]

    A framework for the development and evaluation of misinformation interventions (2024)

    Gawronski, B., Nahon, L. S., & Ng, N. L. Nature Human Behaviour. [doi]


    Debunking three myths about misinformation (2024)

    Gawronski, B., Nahon, L. S., & Ng, N. L. Current Directions in Psychological Science. [doi]



    Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines: A signal detection analysis (2024)

    Nahon, L. S., Ng, N. L., & Gawronski, B. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. [doi] [osf]



    Truth sensitivity and partisan bias in responses to misinformation (2023)

    Gawronski, B., Ng, N. L., & Luke, D. M. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. [doi] [osf]


    Debunking misinformation about a causal link between vaccines and autism: Two preregistered tests of dual-process versus single-process predictions (with conflicting results) (2022)

    Gawronski, B., Brannon, S. M., & Ng, N. L. Social Cognition. [doi] [osf]

OTHER TOPICS

My earlier research touched on other topics in social cognition and forensic psychology.

  • Is less of an unhealthy ingredient healthy or unhealthy? Effects of mere co-occurrence and quantitative relations on attribute judgments (2021)

    Gawronski, B., Luke, D. M., & Ng, N. L. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. [doi] [osf]

    Child maltreatment and protective assets in the development of internalising and externalising problems: A study of youth offenders (2021)

    Li, D., Ng, N., Chu, C. M., Oei, A., Chng, G., & Ruby, K. Journal of Adolescence. [doi]

    Relationship between adverse childhood experiences and substance use in youth offenders in Singapore (2021)

    Oei, A., Chu, C. M., Li, D., Ng, N., Yeo, C., & Ruby, K. Child Abuse & Neglect. [doi]

    Substance use among youth probationers: Comparisons between the United States and Singapore (2020)

    Li, D., Ng, N., Anant, N., Chu, C. M., Oei, A., Chng, G., & Ruby, K. In Prepared for Evolving Threats: The Role of Behavioural Sciences in Law Enforcement and Public Safety - Selected Essays from the Asian Conference of Criminal and Operations Psychology 2019 (p. 35). World Scientific. [doi]