Erica J. Boothby

Erica Boothby, Ph.D., is a psychologist who studies social connection and the psychological barriers that inhibit it. She also teaches an award winning class on negotiation at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and leads data-driven workshops on negotiation, conversation, and networking.

Feeling socially disconnected or excluded has many detrimental effects—making employees feel alienated, managers feel burned out, and people from underrepresented groups feel like their voices aren’t heard. Erica’s research aims to illuminate what makes people feel more (or less) connected, and what we can do to improve people’s feelings of connection and inclusion. She takes a multi-method approach, using laboratory, longitudinal, online, and dyadic experiments, as well as large scale interventions and field experiments in partnership with organizations. Ultimately, her work aims to improve people’s social lives, in the workplace and beyond.

Some of Erica’s research interests are: early-stage relationship development (e.g., meeting colleagues, making friends), diversity in networking, metaperception, conversation, shared experience, and prosocial behavior. Her work aims to advance our understanding of human behavior while having direct implications for the kinds of real-world challenges people face every day in their roles as friends, romantic partners, colleagues, managers, and consumers.

Erica’s research has been published in top academic journals, including Psychological Science, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and has featured in media outlets such as Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, National Public Radio, and The Washington Post. Her work was recently covered extensively on NPR’s Hidden Brain.