Piercarlo Valdesolo is an Associate Professor and Chair of Psychological Science at Claremont McKenna College and the director of CMC’s Moral Emotions and Trust Lab (MEATLab). His research studies the form and function of distinct emotional states, and the role of emotions in our social and moral lives. His work asks questions like: How do awe and wonder facilitate knowledge acquisition and learning? For whom do we feel compassion and why? How does gratitude influence our well-being?

Piercarlo has a B.A. from Amherst College and a Ph.D. in social and personality psychology from Northeastern University. His work has been featured in news outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR’s Talk of the Nation, Time, and USA Today, and he is a regular contributor to Scientific American. He has been named a rising star by the Association of Psychological Science and is co-author of The Wall Street Journal spotlight psychology bestseller Out of Character.