Dr. Hodges studies how people form an understanding of other people. She's interested in the role that the self, context, and other sources of information play in forming that understanding. One of her primary research interests is in people’s attempts to construct someone else’s perspective—when they are motivated to do this, how accurate they are, how strategies such as social comparison and projection are used in the process, and what consequences result from taking someone else's perspective. In another line of work, Dr. Hodges investigates social comparisons, with a focus on how people use information about themselves in making these comparisons. In her work, Dr. Hodges seeks to acknowledge both the cleverness and shortcomings of human cognitive strategies. 

Dr. Hodges will not be accepting new graduate students for Fall 2025.

Selected Publications:

Hodges, S. D., Kezer, M., Hall, J.A., & Vorauer, J. D. (2024). Exploring actual and presumed links between accurately inferring others’ minds and prosocial outcomes. Journal of Intelligence, 12 (2): Article 13.

Berlamont, L., Hodges, S. D., Sels, L., Ceulemans, E., Ickes, W., Hinnekens, C., & Verhofstadt, L. (2023). Motivation and empathic accuracy during conflict interactions in couples: It’s complicated! Motivation and Emotion, 47, 208-228.

Denning, K.R., & Hodges, S.D. (2022). When polarization triggers out-group "counter-projection" across the political divide. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 48, 638-656.

Hodges, S.D., Denning, K.R., & Lieber, S. (2018). Perspective taking: Motivation and impediment to shared reality. Current Opinion in Psychology, 23, 405-410.

Sassenrath, C., Hodges, S.D., & Pfattheicher, S. (2016). It's all about the self: When perspective taking backfires. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 25, 405-410.

Hodges, S.D., Lewis, K.L., & Ickes, W. (2015). The matter of other minds: Empathic accuracy and the factors that influence it. In P. Shaver, M. Mikulincer (Eds.), J.A. Simpson, & J. Dovidio (Assoc. Eds.), APA handbook of personality and social psychology: Vol 2. Interpersonal relations and group processes (pp.319-348). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Christian, C., Lee, I., & Hodges, S.D. (2014). From East to West: Accessibility and bias in self-other comparative judgments. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 1391-1405.

Smith, J.L., Lewis, K.L., Hawthorne, L., & Hodges, S.D. (2013). When trying hard isn't natural: Women's belonging with and motivation for male-dominated STEM fields as a function of effort expenditure concerns. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39, 131-143.

Lewis, K.L., Hodges, S.D., Laurent, S.M., Srivastava, S., & Biancarosa, G. (2012). Reading between the minds: The use of stereotypes in empathic accuracy. Psychological Science, 23, 1040-1046.

Hodges, S. D., Kiel, K. J., Kramer, A. D. I. K., Veach, D., & Villanueva, R. (2010). Giving birth to empathy: The effects of similar experience on empathic accuracy, empathic concern, and perceived empathy. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 398-409.