Pranjal Mehta
- Media Contact
- SPN Mentor
I completed my undergraduate studies in psychology at Williams College (Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA) and my Ph.D. in social and personality psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. After completing postdoctoral fellowships at Columbia University (New York, New York, USA) and Erasmus University/Radboud University (the Netherlands), I began an academic staff position at the University of Oregon where I was promoted to Associate Professor. I started at UCL in 2017.
My research interests focus mainly on status hierarchies and stress. Status hierarchies are a part of our everyday social interactions, and people with higher status such as leaders have greater access to resources and can have improved health outcomes. Stressful experiences are common in status hierarchies, but research on stress has traditionally been separate from research on social status and power. I study both of these topics together using tools and theories from social-personality psychology and behavioural neuroendocrinology. I also study diversity (sex/gender, minoritised social identities) through the lens of social hierarchy and stress. I study these topics in experimental laboratory studies (e.g., by manipulating biological factors, social status, or stress) as well as naturalistic field studies (e.g., organisational hierarchies, real-world competitions).
Primary Interests:
- Aggression, Conflict, Peace
- Applied Social Psychology
- Emotion, Mood, Affect
- Evolution and Genetics
- Gender Psychology
- Helping, Prosocial Behavior
- Intergroup Relations
- Interpersonal Processes
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Neuroscience, Psychophysiology
- Organizational Behavior
- Personality, Individual Differences
Note from the Network: The holder of this profile has certified having all necessary rights, licenses, and authorization to post the files listed below. Visitors are welcome to copy or use any files for noncommercial or journalistic purposes provided they credit the profile holder and cite this page as the source.
Image Gallery
Video Gallery
Emotion and Hormones
Journal Articles:
- Akinola, M., Page-Gould, E., Mehta, P. H., & Liu, Z. (2018). Hormone-diversity fit: Collective testosterone moderates the effect of diversity on group performance. Psychological Science, 29(6), 859-867.
- Carré, J. M., & Mehta, P. H. (2011). Importance of considering testosterone-cortisol interactions in predicting human aggression and dominance. Aggressive Behavior, 37(6), 489-491.
- Josephs, R. A., Mehta, P. H., & Carre, J. M. (2011). Gender and social environment modulate the effects of testosterone on social behavior: Comment on Eisenegger et al. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(1), 509-510.
- Josephs, R. A., Sellers, J. G., Newman, M. L., & Mehta, P. H. (2006). The mismatch effect: When testosterone and status are at odds. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(6), 999-1013.
- Knight, E. L., McShane, B. B., Kutlikova, H. H., Morales, P. J., Christian, C. B., Harbaugh, W. T., Mayr, U., Ortiz, T. L., Gilbert, K., Ma-Kellams, C., Riečanský, I., Watson, N. V., Eisenegger, C., Lamm, C., Mehta, P. H., & Carré, J. M. (2020). Weak and variable effects of exogenous testosterone on cognitive reflection test performance in three experiments: Commentary on Nave, Nadler, Zava, and Camerer (2017). Psychological Science, 31(7), 890-897.
- Knight, E. L., Morales, P. J., Christian, C. B., Prasad, S., Harbaugh, W. T., Mehta, P. H., & Mayr, U. (2022). The causal effect of testosterone on men’s competitive behavior is moderated by basal cortisol and cues to an opponent’s status: Evidence for a context-dependent dual-hormone hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 123(4), 693-716.
- Mehta, P. H., & Beer, J. S. (2010). Neural mechanisms of the testosterone-aggression relation: The role of orbitofrontal cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 22, 2357-2368.
- Mehta, P. H., & Gosling, S. D. (2008). Bridging human and animal research: A comparative approach to studies of personality and health. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 22(5), 651-661.
- Mehta, P. H., Jones, A. C., & Josephs, R. A. (2008). The social endocrinology of dominance: Basal testosterone predicts cortisol changes and behavior following victory and defeat. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(6), 1078-1093.
- Mehta, P. H., & Josephs, R. A. (2010). Testosterone and cortisol jointly regulate dominance: Evidence for a dual-hormone hypothesis. Hormones and Behavior, 58, 898-906.
- Mehta, P. H., & Josephs, R. A. (2006). Testosterone change after losing predicts the decision to compete again. Hormones and Behavior, 50, 684-692.
- Mehta, P. H., Wuerrhman, E., & Josephs, R. A (2009). When are low testosterone levels advantageous? The moderating role of individual versus intergroup competition. Hormones and Behavior, 56, 158-162.
Other Publications:
- Mehta, P. H., & Josephs, R. A. (2011). Social endocrinology: Hormones and social motivation. In D. Dunning (Ed.), The Handbook of Social Motivation. New York: Psychology Press.
Courses Taught:
- Current Issues in Attitudes Research
- Hormones and Behaviour
- Managerial Negotiations
- Personality Psychology
- Psychology Research Methods
- Social Psychology
- Social Psychoneuroendocrinology
Pranjal Mehta
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences
University College London
26 Bedford Way, 420
London WC1H0AP
United Kingdom
- Phone: +44 20 7679 8364
