Jacqueline Kamei

Jacqueline Kamei is a fourth-year psychology major and transfer student from Glendale Community College with an Associate in Arts for Transfer Degree in Psychology. Broadly, she is interested in researching the factors that contribute to the growth and development of more prosocial aspects of human nature, such as our capacity for compassion, empathy, altruism, and prosocial behavior, and the implications these findings may have for our general behavior towards others and more macro-level changes that could impact societal issues. As a research assistant in the Social and Affective Neuroscience (SAN) Lab under a study headed by graduate students Maria Naclerio and Bear Goldstein, Jacqueline will investigate how the experience of awe influences compassionate love for humanity and prosocial behavior. The results of this study may have implications for how addressing prosocial behavior and compassionate love at the individual level could have profound effects on a societal level, as humans exist in interconnected social networks with others. Jacqueline is grateful to Dr. Eisenberger for all of her guidance, support, and insight and for allowing her to work on such a meaningful and exciting study. She would also like to thank Maria and Bear for all of the research skills and techniques they are teaching her. Inspired by the numerous professors who have helped her grow as an academic and a person, she plans to pursue a PhD in psychology specializing in social psychology. She aspires to become a professor who inspires her students to become critical thinkers and fosters more selfless and altruistic traits in humanity.