Last Thursday the Social, Economic, and Decision Psychology group was attending (and later celebrating) Matt Keller’s successful defense of his doctoral thesis. In his defense talk, Matt discussed the Refined Reverse Correlation Technique, which he developed during his PhD in Basel. This technique allows researchers to visualize the facial representation of stereotypes (e.g., how does a person that might be ostracized look like?) and therefore investigate the consequences of the conclusions that we all draw from other people’s faces. After providing an in-depth introduction into the theory, the method, and the application, Matt successfully answered all of the questions that his PhD committee raised.

We are very happy to congratulate Matt on his successful defense. Matt did not only complete his PhD on that day and received his well-deserved title, he is now also the owner of a very fancy doctoral hat that has been specifically designed for the important occasion. Excitingly, Matt will stay at the Center for Social Psychology as a post-doctoral researcher, where he will continue to work on his research on face perception and teach students in psychology.