Lab Director
William J. Chopik, Ph.D.
chopik@wustl.edu
Bill received his B.S. in psychology and sociology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 2015. Bill is currently an Associate Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences in the Social/Personality area at Washington University in St. Louis.
Postdoctoral Scholars
Rachel Blickman
blickman@wustl.edu
Rachel is a T32 Postdoctoral Research Fellow co-mentored by Dr. William Chopik and Dr. Tammy English. She received her B.S. in Psychology from Boise State University and her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin. Rachel’s work examines how couples sustain happy, healthy relationships over time, particularly during major life transitions and unexpected hardships. She is especially curious about the psychological resources that foster relational closeness when times feel tough, and how these processes fit within broader frameworks of health and well-being across the lifespan.
Graduate Students
Ben Hardin, M.A.
ben.h@wustl.edu
Ben is a 4th year PhD student in Psychological and Brain Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. His research seeks to understand the nature of morally valued character traits (e.g., patience, honesty, compassion), addressing questions like: how and when are moral character traits expressed in the context of everyday life? How do these traits influence peoples’ lives and relationships? And how can we best measure individual differences in morality? Ben received his Master’s from Wake Forest University in 2023, and his Bachelor’s from the University of Mississippi in 2021.
Aislinn Low, M.A.
Lowa@wustl.edu
Aislinn is a third-year PhD student in the Social & Personality Psychology program at Washington University in St. Louis. She received her B.S. in Neuroscience and Behavior from the University of New Hampshire in 2022, spent two years working as a postgraduate associate in the Yale University School of Medicine, and earned her M.A. in Psychology from Michigan State University in 2026. Aislinn is broadly interested in the intersection of personality, well-being, and close relationships, including how we perceive our own and our close others’ traits, how close others factor into our health and well-being, and how such individual differences and interpersonal processes, in turn, shape our relationships.
Friends of the Lab
We have a proud legacy of having a lot of undergraduate research assistants, collaborators, and friends that have worked on lab-related projects over the years. Here is just a short list of people that at one point were formally part of the lab!
David Johnson, Ph.D., Former Postdoctoral Fellow
Rebekka Weidmann, Ph.D., Former Postdoctoral Fellow
Andrew Defever, Ph.D., Former Graduate Student
Katie Leahy, Ph.D., Former Graduate Student
Jeewon Oh, Ph.D., Former Graduate Student
Mariah Purol, Ph.D., Former Graduate Student
Hyewon Yang, Ph.D., Former Graduate Student
Manon van Scheppingen, Ph.D., Former Visiting Scholar
Ji Hyun Lee, Ph.D., Former Graduate Student Affiliate
Lindsay Ackerman, B.S., Former Undergrad Research Assistant
Joshua Confer, B.S., Former Undergrad Research Assistant
Leo Norling, B.S., Former Undergrad Research Assistant
Logan Gibson, B. S., Former Undergrad Research Assistant
Ethel Xu, B.S., Former Undergrad Research Assistant
Zach Sundin, B.S., Former Undergrad Research Assistant
Ali Kalam, B.S., Former Undergrad Research Assistant and Fulbright Fellow
Rachel Bach, B.S., Former SROP Student
Nyla Wofford, B.S., Former SROP Student
Jhante’ Rivet, B.S., Former SROP Student
Adonaia-Ambition Christian Patterson, B.S., Former SROP Student
Michelle Vargas, Former SROP Student
Marcus Ward, Former SROP Student
Close Relationships Lab 