My research focuses on categorical and behavioral boundary processes, and the causes and consequences of violence, and cognition. These interests are reflected in my current book project as well as my published papers and ongoing research. I examine three aspects of decision-making in violent contexts in these works. First, I study wartime defection, or how people shift stances from support for state violence to resistance and saving behaviors within the same violent episode. Second, I investigate the relationship between social boundaries and political behaviors, with a specific interest in how racial, ethnic, and religious cleavages inform and are transformed by extreme violence such as genocide. Third, I analyze the relationship between cognition and perception at the micro-level of decision-making on violence. Here, I focus on how timing influences cognitive adaptation to violence and how shifts in social perception mediate this process. To view my publications, please visit www.alizaluft.com.
