Professor Ames's research focuses on social judgment and behavior. He examines how people form impressions of individuals and groups as well as the consequences of these impressions on prosocial behaviors (e.g., trust, cooperation, helping), competitive interaction (e.g., conflict, exploitation, aggression), and justice judgments (e.g., praise, blame, punishment). A central aspect of this work is how people "read minds" to make inferences about what others think, want and feel.