Rebecca Dolgin is an incoming Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Manhattan University (starting fall 2026).

She received her PhD from The New School for Social Research, where she was awarded the Irvin Rock Memorial Award in psychology. Previously she studied social psychology and communications at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and later held senior editorial leadership positions, including executive editor and editor-in-chief.

Rebecca studies the psychology of communication in digital spaces. Her research examines how people understand—and misunderstand—each other in technology-mediated contexts, such as on social media platforms or using AI-assisted communication. She explores how factors like political ideology, perspective-taking, cognitive style, and topic knowledge contribute to miscommunications and how varied interpretations might influence misinformation and polarization.

In a second line of research, she studies how people perceive, interact with, and make judgments about AI, including questions of agency, authorship, responsibility, and trust.

Her work bridges cognitive and social psychology and combines quantitative and qualitative methods to examine how people process messages, infer intentions, and navigate ambiguity online.

In addition to research, she teaches courses in psychology (Learning, Cognition, Lifespan Development, and Theories of Personality) as well as statistics and research methods.

Drawing on her background in journalism and editorial leadership, Rebecca is committed to making psychological science accessible to a broader audience. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of Psychology Today’s blog, The Public Sphere, which explores current events through the lens of social, political, and cognitive psychology.