Samuel Johnson, University of Waterloo

Research

social cognition Decision-making Judgment moral psychology moral judgment prosocial behaviour Analogy Causal reasoning

Latest funding

From narratives to choices: Advancing semantic topic modeling for mapping cultural narratives to social decision making
SSHRC · 2025 · Co-investigator
$398,489
The Uncertain Future and the Affective Imagination
SSHRC · 2024 · Principal investigator
$74,108
Narrative Representations in Decision-Making Under Uncertainty: Deconstructing the Currency of Thought
NSERC · 2023 · Principal investigator
$12,500

All 7 grants and awards

From narratives to choices: Advancing semantic topic modeling for mapping cultural narratives to social decision making

Co-investigatorSSHRC2025Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Grossmann, Igor

$398,489

The Uncertain Future and the Affective Imagination

Principal investigatorSSHRC2024Open Research Area

Principal investigators: Johnson, Samuel

$74,108

Narrative Representations in Decision-Making Under Uncertainty: Deconstructing the Currency of Thought

Principal investigatorNSERC2023Discovery Launch Supplement

Principal investigators: Johnson, Samuel

$12,500

Virtue Alignment Theory: A Unified Approach to Moral Judgment and Action

Principal investigatorSSHRC2023Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Johnson, Samuel G.B.

Keywords: moral psychology; social cognition; moral judgment; prosocial behaviour

$50,556

Narrative Representations in Decision-Making Under Uncertainty: Deconstructing the Currency of Thought

Principal investigatorNSERC2023Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Principal investigators: Johnson, Samuel

Keywords: mental representation; decision-making; narratives; causal reasoning; analogy; reasoning; judgment; intuitive theories

$112,000

Virtue Alignment Theory: A Unified Approach to Moral Judgment and Action

Principal investigatorSSHRC2023Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Johnson, Samuel G.B.

Keywords: moral psychology; social cognition; moral judgment; prosocial behaviour

$114,361

Mental Task Management Theory

Principal investigatorSSHRC2023Insight Development Grant

Principal investigators: Johnson, Samuel

Keywords: judgment; decision-making; time management; heuristics; procrastination; economic preferences; memory; social cognition; experimental psychology; rationality

$62,989

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

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Applying for

Mention their SSHRC grant from 2024

Subject: Prospective PhD student: social cognition Dear Professor Johnson, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. Your research on social cognition connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your SSHRC-funded project "The Uncertain Future and the Affective Imagination" (2024), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]