Ahra Ko
- ahrako@wharton.upenn.edu
- 0000-0002-7295-1097
- Google Scholar
What enables humans to thrive amid constant change? From global crises like pandemics to personal transitions such as becoming a parent,
life presents us with ever-shifting demands. Successfully navigating this dynamic landscape represents one of the fundamental challenges any psychological
system must solve: how to maintain coherent functioning while continuously adapting to novel circumstances.
My research highlights the remarkable flexibility of the human mind. In response to new demands, our minds dynamically reallocate priorities, reassess
threats and opportunities, and revise strategies to achieve emerging goals. I aim to advance a science of psychological flexibility as a functional
recalibration system, investigating how it coordinates shifts in motivation, cognition, emotion, and behavior, drawing on data across intrapersonal,
interpersonal, and cross-cultural levels of analysis.
My work explores three core areas: (1) the mechanisms that shape shifts in priorities and how they recalibrate the way we perceive and navigate
the social world; (2) the functions of this flexibility in managing goals and affordances; and (3) its implications for psychological well-being
and behavior change. Understanding these dynamics reveals a core feature of human psychology and offers insight into how people can more effectively
navigate today’s increasingly diverse, complex, and rapidly changing world.
CURRENT ACADEMIC POSITIONS
The Wharton School and the School of Arts and Sciences,
University of Pennsylvania
Department of Psychology, Arizona State University
education
Honors & Awards
publications
13. Ko, A. & Neuberg, S. L. (2025) Ecological affordances across life stages: An affordance management framework. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. [Target article] [Paper]
12. Duckworth, A. L., Ko, A., Milkman, K. L … & Van den Bulte, C. (2025) Nudging teachers: A megastudy to increase math achievement among 3 million elementary school students. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(13), e2418616122. [Paper]| [OSF]
11. Ko, A., Neuberg, S. L., Pick, C. M., Varnum, M. E. W., & Becker, D. V. (2024) Responses to political partisans are shaped by a COVID-sensitive disease avoidance psychology: A longitudinal investigation of functional flexibility. American Psychologist. [Paper] | [OSF] Postdoctoral Award from the Human Behavior and Evolution Society (2025)
10. Kirsch, A., Kenrick, D. T., Ko, A., Pick, C. M., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2024) Sibling aggression is surprisingly common and sexually egalitarian. Evolution and Human Behavior, 45(2), 214-227. [Paper] | [OSF]
09. Ko, A., Bock, J. E., Ko, J., & Krems, J. A. (2023) Contagious or prosocial? Perceptions of mask-wearers toward Whites and Asians: A cross-cultural comparison during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 17(11), e12880. [Paper] | [OSF]
08. Ko, A., Suh, E. M., Shin, J., & Neuberg, S. L. (2023) Functionally calibrating life satisfaction: The case of mating motives and self-perceived mate value. Journal of Happiness Studies, 24(2), 651-675. [Paper]
07. Pick, C. M., Ko, A., Wormley, A. S., Wiezel, A., Kenrick, D. T., … & Varnum, M. E. W. (2022) Family still matters: Human social motivation during a global pandemic. Evolution and Human Behavior, 43(6), 527-535. [Paper] | [OSF]
06. Pick, C. M., Ko, A., Kenrick, D. T., … & Varnum, M. E. W. (2022) Fundamental social motives measured across forty-two cultures in two waves. Scientific Data, 9(1), 1-12. [Paper] | [OSF]
05. Barlev, M., Ko, A., Krems, J. A., & Neuberg, S. L. (2022) Weight location moderates weight-based self-devaluation and perceived social devaluation in women. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 19485506211060724. [Paper] | [OSF]
04. Krems, J. A., Ko, A., Moon, J. W., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2021) Sexually unrestricted women are perceived as having low self-esteem: First evidence for a pervasive, robust (but unfounded) stereotype. Psychological Science, 32(6), 871-889. [Paper] | [OSF] Top Ten Most Impactful Articles of 2021 from the Association for Psychological Science (2022)
03. Ko, A., Pick, C. M., Kwon, J. Y., Barlev, M., Krems, J. A., Varnum, M. E., ... & Kenrick, D. T. (2020) Family matters: Rethinking the psychology of human social motivation. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(1), 173-201. [Paper] | [OSF] Outstanding Research Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (2020)
02. Becker, D. V., Rheem, H., Pick, C. M., Ko, A., & Lafko, S. R. (2019) Angry faces hold attention: Evidence of attentional adhesion in two paradigms. Progress in Brain Research, 247. [Paper]
01. Ko, A., & Suh, E. M. (2019) Does physical attractiveness buy happiness? Women’s mating motivation and happiness. Motivation and Emotion, 43(1), 1–11. [Paper]
Conference
Symposia
"From Walkability to Pathogens to Seasonality: Multilevel Influences of Ecology on Psychological and Cultural Dynamics" (October, 2024).
Society of Experimental Social Psychology, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Speakers: Ahra Ko (Chair), Shige Oishi, Mark Schaller, Michael Varnum.
“Human values: An integrative perspective” (October, 2023).
Society of Experimental Social Psychology, Madison, Wisconsin.
Speakers: Ahra Ko, Daniel Sznycer, Joshua Jackson, Igor Grossmann.
"COVID, Disease Psychology, and Politics" (June, 2022).
Human Behavior & Evolution Society Conference, Virtual.
Speakers: Ahra Ko (Chair), Michael Bang Peterson, Lene Aarøe, Lei Fan.
"The Invisible Hand of Family: Why and How Kin Matter" (February, 2020).
Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Speakers: Ahra Ko (Co-chair), Debra Lieberman, Oliver Sng, Jonathan Scultz.
Travel Awards
Selected Paper Presentations & Talks
14. Ko, A., Neuberg, S. L., Pick, C. M., Varnum, M. E. W., & Becker, D. V. (2025, June). Politics, Pathogens, and Perception: Tracking Adaptive Shifts in the Behavioral Immune System in Real Time. Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Atlantic City, New Jersey.
13. Ko, A., Duckworth, A. L., & Milkman, K. L. (2024, February). A 140,000-teacher megastudy of email nudges to encourage math progress. Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference, San Diego, California.
12. Ko, A., Pick, C. M., Varnum, M. E. W., & Kenrick, D. T. (2023, October). Valuing motives: A cross-cultural analysis of fundamental social motives in 42 countries before and during the pandemic. Society of Experimental Social Psychology, Madison, Wisconsin.
11. Ko, A., Pick, C. M., Varnum, M. E. W., Becker, D. V., & Neuberg, S. L. (2022, June). Responses to partisans are calibrated by a COVID-sensitive behavioral immune system. Human Behavior & Evolution Society Conference, Virtual.
10. Kirsch, A., Kenrick, D. T., Ko, A., Pick, C. M., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2022, June) Differences in aggression among kin and non-kin. Human Behavior & Evolution Society Conference, Virtual.
09. Cohen, A. B., Moon, J. W., & Ko, A. (2022, May). Individual differences and ecological influences interact to predict anti-atheist prejudice. APS Annual Conference, Chicago, Illinois.
08. Kirsch, A., Kenrick, D. T., Ko, A., Pick, C. M., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2022, April) Differences in aggression among kin and non-kin. Northeastern Evolutionary Psychology Society.
07. Ko, A., Pick, C. M., Varnum, M. E. W., Becker, D. V., & Neuberg, S. L. (2022, February). Threat-based antipathy toward Republicans is calibrated within individuals by a disease psychology sensitive to COVID cases. Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference, San Francisco, California.
06. Bock, J., Ko, A., & Krems, J. A. (2021, February). Explicit and implicit evaluations of mask-wearers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference.
05. Ko, A., Pick, C. M., Kwon, J., Barlev, M., Krems, J. A., Varnum, M. E. W., & Kenrick, D. T. (2020, February). Family matters: Rethinking the psychology of human social motivation. Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference, New Orleans, Louisiana.
04. Krems, J. A., Ko, A., Moon, J. W., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2019, October). Sexually unrestricted women are perceived as having low self-esteem: First evidence for a pervasive persistent, robust (but unfounded) stereotype. Society for Experimental Social Psychology, Toronto, Canada.
03. Ko, A., Suh, E. M., Shin, J., & Neuberg, S. L. (2019, May). Functionally calibrating life satisfaction: The case of mating motives and self-perceived mate value. Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Boston, Massachusetts.
02. Ko, A., & Suh, E. M. (2016, August). Self-perceived mate value and happiness. International Society for Quality of Life Research conference, Seoul, South Korea.
01. Shin, J., Suh., E. M., Kim, J., & Ko, A. (2015, May). Romantic motives make the relative aspects of happiness salient. Korea Social and Personality Psychological Association conference, Seoul, South Korea.