Advised by Margaret Kovera
Ellie is a fourth-year doctoral student dual specializing in both the Psychology and Law PhD program and the BASP (Basic and Applied Social Psychology) training tracks. Her primary advisor is Dr. Margaret Kovera. Broadly, Ellie is interested in how legal actors’ motivations and biases can lead them to engage in ethically dubious behaviors. Ellie’s main research projects currently include a collaboration with the Midwest Innocence Project to investigate racial disparities in cases involving eyewitness misidentifications and a collaboration with Arizona State to investigate social influence in eyewitness identification procedures. Ellie holds a B.A. from N.Y.U. in Psychology and Criminal Justice, where she served as a research assistant (West Lab) and a peer mentor for justice-involved youth (R.O.S.E.S. Program). In her free time, Ellie loves seeking out live music, playing with her dogs, and reading fiction.
Current Projects/Research Interests
Eyewitness Decision-Making, Child Forensic Interviewing, and Prosecutorial Discretion
Publications & Presentations
Aronson, E., & McWilliams, K. (2024, March). The Effects of Anxiety on Childrens’ Memory for Threatening Adult Interactions. [Conference talk.]. American Psychology-Law Society Conference, Los Angeles, CA.
Aronson, E., & Kovera, M. B. (in press). Social influence in legal processes and decision-making. In R. Prislin (Ed.), Research handbook on social influence. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Kovera, M.B., & Aronson, E. (2023). Eyewitness Identification. In Verona, E., & Fox, B. (Eds.), Handbook of Evidence-Based Criminal Justice Practices. Routledge.
Fessinger, M. B., McAuliff, B. D., Aronson, E., & McWilliams, K. (2024). Attorneys’ experiences, perceptions, and plea recommendations in child sexual abuse cases.Law and Human Behavior, 48(1), 13–32. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000551
Aronson, E. & Kovera, M.B. (2023, March). The effects of in-court identifications on jury decision-making [Conference talk.]. American Psychology-Law Society Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
Conti, K., Aronson, E., & McWilliams, K. (2022, March). Children’s ability to answer WH-questions about body movement and clothing placement. Poster presented at the annual American Psychology-Law Society Conference in Denver, CO.
Aronson, E., Fessinger, M., McAuliff, B., & McWilliams, K. (2021, March). How do jurors react when child witnesses say “I don’t know?”: The Broader Effects of the “Don’t Know” Instruction. Poster presented at the annual American Psychology-Law Society Conference, held remotely.
