MacEldin Trawick Professor of Psychology at the University of Richmond, Allison’s interests include social cognition, decision-making and media biases. 

Allison has researched issues surrounding social cognition, perception and influence, and decision-making patterns in small group and organizational contexts. In an early publication entitled "Outcome biases in social perception: Implications for Dispositional Inference, Attitude Change, Stereotyping, and Social Behavior," he explored with his co-authors ways in which cultural perceptions influence social behavior.

His current research focuses on the psychological processes underlying social judgments and inferences. He is exploring how people form posthumous impressions of others and how these posthumous impressions differ from impressions of living individuals. He is also investigating the underdog effect--our tendency to root for disadvantaged individuals and organizations.

Reared in Southern California, Allison earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California, San Diego, before going on to receive his doctorate in social psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

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