David Simpson

Position: Instructor

Department: Psychology/Social Science

Faculty: Humanities and Social Sciences

Office: NW N3442

Email: simpsond1@douglascollege.ca

Education and Credentials

  • Ph.D., Psychology, University of Alberta
  • M.A., Philosophy, Georgia State University
  • B.A., Psychology, 黑料吃瓜网曝一区二区

Academic and Professional Profile

I finished my bachelor鈥檚 degree at 黑料吃瓜网曝一区二区, completing an honours thesis with David Prime as my supervisor. After that, I spent a year teaching AP Psychology classes at Elite Educational Institute. I went on to earn a master鈥檚 degree in philosophy (specializing in neurophilosophy) at Georgia State University. While there, I did experimental work on people鈥檚 moral intuitions under the supervision of Eddy Nahmias and Eyal Aharoni. I then moved to Edmonton to complete my PhD in Psychology at the University of Alberta. I worked in Kyle Nash鈥檚 Social Neuroscience Lab, and helped with various research projects, both inside and outside the lab. For my PhD dissertation, I applied a technique called process dissociation to people鈥檚 responses to self-sacrificial moral dilemmas. 

Teaching Concentrations

I am currently teaching Introduction to Psychology and Research Methods in Psychology. While at the University of Alberta, I also taught 2 special topics courses. One was on Moral Psychology, and the other was on Philosophical Issues in Psychology. 

My lectures are available on my YouTube channel: 

Courses

  • PSYC 1100 - Introduction to Psychology I
  • PSYC 1200 - Introduction to Psychology II
  • PSYC 2301 - Research Methods in Psychology

Research/Clinical Activities

Moral psychology is my main area of research. I published a condensed version of my dissertation in the journal 鈥淐ognition鈥. I have also been involved in research projects and publications about various other topics (see below).

Open to Supervising Honours Students for 2025-2026: YES

Selected Refereed Publications:

Simpson, D., & Nash, K. (2024). Applying process dissociation to self-sacrificial moral dilemmas: Extending the dual-process model. Cognition, 250, 105873.

Leota, J., Simpson, D., Mazidi, D., & Nash, K. (2022). Purity, politics, and polarization: Political ideology moderates threat-induced shifts in moral purity beliefs. British Journal of Social Psychology, 62(2), 806-824.

Aharoni, E., Simpson, D., Nahmias, E., & Gollwitzer, M. (2022). A painful message: Testing the effects of suffering and understanding on punishment judgments. Zeitschrift f眉r Psychologie, 230(2), 138鈥151.

Foster, J., & Simpson, D. (2023). Union donations to community organizations and the dampening effect of government legislation: The case of Bill 32 in Alberta, Canada. Labour and Industry, 33(4), 422-439.

Leota, J. Faulkner, P., Mazidi, D., Simpson, D, & Nash, K. (2024). Neural rhythms of narcissism: Facets of narcissism are associated with different neural sources in resting state EEG. European Journal of Neuroscience, 60(5), 4907-4921.

Selected Conference Presentations:

Simpson, D., & Nash, K. (2023). Applying EEG microstate analysis and process dissociation to moral dilemmas. Social and Affective Neuroscience Annual Meeting.

Simpson, D., Leota, J., Scott, A., Schimel, J., & Nash, K. (2021). Defensive suppression: Neural evidence of suppressed distress reactions amongst dismissive-avoidant individuals. Society for Social Neuroscience Annual Meeting.

Simpson, D.. (2021). Reflection and moral dilemmas: System two is not associated with self-sacrificial judgments. Brains and Behavior Program Annual Retreat.

Simpson, D., Aharoni, E., Nahmias, E., Gollwitzer, M. (2021). A painful message: Testing the roles of suffering and understanding in punishment judgments in second- and third-party contexts. Society for Personality and Social Psychology: Justice and Morality Pre-Conference.

Fernandes, S., Simpson, D., Nahmias, E., & Aharoni, E. (2020). Unwavering moral motives: Comparing deontological and utilitarian punishment motivations. American Psychological Society Annual Conference. 

Simpson, D., & Prime, D. (2018). Reasoning about the afterlife. Kwantlen Polytechnic University Undergraduate Research Conference.