Knowing me requires meeting me, but here are some highlights of my education and research career. Over the past decade, I’ve integrated data science, computational cognitive psychology, and media theory to study narrative and belief dynamics on the internet. I’ve analyzed millions of social media posts, run experiments with individuals and networked groups, built computational models of human reasoning, and developed open-source AI tools for psychological modeling from language data. Today, I focus on how to support narrative alignment in local and decentralized communities.
I began studying human psychology on social media by developing software to collect and analyze conversations on Twitter and Reddit. As an undergraduate in Mathematics at Arizona State University, I worked in Dr. Zach Horne’s lab building data pipelines and running experiments to predict features of persuasive online discussion.
From 2019 to 2025, I completed a PhD in Cognitive Science at UCLA in Dr. Keith Holyoak’s Reasoning Lab. I developed experiments, AI tools, and computational models to study topics spanning medical decision-making, conspiracy thinking, and collective organizing on the internet. I also collaborated with computer scientists at USC's Information Sciences Institute in Marina Del Ray. I’m now a Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Hongjing Lu's Computational Vision and Learning Lab, continuing empirical and data science research on narrative dynamics, network communication, and new media interaction. Meanwhile, I work alongside land developers and artist communities in Arizona by applying research findings to center human stories and connect fragmented neighborhoods.
I am eager to connect and learn from others. Please reach out via email (priniski@ucla.edu) if you would like to work together or have a conversation about the narratives and networks increasingly consuming our lives.
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