Dr. Alayna Shoenfelt

Dr. Alayna Shoenfelt is a Visiting Instructional Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Florida. She earned her Ph.D. in Psychology with a dual specialization in Developmental Psychology and Behavioral & Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Florida. Dr. Shoenfelt teaches several courses in the department, including General Psychology, Developmental Psychology, and Personality Psychology. She is also affiliated with the Social Cognitive and Affective Development Lab. Her research interests focus on how people make decisions to trust or distrust, across online (e.g., phishing scams) and in-person (e.g., face-to-face deception detection) contexts. She investigates how age-related change and stability in social perception, motivation, and cognition impact trust-related decision making. Dr. Shoenfelt enjoys mentoring motivated undergraduate students in research.