CV

Steven Mesquiti, M.A.

Department of Psychology
Princeton University
sm9518@princeton.edu

Education

Princeton University (2024-Present)
Ph.D. in Psychology
Advisor: Dr. Erik Nook

Texas State University (2019-2022)
M.A. in Psychological Research
Advisor: Dr. Randall Osborne

Southwestern University (2015-2019)
B.A. in Psychology (Minor: Spanish)

Publications

* Denotes Shared First Authorship

Muzekari, B., Cooper, N., Resnick, A., Paul, A. M., Torres-Grillo, O. E., Andrews, M. E., Mattan, B., Scholz, C., Johnson, D., Carreras-Tartak, J., Cakar, M. E., Hao, S., Zhou, E., Beard, E., Mesquiti, S., Sayed, F., Fichman, M. A., Lydon-Staley, D. M., Barnett, I. J., … Falk, E. B. (2025). Naturalistic Tobacco Retail Exposure and Smoking Outcomes in Adults Who Smoke Cigarettes Daily. JAMA Network Open. DOI

Mesquiti, S., Cosme, D., Nook, E.C., Falk E.B., Burns S. (Under Revision). Predicting Psychological and Subjective Well-being through Language-based Assessments of Well-being.

Mesquiti, S.,* Seraj, S.,* Weyland, A. H., Ashokkumar, A., Boyd, R. L., Mihalcea, R., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2025). Analysis of social media language reveals the psychological interaction of three successive upheavals. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 5740. DOI.

Kang, Y., Mesquiti, S., Baik, E.S., & Falk, E. B. (2024). Empathy and Helping: The Role of Affect in Response to Others’ Suffering. Scientific Reports, 15, 3256 DOI.

Mesquiti, S., Seraj, S. (2023). The Psychological Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Business Leadership. PLOS One. DOI

Works in Progress

  • Kang, Y., Mesquiti, S. & Falk, E. B. (in prep). The Effect of Compassion Training on Emotional Support Giving.
  • Mesquiti, S. & Nook, E.C. (in prep.) The Implication of Artificial Intelligence on Mental Health.
  • Mesquiti, S., Stade E. C., Hull, T.D., Nook, E. C. (in prep.) Tracking Shifts in the Latent Meaning of “I” and Its Connection to Mental Health Outcomes in a Large Therapy Dataset.

Funding

  • 2025: Princeton University Data Driven Social Science Graduate Fellowship ($1,200)
  • 2025: Princeton University Data Driven Social Science: Data-Driven Approaches to Building Equitable Language-Based Mental Health Assessments ($4,283)
  • 2025: New Jersey Health Foundation: Investigating Racial Equity of Psycholinguistic Measures of Mental Health (PI: Erik C. Nook; $34,867; # PC 42-25)
  • 2022: Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management Behavioral Research Fellowship (Finalist [Declined]; $35,000)
  • 2020: Texas State University Thesis Research Support Fellowship ($1,070)

Fellowships

  • 2025: Princeton University Data Driven Social Science Graduate Fellowship
  • 2024-25: Princeton University William G. Bowen Merit Fellowship
  • 2020-21: Texas State University Graduate College of Liberal Arts Scholarship
  • 2021: Masters in Psychological Research Graduate Competitive Scholarship
  • 2019: Texas State University Graduate College of Education Scholarship
  • 2015: Southwestern University Mood Scholar

Invited Talks

  • 2025: Tracking Shifts in the Latent Meaning of “I” and Its Connection to Mental Health Outcomes in a Large Therapy Dataset. Social Psychology Seminar, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.
  • 2022: Within-and between-person effects of autonomous motivation on goal pursuit. Duckworth Lab, Princeton University.
  • 2021: The whole truth and nothing but the truth: an analysis of the variability of prosocial lying in the Netherlands and the United States. Texas State University Psychology Department Brown Bag.
  • 2021: The truth about prosocial lying: Cross-cultural differences in prosocial lying. Southwestern Psychological Association (Virtual).

Conference Presentations

* Denotes Undergraduate Mentored

  • Mesquiti, S. C., Nook, E. (2024, March). Investigating Racial Sensitivity in Language-Based Assessments of Mental Health. Poster presented at the annual meeting for the Society for Affective Science.
  • Mesquiti, S. C., Cosme, D., Nook, E., Falk E., Burns S. (2025, February). Predicting Well-being with Language-based Assessments. Poster presented at the annual meeting for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.
  • Mesquiti, S. C., Burns S., Cosme, D., Falk E. (2024, February). Enhancing Psychological Well-being Prediction Through Natural Language Analysis. Poster presented at the annual meeting for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.
  • Mesquiti, S. C., Mobasser, A., Falk, E., Pfeifer, J. H., & Cosme, D (2023, February). Within-and between-person effects of autonomous motivation on goal pursuit. Poster submitted to the annual meeting for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.
  • Spehar, A.,* Muzekari, B., Butler, T. B., Mesquiti, S.C., Cosme, D., Falk, E. (2022, August). Relating Collective and Self-Focus Language in Social Support with Self-Reported Depression. Poster presented at the annual University of Pennsylvania MindCORE student show case. Philadelphia, Pa. Github
  • Andrews, M. E., Cooper, N., Paul, A., Johnson, D., Muzekari, B., Mesquiti, S.C., Torres, O., Resnick, A., Scholz, C., Mattan, B., Barnet, I., Henriksen, L., Strasser, A., & Falk, E. B. (2023, May). Compounding effect of microaggressions and exposure to tobacco advertising on stress and smoking. Annual conference of the International Communication Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
  • Santana, C.,* Mesquiti, S.C., Carreras-Tartak, J., Kang, Y., Falk, E. (2022, August). Relating Collective and Self-Focus Language in Social Support with Self-Reported Depression. Poster presented at the annual University of Pennsylvania MindCORE student show case. Philadelphia, Pa.
  • Woolfolk, Z*., Cosme, D., Butler, T., Carreras-Tartak, J., Mesquiti, S.C., Kang, Y., Falk, E. (2022, August). Racial Homophily in Emotion Sharing Network. Poster presented at the annual University of Pennsylvania MindCORE student show case. Philadelphia, Pa.
  • Mesquiti, S.C. (2022, April). Exploring Cognitive Language of CEOs during the COVID-19 Pandemic Over Time and its Connection to Decision Processing. Poster presented at the annual Texas State University Psychology Department Showcase. San Marcos, Tx.
  • Mesquiti, S.C., Tsai, J. L., Marion, J., Olivarez, O., Blackburn, K., Durland, M. (2022, February). The linguistic lifespan of a CEO: Exploring the way cognitive language unfolds over time and its connection to decision processing. Poster presented at the annual meeting for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.
  • Haskard-Zolnierek, K., Mesquiti, S.C., & Snyder, M. (2022, February). Associations between patient satisfaction and physician and nurse word use. Poster presented at the annual meeting for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (virtual).
  • Mesquiti, S.C., Kok, R., Clegg, J. M., Warnell, K. R. (2021, April). The truth behind prosocial lies: A linguistic analysis of lying to be polite. Poster presented at the annual Texas State University Psychology Department Showcase. San Marcos, Tx.
  • Mesquiti, S.C., Domer, K., Warnell, K. R., Clegg, J. M. (2021, February). More than a disappointing gift: Examining variability in when and how we prosocially lie. Poster presented at the annual meeting for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (virtual).
  • Domer, K., Mesquiti, S.C., Warnell, K. R., Clegg, J. M. (2021, February). More than a social norm: Examining who we lie to and what we lie about. Poster presented at the annual meeting for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (virtual).
  • Mesquiti, S.C. (2019, April). Internship at the Central Texas Treatment Center. Poster presented at Southwestern University Creative Works Symposium, Georgetown, Tx.

Mentorship

  • Emi Yun | Thesis Student | Princeton University (2024-Present)

  • Arden Spehar | Summer MindCORE REU Student | University of Pennsylvania (2022)

  • Carlos Santana | Summer MindCORE REU Student | University of Pennsylvania (2022)

References

  • Emily Falk
    Professor of Communication, Psychology, Marketing, and OID (Operations, Informatics, and Decisions), Vice Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
    efalk@falklab.org

  • James Pennebaker
    Professor Emeritus of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin
    pennebaker@utexas.edu

  • Erik Nook
    Assistant Professor of Psychology, Princeton University
    enook@princeton.edu