She graduated from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. She has served as associate editor for social psychology, personality and social psychology bulletin, and the British journal of social psychology. She was the UK representative, and member of the steering committee of the European Social Cognition Network between 2008 and 2014. Her expertise lies in social cognition and social hierarchies linked to status, power or majority/minority status. Her work has examined the impact of power and status hierarchies on individuals, including cognitive processes, motivation and self-regulation. Her research has been published at the Annual Review of Psychology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychological Science, and Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.