Eryn Newman completed her PhD at Victoria University of Wellington, in New Zealand. She spent three years at the University of California, Irvine as a Fulbright Scholar and Research Fellow. During this time she studied human memory and forensic science communication/jury decision-making. She then trained as a Research Associate/Postdoc at the University of Southern California, studying social-cognitive perspectives on assessments of truth and memory. In early 2018 she joined the Australian National University in the Research School of Psychology. After 8 years at the ANU, she joined The University of Waikato as a Professor in the School of Psychology and Social Sciences.
Newman’s work explores how people come to believe and remember things are true, even when they are not. In particular, she examines how people can succumb to truthiness—using feelings and pseudoevidence to decide what is real, instead of drawing on facts. In her research she also examines the tangential factors that shape people’s broader perceptions about trustworthiness, credibility and the quality of evidence.