William Berger

William Berger is a Research Fellow with the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) program at the University of Pennsylvania. He collaborates closely with Cristina Bicchieri on research addressing American perceptions of inequality and autonomy, and advises the Democracy Fund project through the Center for Human Behavior & Inequality (CHIP). Previously, he was a scholar at the Center for Complex Systems at the University of Michigan, where he completed his PhD in Political Science (2015).

His research integrates empirical, formal, and normative methods to explore democratic theory and political epistemology. Key interests include affective trust, social norms, and computational models in social philosophy. His dissertation, Affective Trust and the Role of Social Norms in Constructing Faith in Others, examines how social norms shape trust dynamics among Christian missionaries in developing regions. He co-leads the Computational Social Philosophy Lab, where interdisciplinary projects model trust, polarization, and scientific experimentation using analytic and computer models.

Affiliations include the Complex Systems Advanced Academic Workshop, Political Theory Workshop, and Ethics Discussion Group. His Erdős number is five, stemming from collaboration with Scott Page on a paper. Education includes a PhD in Political Science (University of Michigan, advised by Don Herzog, Arlene Saxonhouse, Jenna Bednar, and Elizabeth Anderson), and a BA from the University of Chicago under Jean Elshtain and Abe Stone.