Giselle Antoine

Professional Biography

Before she ever ran a study, Giselle Antoine was living the question that now defines her research. During a decade spent teaching and managing academic departments in Saudi Arabia, she found herself constantly translating — not just language, but entire moral frameworks — for colleagues encountering a different logic of right, wrong, and consequence. That experience of cultural brokerage became the seed of her research program: how do cultural values and collective emotions shape what counts as a violation, and what do people believe should happen next?

Using a mixed-methods approach spanning surveys, experiments, and qualitative fieldwork, Giselle's research shows how emotional cultures of shame and guilt shape not just moral judgment, but the entire architecture of accountability — from whether an audience is present when someone answers for a mistake, to whether the resulting punishment feels proportionate or punitive, restorative or humiliating.

Giselle earned her BA from Columbia University and her PhD from the University of Washington's Foster School of Business. Her research has appeared in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Journal of Applied Psychology, and the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at Washington University in St. Louis's Olin Business School.