Turner’s research projects are connected by a framework he developed that considers the consequences of behavior, its underlying logical and psychological processes, and the contexts that affect the lives of marginalized consumers, including poverty, gender identity, and surveillance.

His research has examined such topics as the differing effects of body and dashboard cameras on viewer perspectives of police intent; donor support for the resilient rather than the vulnerable; and natal versus performed gender in judgments of trust.

He founded the Flea-Market Lab, with stalls in flea-markets in Miami and Chicago, for experiments and rule-based interventions for participants who experience economic, cultural, and racial vulnerability.

Turner has worked at a boutique private-equity firm, a child safety products business that he started and sold, and Wells Fargo.