Henderson's program of research has one major objective: to understand the role that basic cognitive processes play in promoting social harmony. His research explores how situational factors that shift individuals’ thinking to a lower (more concrete) or higher (more abstract) level can have important consequences in the domains of social conflict, social judgments and prosocial behavior.

In combining laboratory and field designs, Henderson's research aims to have an immediate, practical impact on society, while staying grounded in a strong theoretical foundation. His research draws on social-cognitive theory, which posits that individuals can think about or construe objects and events at different levels of abstraction, and has explored how individuals’ construal level can change when they mentally go beyond the “here and now” to form judgments and regulate their behaviors.