Kaiwen (Kev) Zhou presenting his talk "Combating the Own-Race Bias"

Akshita Uppot presenting her talk on "Sexual frequency over time in relationships: What sets couples apart?"

Erik Allen presenting his talk "Pro-wealth or anti-elite bias: Examining attitudes based on social class"

Dr. Amy Muise presenting her work on "The expanding self in romantic relationships"

Finally, congratulations are in order for Rebecca Dunk, who received the Sandra Pyke Award. Her supervisor, Dr. Raymond Mar, was not able to attend in person, so we welcomed his presence through the big screen.

Dr. Raymond Mar joining us to congratulate his graduate student Rebecca Dunk for winning the Sandra Pyke Award.

Rebecca Dunk receiving her award.

Amazing job, everyone!

On Monday, March 24, 2025, Dr. Nick Stagnaro, senior research fellow at Stanford University and postdoctoral researcher at MIT, presented his talk, “Accurate Information Can Substantially and Durably Increase U.S. Republicans’ Beliefs in Election Integrity.”����at the SP Colloquium Brownbag.

You can find more information about Dr. Stagnaro's work and his abstract below:

Abstract: 

Low confidence in the integrity of elections is a growing concern in the US, with particularly low trust levels among individuals on the political right. While this issue appears to be one of an uninformed or misinformed electorate, a common assumption in the social sciences is that providing people with accurate information is unlikely to help in such cases as people ignore or reject evidence that challenges their political beliefs. This is an especially common assumption in the context of contentious issues where partisan identities are strongly activated. To examine the validity of this dominant view, as well as attempt to formulate some solution to the above problem, we develop and test an informational intervention that exposes participants to evidence on election integrity that is highly accurate, balanced, and unbiased. In the days preceding the 2024 general election, we randomly assigned N = 780 Republicans to either the experimental intervention or a control group engaging with general political information. The intervention substantially and durably increased participants’ (1) overall beliefs about the integrity of US elections, (2) retrospective beliefs about the integrity of the 2020 election, and (3) prospective beliefs about the expected integrity of the upcoming 2024 election. A pre-post analysis reveals that individuals in the experimental condition increased their beliefs in election integrity by 10% to 14%, and comparing between conditions reveals large treatment effects (.4 < d < .8). Furthermore, a post-election follow-up shows that the effects persist for at least two weeks and in the face of a Republican presidential win. Overall, this work provides strong evidence that, when administered strategically, information can be a powerful tool to move people’s political beliefs toward the truth.

On Monday, March 17, 2025, Dr. Laura Soter, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at �첥��Ƶ, presented her talk, “Investigating Obligations to the Self.”��at the SP Colloquium Brownbag.

You can find more information about Dr. Soter's work and her abstract below:

Abstract: 

People feel they have obligations towards other people—but might they also think we can have obligations to ourselves? This possibility has not been thoroughly examined in empirical moral psychology. We explore obligations to the self across six studies. In the first four studies, we find evidence that participants endorse the existence of obligations to the self, showing that not all self-directed acts are seen as mere personal preferences, and show that these judgments do not reduce to perceived obligations to others. In the final two studies, we explore potential mechanisms that distinguish acts judged as self-obligations, focusing on the role of harmfulness to the self.

On Monday, November 18, 2024, Dr. Caroline Erentzen, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University, presented her talk, “The Role of Privilege and Marginalization in Intersectional Invisibility.”��at the SP Colloquium Brownbag.

You can find more information about Dr. Erentzen's work and her abstract below:

Abstract: 

This research broadly explored intersectional invisibility, assessing identity assumptions made when stereotyping groups as well as the consequences of multiple marginalization on a recall task. In Studies 1-3, we demonstrate that Muslim stereotypes are very closely aligned with stereotypes of Muslim Men, with substantial overlap in ascribed traits and similarity evaluations. Muslim women, however, were considered dissimilar from both their gender and religious superordinate identities, suggesting a particular non-prototypicality and invisibility. Such gendered differences were not observed for Christian stereotypes, which evenly reflected both Christian men and Christian women. These results indicate that religion (like race) may be gendered. We then explored the consequences of intersectional invisibility based on gender, race, and older age status, with consideration of the perceiver’s identity in the invisibility process. Across Studies 4-7, Black and East Asian targets were recalled less accurately than White targets, but only by White participants. Black and East Asian participants did not show a bias in recalling targets by race. The effect of target age varied in relation to target race, such that Black and East Asian targets paid an old age penalty that White targets did not. These results point to participant identity as a potential moderator of intersectional invisibility, and suggest that it may be more prevalent among privileged observers. This research also underscores the importance of recruiting participant samples with racial and gender diversity.

On Monday, November 4, 2024, Dr. Hilary Bergsieker, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Waterloo, presented her talk, “Validating Versus Reframing Lived Experiences of Racial Discrimination:��Contrasting Preferred, Intended, and Received Social Support.”����at the SP Colloquium Brownbag.

You can find more information about Dr. Bergsieker's work here and her abstract below:

Abstract:��

Social support can help people of colour (POC) cope with racial discrimination. Yet when POC disclose their lived experiences of racism, even friends sometimes fail to provide support that meets disclosers’ psychological needs. Drawing on theories of shared reality and reappraisal, a series of experiments (N = 1940) compare two emotion-focused social support approaches: validation��(conveying that recipients’ feelings or responses are appropriate) and reframing��(seeking to reduce recipients’ distress by offering a more positive perspective). I first demonstrate that when disclosing a specific personal experience of racism to a friend, POC prefer validation to reframing, especially when coming from White (vs. same-race) support providers. In turn, White participants say they intend to provide less reframing and more validation in written responses to POC disclosing racial (vs. non-racial) negative experiences, yet a live interaction paradigm reveals significant divergence between Whites’ intended support and Blacks’ received support. A final study finds that (a) experiences of racism are indeed most often disclosed to same-race and White people and (b) imagining a reframing (vs. validating) response from a friend leads to feeling worse overall affect, less perceived responsiveness, less racial shared reality, and more rumination. Across all studies, the gap between validation and reframing for perceived support widens for experiences more strongly attributed to race, especially when disclosed to White friends. I conclude by highlighting current directions and implications for more supportive conversations about lived experiences of racism in scholarly, educational, professional, and therapeutic contexts.

On Monday, September 30, 2024, Dr. Duygu Gulseren, Assistant Professor of the School of Human Resource Management at �첥��Ƶ, presented her talk, “Unveiling Inconsistent Leadership: New Perspectives on Measurement and Impact”��at the SP Colloquium Brownbag.

You can find more information about Dr. Gulseren's work and her abstract below:

Abstract:��

Inconsistent leadership is a critical and potentially disruptive form of leadership that significantly impacts employee behaviors and well-being. Traditionally, the concept of inconsistent leadership has been examined through indirect measures, which often emphasize the interplay of various leadership styles and contribute to construct ambiguity. This approach has complicated our understanding of its specific effects on employees.

In this talk, I will present initial results from a study aimed at clarifying the construct and developing a scale for inconsistent leadership. In the first part, I will discuss how our study has identified two distinct factors of inconsistent leadership and provide evidence of their validity. In the second part, I will outline two ongoing studies that build on these findings. These are a longitudinal survey exploring the long-term effects of inconsistent leadership on employee outcomes and a series of an experimental investigations examining the immediate impacts of inconsistent leadership in organizational settings, focusing on employee reactions and interactions. Overall, this talk offers new insights into the nature of inconsistent leadership and its implications for employee outcomes.

Our area's presentations covered a wide range of topics:

Allen, E., & Steele, J. R. (2024, February 8-10). Pro-wealth or anti-elite bias? Examining attitudes toward the wealthy. The Society for Personality and Social Psychology. [Poster] San Diego, CA.

Chan, C.C., Manokara, K., & Kawakami, K. (2024, February). Impact of Emotional Tone of Confrontation on Perceptions of Confronters or Sexism. Poster presented at 2024 Society of Personality and Social Psychology Main Conference, Emotion Pre-Conference. San Diego, CA.

Fargnoli Brown, Z., Manokara, K., & Kawakami, K. (February 2024). How Changes in Emotional Expressions Impact Recognition for Black and White Perceivers. Poster presented at the 25th annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychologymain conference, Emotion Pre-conference, San Diego, CA.

Kovacevic, K., Tu, E., Rosen, N. O., Raposo, S., & Muise, A. (2024, February). Is spontaneous sex ideal? Beliefs and perceptions of spontaneous and planned sex and satisfaction in romantic relationships. Poster presented at the Society of Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Main Conference, Sexuality Pre-Conference, and Close Relationships Pre-Conference, San Diego, CA.

Lapytskaia Aidy, C., Colaco, P., Robinson, K.B., & Steele, J.R. (2024, February 9). Examining intersectional race- and gender-stereotypes about South Asian women in STEM [Poster presentation]. The Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Conference, San Diego, United States.

Li, J., Ferrer, J., Rebrov, D. O., Nakagaki, T., & Struthers, C. W. (February 2024). Unravelling grudges: Exploring the interplay between hurt and anger. Poster presented at the 25th annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Diego, CA.

Too, M.A., Tu. E., & Mar, R.A. (2024, February). Ride or Die: Defining Interpersonal Loyalty. Poster presented at the annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.

Torres, A., & Cheng, J. T. (2024, February). Making overconfidence less pernicious: Intervention to reduce people's reliance on confidence cues when assessing who warrants social status. Poster to be presented at the annual conference of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and the Pre-Conference on Evolutionary Psychology. San Diego, CA.

Tran, H. N., & Kawakami, K. (February 2024). Direct and indirect judgments of ingroup trustworthiness: White participants' reluctance to judge Black faces as untrustworthy. Poster presented at the 25th annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Diego, CA.

Tu, E., Liepmann, A., Reis, H. T., & Muise, A. (2024, February). "We just click with each other": Development of the Romantic Chemistry (RoCh) Scale. Poster to be presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Diego, CA.

Uppot, A., Raposo, S. Rosen, N.O., Corsini-Munt, S., Balzarini, R. N., Muise, A. (2024, Feb). Sexual responsiveness: The role of sexual growth and destiny beliefs. Poster presented at the Society of Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Main Conference, Sexuality Pre-Conference, and Close Relationships Pre-Conference, San Diego, CA, USA.

Zhou, K. W., Kawakami, K., & Meyers, C. (2024). Equal exposure to the eyes reduces the Own-Race Bias. Poster presented at the Society of Personality and Social Psychology Annual Conference 2024, San Diego, CA. 

Zhou, K. W., Baimel, A., & White, C. J. M. (2024). Karma is a b, so you do not have to be: Thinking about karma reduces punishment across cultures. Poster presented at the Psychology of Religion & Spirituality Preconference at Society of Personality and Social Psychology Annual Conference 2024, San Diego, CA. 

Check out the images below for snapshots of our memorable moments in San Diego!

See you next year in Denver, Colorado, SPSP!

On Monday, January 22, 2024, Dr. Winny Shen, Associate Professor of Organization Studies at �첥��Ƶ, presented her talk "Exploring the Asian American/Canadian Experiences at Work" at the SP Colloquium Brownbag.

You can find more information about Dr. Shen's work and her abstract below:

Abstract:

Exploring the Asian American/Canadian Experience at Work

In this presentation, we will examine the complex experiences faced by Asian American and Canadian workers when navigating their organizations and careers, with a particular emphasis on challenges to attaining and maintaining leadership positions for this group. Key themes covered will include interpersonal versus intrapersonal barriers, within-group heterogeneity or diversity, and intersectionality. Interwoven alongside this empirical program of research, we will also discuss lessons learned for understanding the workplace experiences of other diverse groups and the presenter’s own journey as a diversity and inclusion researcher.  

On Monday, November 20, 2023, Dr. Regina Rini, Associate Professor of Philosophy at �첥��Ƶ, presented her talk "Morals from Machines" at the SP Colloquium Brownbag.

You can find more information about Dr. Rini's work and her abstract below:

Abstract:

Morals from Machines

Should you turn to a computer program for advice when you face a difficult moral decision? That sounds absurd. But artificial intelligence has done a lot of surprising things lately. Perhaps most surprising of all: it seems to be able to implement the ethical theory of John Rawls, one of the most influential philosophers of the 20^th century. This talk will discuss the Delphi language model, which predicts moral judgments about novel situations based upon machine-learned patterns in actual human moral judgment. I will connect computer science, psychology, and moral philosophy.

Regina Rini holds the Canada Research Chair in Social Reasoning and is Associate Professor of Philosophy at �첥��Ƶ. Her research focuses on how we navigate shifting norms in public life, particularly in response to technological disruption. Among other topics, she has written about the effects of social media on democratic politics and the significance of machine learning to moral life. In addition to her academic work, she writes the regular ‘Morals of the Story’ column for the Times Literary Supplement. Her most recent book is The Ethics of Microaggression, and she is currently writing a book about certainty and doubt in political life.

On Monday, November 13, 2023, Dr. Fred Duong, postdoctoral fellow of Social and Personality Psychology at University of Toronto, presented his talk ��“Cultivating prosociality: from understanding to application.”��

You can find more information about Dr. Duong's work and his abstract below:

Cultivating prosociality: from understanding to application

My research program is centered on prosociality—the inclination toward thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that benefit others. This presentation will span two lines of my work: an investigation of the meaning and measurement of empathy, and the application of social psychology in enhancing social cohesion.

In my academic work, I investigate empathy. My collaborators find that empathy, though a singular term, encompasses a multitude of meanings and applications. I will outline our findings on how people's lay conceptions of empathy diverge, investigate underlying mechanisms, and highlight measurement challenges to the field.

Transitioning from theory to practice, I will present my contributions as a research fellow with More in Common, a nonpartisan research nonprofit in the U.S. I'll share insights from large-scale quantitative surveys, focus groups, and interventions. We use social psychology to understand and foster social cohesion and healthy civic dialogue.

Additionally, I offer advice and information for those who are interested in using their research skills in mission-oriented organizations.