Our research focuses on the social psychology of societal inequality.
We examine how an individual’s social class background shapes fundamental aspects of social cognition (e.g., attention, memory). We also investigate the processes that shape how people react and respond to economic inequality. Our focus is on identifying pathways to motivate action against high and rising inequality. In addition, we are interested in examining the psychology of privilege (e.g., gender, race, sexuality, class). Our research explores questions like:
(1) How does one’s social class and other forms of inequality influence early information processing in our day-to-day social interactions and why do social hierarchies shape such basic psychological processes?
(2) How do people think about social inequality? Why is social inequality so high and when do people want to reduce it?
(3) What is privilege? How do we justify unearned advantages?
Our lab’s program of research uses a combination of laboratory experiments and naturalistic field studies, and employs several cutting-edge tools, including eye-tracking, psychophysiology, and virtual reality.