About

The Social Cognition and Intergroup Perception (SCIP) Laboratory investigates topics related to intergroup relations using social psychological methods.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Computer Science
• Cognitive psychology
• Sociology
• Political Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Linguistics
• Biology
• Mathematics
• Statistics
• Gender studies
• Psychoanalysis
• Epistemology
• Philosophy

Selected publications

• Associations between political orientation and allyship: Evidence from potential allies and their LGBTQ+ close others

  Scientific Reports · 2026-03-01

  articleOpen access

  To support the LGBTQ+ community, many straight, cisgender individuals position themselves as allies to their cause. It is possible that those identifying as liberal may champion LGBTQ+ causes more passionately than those identifying as conservative, though it is also possible that liberals’ self-perceptions do not align with how LGBTQ+ individuals perceive them. In this study, we systematically investigated the relationship between political orientation and allyship to the LGBTQ+ community. We recruited 378 dyads composed of a cisgender, straight individual and an LGBTQ+ close other. Findings suggested that self-perceptions of allyship (from cisgender, straight individuals) were largely consistent with evaluations from LGBTQ+ close others. In line with our expectations, on average, liberals (compared to conservatives) both viewed themselves and were perceived as better allies. However, there was a small but significant tendency for liberals to overestimate their allyship relative to conservatives. In addition, exploratory analyses revealed other-perceived allyship was positively associated with higher interpersonal trust, underscoring allyship’s importance in close relationships. These findings contribute to a growing understanding of the ideological and interpersonal antecedents of allyship and inform strategies for fostering stronger, more authentic relationships with the LGBTQ+ community. The stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 11/15/2024. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/2Q7W6.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Exploring Discloser Gender as a Moderator of Stealing Thunder in Politics

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Being One or the Other, Both or Neither: Self‐Categorization Theory, Social Identity Theory and the Issue of <i>Mixed</i> Identities

  European Journal of Social Psychology · 2025-02-28 · 8 citations

  articleOpen access

  ABSTRACT In this article, we discuss how social identity theory (SIT) and self‐categorization theory (SCT) may apply to mechanisms of social identification and self‐categorization among individuals with multiple identities within a single social domain. We focus on individuals with mixed racial–ethnic backgrounds, which provide unique flexibility for their racial–ethnic identities. In line with SCT, we suggest that their racial–ethnic self‐categorization is guided by perceptions of similarity with multiple racial–ethnic categories and that these are influenced by contextual factors, such as the frame of reference. Drawing on SIT, optimal distinctiveness theory and uncertainty reduction theory, we suggest that situationally significant motives may determine Mixed individuals’ levels of identification with different racial–ethnic groups. By integrating predictions from these theories with empirical evidence on Mixed individuals’ experiences, we provide a first step to building a comprehensive theoretical framework and outlining a future research program for understanding the dynamic social identification processes of these individuals.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Judgments of Refugees’ Sensitivity to Pain: Evidence for a Sensitization Effect

  Collabra Psychology · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access

  Refugees are often marginalized, vulnerable, and at-risk for substandard healthcare and pain management. Yet, little is known about how other individuals evaluate refugees’ pain sensitivity. As such, the current work examined how people evaluate refugees’ sensitivity to physical, emotional, and psychological pain. Across six studies involving university students, MTurk workers, and Prolific workers in the United States and Canada (N = 1,731), we found evidence consistent with a sensitization effect. Participants reported that, compared to otherwise equivalent citizens, targets described as refugees would generally be more sensitive to pain. This effect generalized across White targets labelled as refugees from Ukraine and Latino/a targets described as refugees from El Salvador, and influenced judgments about how much social support targets would need to cope with their pain.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Advancing Insights Into Accent Diversity and Its Interplay With Multicultural Experiences

  Social and Personality Psychology Compass · 2025-05-01 · 3 citations

  article

  ABSTRACT Accents are sociocultural markers that signal identity and influence communication, and multicultural individuals may be more likely to encounter a variety of accents across different languages. This article reviews and integrates research on the psychology of accent and multicultural experiences. We first examine the social and communicative meanings of accents for multicultural individuals. Specifically, we discuss accents as cues for multicultural frame‐switching and examine how accent switching, a form of multicultural frame‐switching, facilitates multicultural communication. Next, we discuss how multicultural experiences shape accent attitudes. We analyze both positive outcomes, such as increased acceptance of accent diversity, and negative outcomes, such as reinforcement of accent hierarchies. We conclude by outlining promising avenues for future research to enhance our knowledge of accent diversity and multicultural experiences, with the goal of encouraging a more systematic exploration of this important and understudied topic.

  PublisherDOI

• Balancing Care Responsibilities with Remote Work

  Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · 2025-01-10 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  The upsurge in remote and hybrid work practices has prompted researchers to explore the technological, organizational, and psychological dimensions of remote work. However, the nuanced dynamics of balancing familial duties, especially care work for older adults, and professional work is often overlooked in the literature. This balancing act introduces unique stressors, blurring work and personal life boundaries, potentially causing physical stress or prompting care providers to leave their jobs. The inherent nature of remote work executed within the familial sphere underscores the importance of understanding how care responsibilities impact the remote work experience. This study addresses this gap by focusing on informal care providers, an understudied population in the CSCW remote work literature. Through a diary study and interviews, we investigate challenges remote workers face and the role of technology in their work. Findings highlight the prevalence of care work, emphasizing the need for targeted technological interventions to support the well-being and productivity of remote workers managing care duties. Critical challenges include familial responsibilities on higher-stress days, lack of communication regarding availability, personal time sacrifices for productivity, coordination in place making among care providers, and multitasking on days with familial responsibilities or distractions. This exploratory study underscores the importance of assisting care providers in a way that embraces their (possible) role as remote workers, offering insights for future research and technological interventions to support remote workers navigating the complexities of care work.

  PublisherDOI

• The social perception of race and gender: cues, complexity, and questions

  Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · 2025-05-01

  book-chapterSenior author

  Perceiving one's social world involves navigating a vast array of information and using that information to inform subsequent judgments and behavior. Social categorization is one way to quickly navigate and organize this complex world. Categorizations are jointly influenced by characteristics of the perceiver, target, and context. This chapter reviews research on the role of these characteristics in perception and categorization, with a focus on extending knowledge of race and gender categorizations to scenarios that involve ambiguous, conflicting, or competing cues to different social categories. We begin by reviewing several top-down and bottom-up cues in the perception of race and gender before moving to recent research on the complexity of perceivers’ category knowledge and methodological considerations for better incorporating this complexity. Within these topics, the chapter further aims to highlight the benefits of studying categorical ambiguity for advancing understanding of social perception.

  PublisherDOI

• Do Racist Attitudes Predict Colorist Attitudes? An Analysis of the Linkages Between Implicit Biases

  Race and Social Problems · 2025-12-13

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Cross-cultural perceptions of racial ambiguity: Testing the universality of the ingroup overexclusion effect

  Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · 2025-05-27

  article
  PublisherDOI

• The Shades That Define Us: Racial Appearance in Latine Prototypicality Judgments

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Jasmine Norman

  10 shared

• David L. Hamilton

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  10 shared

• Kate A. Ratliff

  University of Florida

  9 shared

• Sarah E. Gaither

  Duke University

  7 shared

• Arnold K. Ho

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  7 shared

• Nour Kteily

  7 shared

• Jeffrey W. Sherman

  University of California, Davis

  7 shared

• Kristin Pauker

  University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

  5 shared

Labs

• Social Cognition & Intergroup Perception LabPI