Overview
Humans are fundamentally social beings, and their interactions represent a core aspect of human nature. My research focuses on how individuals’ social identities and experiences across the lifespan motivate their social perceptions and behaviors particularly in diverse settings.
More specifically I am interested in three main questions:
1) how intergroup contact shapes interracial interaction outcomes for both racial majority and racial minority individuals
2) how having multiple racial or …
More specifically I am interested in three main questions:
1) how intergroup contact shapes interracial interaction outcomes for both racial majority and racial minority individuals
2) how having multiple racial or …
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Nicholas J. and Theresa M. Leonardy Associate Professor
·
2023 - Present
Psychology & Neuroscience,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
·
2023 - Present
Psychology & Neuroscience,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Associate Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
·
2024 - Present
Psychology & Neuroscience,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Affiliate of the Center for Child and Family Policy
·
2023 - Present
Center for Child and Family Policy,
Sanford School of Public Policy
Recent Publications
Testing the generalizability of minimal group attitudes in minority and majority race children.
Journal Article Journal of experimental child psychology · April 2025 The minimal group effect, in which people prefer ingroup members to outgroup members even when group membership is trivially constructed, has been studied extensively in psychological science. Despite a large body of literature on this phenomenon, concerns ... Full text CiteIt's not what you say it's what you do: School diversity ideologies and adolescent mental health and academic engagement.
Journal Article Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence · March 2025 This study examined the relation between schools' color-evasive versus multicultural diversity ideologies, school characteristics, and adolescent development. Across two datasets linking individual-level survey data (N = 1692) and administrative records (N ... Full text CiteIntentionality and Congruence Cues Shape Young Children's Perceptions of Identity-Based Group Membership.
Journal Article Developmental science · March 2025 As young as 3 years old, children rely on a mutual intentionality framework to confer group membership-that is, agreement between a joiner ("I want to be in your group") and group ("We want you to be in our group"). Here, we tested whether children apply t ... Full text CiteRecent Grants
Multiple Identity Mindsets and Intergroup Interactions: A Dual Pathway Model
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2022 - 2027REU Site: Lifespan Approaches to Diverse Psychological Science
Inst. Training Prgm or CMECo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2020 - 2023Collaborative Research: Replicating Prejudice and Stereotyping Findings in Developmental Psychology
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2017 - 2021View All Grants
Education, Training & Certifications
Tufts University ·
2014
Ph.D.
Tufts University ·
2009
M.S.
University of California, Berkeley ·
2007
B.A.