Research

Cultures make people, people make cultures.

I work where the mind meets the world to fight bias, disrupt cultural defaults, and design inclusive cultures.

I specialize in the identifying the power, promises, and pitfalls of culture and culture change.

Here are some examples of my research and academic publications. See my PORTFOLIO for examples of my work translating research into actionable insights for practitioners and general audiences and for media mentions.

Culture & social change

Bringing the world into our science. (2021). APS Observer. Association for Psychological Science. With J. Eberhardt & H. Markus.
Understanding culture clashes and catalyzing change: A culture cycle approach. (2019). Frontiers in Psychology. With H. Markus.
People are culturally-shaped shapers: The psychological science of culture and culture change. (2019). In Handbook of Cultural Psychology, 2nd Ed. With H. Markus.
Sociocultural psychology: The dynamic interdependence of self systems and social systems. (2010). In Handbook of Cultural Psychology, 1st Ed. With H. Markus.

Social differences as assets

Difference-education improves first-generation students’ grades throughout college and increases comfort with social group difference. (2021). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. With N. Stephens & S. Townsend.
Difference-education: Improving disadvantaged students’ academic outcomes by changing their theory of difference. (2020). In Handbook of Wise Interventions. With N. Stephens & S. Townsend.
Difference matters: Teaching students a contextual theory of difference can help them succeed. (2019). Perspectives on Psychological Science. With N. Stephens & S. Townsend. *Winner of the 2020 Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Otto Klineberg prize.
Empowerment through difference: An online difference-education intervention closes the social class achievement gap. (2019). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. With S. Townsend, N. Stephens, & S. Smallets.
A difference-education intervention equips first-generation students to thrive in the face of stressful college situations. (2015). Psychological Science. With N. Stephens, S. Townsend, M. Destin, & V. Manzo.
Closing the social-class achievement gap: A difference-education intervention improves first-generation students' academic performance and all students' college transition. (2015). Psychological Science. With N. Stephens & M. Destin.

Empowering & inclusive education

Is diversity enough? Cross-race and cross-class interactions in college occur less often than expected, but benefit members of lower status groups when they occur. (2022). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. With R. Carey, N. Stephens, & S. Townsend.
A diversity ideology intervention: Multiculturalism reduces the racial achievement gap. (2020). Social Psychological and Personality Science. With H. Birnbaum, N. Stephens, & S. Townsend.
Learning to read race: Multicultural literature can foster racial literacy and empower students. (2017). California English. With P. Moya.
Social emotional learning in high school: How three urban high schools engage, educate, and empower youth—Cross-case Report and Technical Report. (2015). Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education. With X. Zheng, L. Darling-Hammond, A. Andree, & B. Quinn. *Editor of report series.

Cultural defaults

In the land of the free, interdependent action undermines motivation. (2013). Psychological Science. With H. Markus & A. Fu.
Who explains Hurricane Katrina and the Chilean Earthquake as an act of God? The experience of extreme hardship predicts religious meaning-making. (2013). Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. With N. Stephens, S. Fryberg, & H. Markus.
My nation, my self: Divergent framings of America influence American selves. (2011). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. With H. Markus & A. Fu.
Why did they “choose” to stay? Perspectives of Hurricane Katrina observers and survivors. Psychological Science. (2011). With N. Stephens, H. Markus, H. Bergsieker, & L. Eloul.

Here are a few recent webinars and talks applying this research to making change in schools, higher education, and communities.

Supporting Cross-Race Friendships

Between Kids

Webinar with Dr. Kristin Pauker and Embrace Race, discussing insights from research about how kids and people think and talk about race and how we can work to change challenge cultural defaults and assumptions that divide us.

Bridging Research & Practice to Foster Racial Literacy

Webinar for the University of Kentucky, telling the story of developing the RaceWorks toolkit.

Understanding & Measuring Mobility from Poverty

Talk at the Circles USA Leadership Conference, at a community church in Greenville, SC.

Photos: Linus Nylund, John Schaidler, Gemma Chua-Tran, and Héctor J. Rivas on Unsplash