My program of research has two distinct areas of study. First, I investigate morality and stereotypes from a social-cognitive perspective. Given the current social and political climate in the US, research examining the antecedents and consequences of morality and stereotypes has become increasingly important. The goal of my research in this area is to understand the underlying cognitive components of morality and stereotypes. My second area of research is within the scholarship of teaching and learning. As an educator, I believe that it is my responsibility to ensure that my teaching is evidence based. One way that I can do that, is by engaging in research on my own teaching practices. The goals of this area of research are to provide evidence of effective teaching, and contribute to the scholarship of teaching and learning more broadly. Whether I am working on research on morality and stereotypes or effective teaching, my ultimate focus is to work with student researchers interested in learning more about psychology. Below, I outline my two areas of research including future directions and how I envision collaborating with students.
Morality and Stereotype Research
Research has shown that attitudes imbued with morality have different behavioral consequences than typical attitudes (Skitka, 2010). For example, differences in moral stance led to decreased tolerance and group cooperation. To explain this behavior, theorists suggest that moral attitudes are viewed as more objective, more universal, and more emotionally driven than similar, non-moral attitudes. Using both explicit and qualitative measures, studies have provided initial support for these claims. My previous work focused on examining these claims using implicit reaction time paradigms common in attitude research. In this research I used an implicit association test and a sequential priming paradigm to measure the relationship between objectivity and universality to moral attitudes in comparison to non-moral attitudes. The results of these studies indicate that there is a relationship such that moral attitudes are more associated with objectivity and universality than non-moral attitudes are. These relationships may be the result of deliberative thought rather than automatic processes as the implicit association task showed the effect, but a sequential priming paradigm did not.
Like morality, stereotypes can have significant behavioral impacts. As our society explores biases across social situations, understanding the underlying features of these biases will contribute to the formation of solutions. Although there is a large body of research examining the underlying mechanisms of stereotypes, there has long been competing theories of how stereotypes can be automatically activated. These theories have been explored using several sequential priming paradigms, but with inconsistent results. In order to reconcile these results, I completed a meta analysis that examined the reliability, limitations, and theoretical contributions of these paradigms and their usefulness in understanding automaticity. The review showed that the paradigms thought to best capture automaticity show weak or no stereotype priming effects suggesting that stereotype activation may not be as automatic as previously thought. This review also identified several gaps in the research such as the need to extend stereotype research beyond gender and racial stereotypes.
This area of my research has thus far explored two topics that contribute to social divides, stereotypes and morality. I am eager to continue this work in collaboration with undergraduates interested in learning more about social psychology. One area of further research that may interest students involves continuing to examine the underlying structures of moral attitudes, especially the role of emotion. Theories from both psychology (e.g., Haidt, 2003) and philosophy (e.g., Nato, Kelly, and Stitch, 2006) debate about the role of emotion in moral decision making. We could further explore this in the context of moral attitudes through projects aimed at understanding how emotional stimuli affect the expression of moral conviction. Students may also interested in delving into personality psychology. We could explore how personality traits are related to moral attitudes. During my previous work, approximately a third of people who completed pre-screen surveys, reported holding several moral attitudes. This is contrary to the idea that moral attitudes are a particularly special kind of attitudes. I am interested in who these “moralizers” are, and the personality traits that they may demonstrate. For students with interests in stereotypes and prejudice, I am interested in studying questions such as “do we have stereotypic knowledge about people who hold specific moral beliefs” and “what is the relationship between moral attitudes and stereotypes”. This line of research would begin to explore a new area of moral psychology.
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
As I have gained more experience teaching, I have become increasingly interested in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Pursuing research on teaching practices serves dual purposes of conducting research that can inform education and developing myself as a teacher. This academic year I have begun two projects, one specific to my own teaching practice, and another examining more global practices.
My first project examines the use of real world themes in a general psychology course and the impact of these themes on learning. Context-based learning has been used in areas such as chemistry, but have not yet made much impact in psychology. The goal of this approach to teaching is to help students see concepts in the real world. While psychological topics are comparably easy to situate in the real world, students often struggle to do so in a meaningful way. The goal of the course design is to help students better articulate how psychology can inform and be informed by current social issues, such as addiction and stress. This work is especially exciting because it involves collaborating with colleagues outside of my institution. Our research will establish the efficacy of the curriculum we designed. Because our curriculum is based on open source materials, we plan to ultimately package the course design for others to adapt and adopt.
My second project examines the relationship between online resources within a course and success within the course, persistence, and retention of students. This research will have implications for understanding how interactions with course materials affects success in college, and in particular whether or not this effect is different for first generation students. This research will pull archival data across several years and implement multilevel models to tease apart effects from different cohorts of students, different professors, and individual students.
I plan to continue to engage and produce research on teaching and learning in order to continue to develop as a teacher. I am particularly interested in exploring more in the areas of online learning and effectiveness of curriculum using open education practices. This line of research may be appealing to student researchers who are interested in gaining a deeper understanding of learning from a psychological perspective.
Morality and Stereotype Research
Research has shown that attitudes imbued with morality have different behavioral consequences than typical attitudes (Skitka, 2010). For example, differences in moral stance led to decreased tolerance and group cooperation. To explain this behavior, theorists suggest that moral attitudes are viewed as more objective, more universal, and more emotionally driven than similar, non-moral attitudes. Using both explicit and qualitative measures, studies have provided initial support for these claims. My previous work focused on examining these claims using implicit reaction time paradigms common in attitude research. In this research I used an implicit association test and a sequential priming paradigm to measure the relationship between objectivity and universality to moral attitudes in comparison to non-moral attitudes. The results of these studies indicate that there is a relationship such that moral attitudes are more associated with objectivity and universality than non-moral attitudes are. These relationships may be the result of deliberative thought rather than automatic processes as the implicit association task showed the effect, but a sequential priming paradigm did not.
Like morality, stereotypes can have significant behavioral impacts. As our society explores biases across social situations, understanding the underlying features of these biases will contribute to the formation of solutions. Although there is a large body of research examining the underlying mechanisms of stereotypes, there has long been competing theories of how stereotypes can be automatically activated. These theories have been explored using several sequential priming paradigms, but with inconsistent results. In order to reconcile these results, I completed a meta analysis that examined the reliability, limitations, and theoretical contributions of these paradigms and their usefulness in understanding automaticity. The review showed that the paradigms thought to best capture automaticity show weak or no stereotype priming effects suggesting that stereotype activation may not be as automatic as previously thought. This review also identified several gaps in the research such as the need to extend stereotype research beyond gender and racial stereotypes.
This area of my research has thus far explored two topics that contribute to social divides, stereotypes and morality. I am eager to continue this work in collaboration with undergraduates interested in learning more about social psychology. One area of further research that may interest students involves continuing to examine the underlying structures of moral attitudes, especially the role of emotion. Theories from both psychology (e.g., Haidt, 2003) and philosophy (e.g., Nato, Kelly, and Stitch, 2006) debate about the role of emotion in moral decision making. We could further explore this in the context of moral attitudes through projects aimed at understanding how emotional stimuli affect the expression of moral conviction. Students may also interested in delving into personality psychology. We could explore how personality traits are related to moral attitudes. During my previous work, approximately a third of people who completed pre-screen surveys, reported holding several moral attitudes. This is contrary to the idea that moral attitudes are a particularly special kind of attitudes. I am interested in who these “moralizers” are, and the personality traits that they may demonstrate. For students with interests in stereotypes and prejudice, I am interested in studying questions such as “do we have stereotypic knowledge about people who hold specific moral beliefs” and “what is the relationship between moral attitudes and stereotypes”. This line of research would begin to explore a new area of moral psychology.
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
As I have gained more experience teaching, I have become increasingly interested in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Pursuing research on teaching practices serves dual purposes of conducting research that can inform education and developing myself as a teacher. This academic year I have begun two projects, one specific to my own teaching practice, and another examining more global practices.
My first project examines the use of real world themes in a general psychology course and the impact of these themes on learning. Context-based learning has been used in areas such as chemistry, but have not yet made much impact in psychology. The goal of this approach to teaching is to help students see concepts in the real world. While psychological topics are comparably easy to situate in the real world, students often struggle to do so in a meaningful way. The goal of the course design is to help students better articulate how psychology can inform and be informed by current social issues, such as addiction and stress. This work is especially exciting because it involves collaborating with colleagues outside of my institution. Our research will establish the efficacy of the curriculum we designed. Because our curriculum is based on open source materials, we plan to ultimately package the course design for others to adapt and adopt.
My second project examines the relationship between online resources within a course and success within the course, persistence, and retention of students. This research will have implications for understanding how interactions with course materials affects success in college, and in particular whether or not this effect is different for first generation students. This research will pull archival data across several years and implement multilevel models to tease apart effects from different cohorts of students, different professors, and individual students.
I plan to continue to engage and produce research on teaching and learning in order to continue to develop as a teacher. I am particularly interested in exploring more in the areas of online learning and effectiveness of curriculum using open education practices. This line of research may be appealing to student researchers who are interested in gaining a deeper understanding of learning from a psychological perspective.