Psychological & Brain Sciences Colloquium Series
Invited Speakers
Toni Schmader
Date & Time: May 11th , 2023 at 4 PM
Location: Sage Room – Psych 1312
Why Bias Interventions (Need Not) Fail
There is considerable debate about the efficacy of diversity training initiatives, with concerns that they are not only ineffective in creating more inclusive workplaces but can in some instances even backfire. In this talk, I’ll provide an overview of our lab’s recent efforts to understand that ways in which implicit bias presents a barrier to women’s sense of inclusion in male-dominated STEM fields, and how allyship from male colleagues can counteract these effects. I will also share preliminary data from a unique randomized control trial testing the efficacy of a theory-based implicit bias training program aimed at changing beliefs and behaviors to foster greater inclusion for women in science and engineering. Findings from a mix of experimental, survey, and field-based studies point to the importance of inclusive relationships for women’s job commitment, but our efforts to motivate allyship behavior is ongoing.
About the Speaker
Dr. Toni Schmader is a Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. Her primary research interests focus on stigma, implicit bias, gender, and social identity, with a focus on the interplay between self and social identity. Her research draws upon and extends work on social stigma, social justice, social cognition, intergroup emotion, self-esteem, and motivation and performance.
Dr. Schmader held a Canada Research Chair from 2010-2020. She is the recipient of the 2020-2021 Theory-Innovation Award from the European Association of Social Psychology and the 2018 Daniel M. Wegner Theoretical Innovation Prize Theory from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Dr. Schmader directs the Engendering Success in STEM (ESS) Consortium, a research partnership among social scientists, STEM outreach experts, and partners in industry and education. The goal of ESS is to foster women’s inclusion and success in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) using an evidence-based approach to break down the biases girls and women face on their pathway to success.
Lab Website: https://socialidentitylab.psych.ubc.ca/
Stephanie Fryberg
Date & Time: May 4th , 2023 at 11:00 AM
Location: Sage Room – Psych 1312
Omission as the Modern Form of Bias Against Indigenous Peoples
In the U.S. cultural imagination, Indigenous Peoples loom large in romanticized and stereotyped ways, yet contemporary Indigenous Peoples are largely omitted from the public conscience. In K-12 education, for example, 87% of references to Indigenous Americans portray them in a pre-1900’s context. In mainstream media, less than .5% of representations are of contemporary Indigenous Peoples. Utilizing both experimental and national survey studies, I will demonstrate that prevalent representations of Indigenous Peoples (or lack thereof) shape how people think, feel, and subsequently act towards Indigenous Peoples, as well as how Indigenous
Peoples feel about themselves and act to make change in society. Specifically, I will first show that recognizing Indigenous omission shapes discrimination and both implicit and explicit bias towards Indigenous Peoples, including attitudes about the use of redface, and apathy towards the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls epidemic. I will then show how sensitivity to Indigenous omission has adverse psychological consequences for Indigenous Peoples’ wellbeing, but also serves to galvanize efforts to change the status quo through civic engagement. By making visible the pernicious consequences of omission and highlighting Indigenous agency and resistance to omission, we illuminate a path towards creating a more equitable future for Indigenous Peoples.
About the Speaker
Dr. Stephanie A. Fryberg is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan. As a social and cultural psychologist, her primary research interests focus on how social representations of race, culture, and social class influence the development of self, psychological well-being, physical health, and educational attainment.
Dr. Fryberg provided testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs regarding the impact of racist stereotypes on Indigenous people, served as an expert witness in the Keepseagle v. USDA class action lawsuit, and consults with National Tribal TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). She also received the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Louise Kidder Early Career Award, the University of Arizona Five Star Faculty Award, and in 2011 was inducted into the Multicultural Alumni Hall of Fame at Stanford University.
Lab Website: https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/culturecollab/
Laura Simone Lewis
Date & Time: April 7th, 2023 at 11:30 AM
Location: Sage Room – Psych 1312 (refreshments before in Psych 1327)
Evolutionary and Cognitive Foundations of Social Relationships in Great Apes
Humans have remarkable cognitive capacities for forming and maintaining complex social relationships. Foundational among them are our abilities to recognize and remember others, represent their minds, and comprehend their emotions. Despite the centrality of these skills to humans’ social relationships, we know relatively little about their evolutionary origins. Humans’ closest relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, live in large social groups of up to 150 individuals but often range in smaller foraging parties that change in social composition throughout the day (i.e., fission-fusion dynamics). Consequently, they too would greatly benefit from these social cognitive skills. Importantly, the similarities and differences in the socioecology of chimpanzees and bonobos allow us to test competing hypotheses about the selective pressures that heightened humans’ capacities to form and maintain social relationships. By studying these species’ socio-cognitive abilities alongside our own human capacities, my research clarifies the extent to which the cognitive foundations of humans’ social relationships are shared with our closest relatives and were likely already present in our last common ancestor 6-9 million years ago. Utilizing non-invasive eye-tracking and other novel technologies to explore social attention and long-term memory, language comprehension, and emotion understanding in chimpanzees, bonobos, and children, my research sheds light on the phylogenetic precursors of human social cognition and the evolutionary pressures that shaped our complex forms of sociality.
About the Speaker
Dr. Laura Simone Lewis completed her PhD in Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and is currently a UC Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. She is working with Dr. Alison Gopnik and Dr. Jan Engelmann in the Department of Psychology. Her research focuses on the evolution of emotion perception and social cognitive skills in great apes.
Kimberly J. Martin
Date & Time: January 13th, 2023 at 12:00 PM
Location: Sage Room – Psych 1312 (refreshments before in Psych 1327)
Black Americans’ Healthcare Experiences: Understanding the Past and Present to Envision a More Equitable Future
The COVID-19 pandemic spotlighted Black Americans' dire and disproportionately negative health outcomes and healthcare experiences. This spotlight also incited public discourse about the lack of medical trust in the Black community. Importantly, these experiences and outcomes for Black Americans began long before the COVID-19 pandemic. First, I will present data (including a nationally representative sample) that assesses the influence of the quality of healthcare experiences on medical trust and early COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy for Black Americans. Next, I will share research that examines physician-Black patient interactions that may erode medical trust from a qualitative study conducted with Black American women with breast cancer, a group with repeated exposure to the medical community. Lastly, I will discuss research that tests how learning about the stories of Black American experiences in healthcare can increase White Americans’ perspective-taking. Lastly, I will discuss the implications of my research for current policies and how medical institutions can rebuild trust with the Black community.
About the Speaker
Dr. Kimberly J. Martin completed her PhD in Social Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles and is currently a UC Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco. She is working with Dr. Wendy Berry Mendes in the Department of Psychiatry. Her research focuses on inequity in healthcare and using evidence-based interventions to improve physician-Black patient interactions.
Learn more about her research at: https://drkimjmartin.com/
Valeria Gonzalez Diaz
Date & Time: November 18th, 2022 at 12:00 PM
Location: Sage Room – Psych 1312 (refreshments before in Psych 1327)
Information Bias: Suboptimal features explored at the behavior and neural levels
When given a choice between a lean alternative that conveys information about the outcome of a trial versus a richer alternative without information, often animals prefer the former: they prefer information even though that alternative yields less reward. In the present set of experiments, the behavioral aspects about uncertainty sensitivity and the valence of information are evaluated. Furthermore, the role of Basolateral Amygdala and Anterior Cingulate Cortex contributions in preference regarding information value were assessed using chemogenetic manipulations; potential sex differences in information processing are discussed.
About the Speaker
Dr. Valeria Gonzalez Diaz received her PhD in Basic Psychology from Universidade do Minho, Portugal and is currently a UC Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is working with Dr. Alicia Izquierdo in the Department of Psychology. Her research focuses on the role of the frontal cortex in the suboptimal choice phenomenon.
Michael Kraus
Date & Time: October 27th, 2022 at 11:00 AM
Location: Sage Room – Psych 1312
The Narrative of Racial Progress: Realistic Perceptions and Progress Toward Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion
In this talk, I will provide a broad overview of our research on the narrative of racial progress—the tendency for Americans to believe in the linear, automatic, and even natural march forward to racial equity and justice. The talk will begin with an overall orientation to my research approach to inequality. From there, I will describe the theoretical background of this narrative, highlighting the psychological and structural drivers of the tendency to overestimate racial equality and progress toward achieving it. Along the way I will summarize the state of the evidence in support of racial progress beliefs. Having provided this summary, I will conclude by discussing some of our emerging efforts to promote more realistic conceptions of racial inequality, and how narratives of racial progress act as barriers to the actual achievement of racial equity.
About the Speaker
Dr. Michael W. Kraus received his PhD in Psychology from the
University of California, Berkeley in 2010 and is currently an Associate Professor at the Yale University, School of Management and Department of Psychology. Prior to his current appointment, he was a postdoctoral scholar at UC San Francisco and an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois. His current work explores the behaviors and emotional states that maintain and perpetuate economic and social inequality in society.
Speaker website: https://som.yale.edu/faculty/michael-kraus
Lauren Whitehurst
Date & Time: April 1st, 2022 at 12:00 PM
Location: Sage Room – Psych 1312
Sleep is not a luxury: links between sleep, cognitive function, and health
What makes sleep “good”? Few wake intrusions? Falling asleep once your head hits the pillow? Waking up refreshed and ready for your day? All the above? Science is still grappling with the answers to this question, yet we do know that a period of sleep helps us think, learn, and remember better. Additionally, specific neural changes during sleep support human cognitive function. My research program examines how these neural features and specific changes in the body during sleep 1) help us define “good” sleep and 2) support cognition. In this talk, I will review this body of work and identify future directions aligned with this research trajectory. Additionally, data suggests that 35% of people do not get the recommended amount of sleep at night. This widespread sleeplessness comes with significant costs to health and cognition. Yet, the burden of sleep loss does not fall on everyone equally. I will discuss disparities in sleep health and access, discuss historical links, and on-going and future projects that address these topics.
About the Speaker
Dr. Lauren Whitehurst received her B.S. in Psychology and an M.A. in Experimental Psychology from James Madison University in 2011 and 2013, respectively and her PhD in Psychology from the University of California, Riverside in 2018. She completed a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Center for Health and Community and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco in 2020. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Kentucky. She is also Core Faculty in the Center for Health Equity Transformation and affiliated faculty in the Department of African American and Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky.
Speaker website: https://psychology.as.uky.edu/users/lnwh230
