Faculty & Research Published Research Research Education Economics Health Policy Social Entrepreneurship Environmental Policy Ethics Leadership Racial Justice and Equity National Security Political Science Advocacy Domestic Policy & Politics International and Global Affairs Democracy Social Equity International Development Research and Commentary (-) Social Psychology Facet Area of Focus - Research Eileen Chou Sophie Trawalter Benjamin Converse Gabrielle Adams Christopher J. Ruhm Frederick P. Hitz John Holbein Noah Myung Richard Bonnie Facet People - Research Facet UVA Partner - Research Published Research Social Psychology Once bitten, twice shy: The negative spillover effect of seeing betrayal of trust. Authors: Eileen Chou, Noah Myung, Dennis Y. Hsu Our research demonstrates that people who had perceived a recent betrayal were significantly less likely to trust a new entity that shared nominal group membership with the previous trust transgressor. By systematically investigating whether, why, and to what extent betrayal spillover can subsequently contaminate trust development, we present a robust account of the downstream economic and behavioral consequences of observing others who have been betrayed by a similar entity, particularly in the context of charitable organizations. Learn more Published Research Health Policy Social Psychology Estimated Prevalence of and Factors Associated With Clinically Significant Anxiety and Depression Among US Adults During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm, Ronald C. Kessler, Victor Puac-Polanco How much did clinically significant anxiety and depression increase among US adults during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic? In this survey study of more than 1.4 million respondents in the US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, responses to a screening question calibrated to a 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire score of 6 or greater suggested that aggregate prevalence of clinically significant anxiety and depression increased only modestly overall among US adults in 2020 compared with 2017 to 2019. Learn more Published Research Social Psychology The “Equal-Opportunity Jerk” Defense: Rudeness Can Obfuscate Gender Bias Authors: Gabrielle Adams, Peter Belmi, Sora Jun In this research, we identified a barrier that makes sexism hard to recognize: rudeness toward men. We found that observers judge a sexist perpetrator as less sexist if he is rude toward men. Learn more Published Research Social Psychology Gender Differences in Law School Classroom Participation: The Key Role of Social Context Authors: Sophie Trawalter, Molly Bishop Shadel, J.H. Verkerke Even though women make up roughly half of the students enrolled in law school today, they do not take up roughly half of the speaking time in law school classes. We found that women, more than men, report backlash for speaking in class, and this difference affects their willingness to participate in the law school classroom. Learn more Published Research Social Psychology Racial Justice and Equity Are Americans less likely to reply to emails from Black people relative to White people? Authors: John Holbein, Ray Block, Jr., Charles Crabtree, J. Quin Monson Although previous attempts have been made to measure everyday discrimination against African Americans, these approaches have been constrained by distinct methodological challenges. We present the results from an audit or correspondence study of a large-scale, nationally representative pool of the American public. We provide evidence that in simple day-to-day interactions, such as sending and responding to emails, the public discriminates against Black people. Learn more Published Research Social Psychology Anger Damns the Innocent Authors: Gabrielle Adams, Katherine A. DeCelles, Holly S. Howe, Leslie K. John False accusations permeate social life—from the mundane blaming of other people to more serious accusations of infidelity and workplace wrongdoing. Importantly, false accusations can have grave consequences, including broken relationships, job loss, and reputational damage. In this article, we document an equally pernicious phenomenon—the misuse of anger as a cue to predict whether a suspect has been falsely accused. Learn more Working Paper Social Psychology Keep the Kids Inside: Juvenile Curfews and Urban Gun Violence Authors: Jennifer L. Doleac, Jillian B. Carr Gun violence is an important problem across the United States. Due to limited data, it has been difficult to convincingly test the impacts of government policies on the quantity and geography of gunfire. This paper uses a new source of data on gunfire incidents, which does not suffer from selective underreporting common in other crime datasets, to measure the effects of juvenile curfews in Washington, DC. Learn more Published Research Social Psychology Slow Motion Increased Perceived Intent Authors: Benjamin Converse, Eugene M. Caruso, Zachary C. Burns To determine the appropriate punishment for a harmful action, people must often make inferences about the transgressor’s intent. In courtrooms and popular media, such inferences increasingly rely on video evidence, which is often played in “slow motion.” Learn more Published Research Social Psychology What Lies Beneath? Minority Group Members’ Suspicion of Whites’ Egalitarian Motivation Predicts Responses to Whites’ Smiles Authors: Sophie Trawalter, Jonathan W. Kunstman, Taylor Tuscherer, E. Paige Lloyd Antiprejudice norms and attempts to conceal racial bias have made Whites’ positive treatment of racial minorities attributionally ambiguous. Although some minorities believe Whites’ positivity is genuine, others are suspicious of Whites’ motives and believe their kindness is primarily motivated by desires to avoid appearing prejudiced. Learn more Published Research Social Psychology Safety in Numbers: Why the Mere Physical Presence of Others Affects Risk‐taking Behaviors Authors: Eileen Chou, Loran F. Nordgren As social mammals, being in a group signals a state of relative security. Risk‐taking behavior in other social mammals formed the basis for our prediction that the mere physical presence of others, absent any social interaction, would create a psychological state of security that, in turn, would promote greater risk‐taking behavior. Learn more Published Research Social Psychology Racial Justice and Equity Research and Commentary Racial bias in pain assessment and treatment recommendations, and false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites Authors: Sophie Trawalter, Kelly M. Hoffman, Jordan R. Axt, M. Norman Oliver Black Americans are systematically undertreated for pain relative to white Americans. We examine whether this racial bias is related to false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites (e.g., “black people’s skin is thicker than white people’s skin”). Learn more Published Research Economics Social Psychology Economic Insecurity Increases Physical Pain Authors: Eileen Chou, Bidhan L. Parmar, Adam D. Galinsky The past decade has seen a rise in both economic insecurity and frequency of physical pain. The current research reveals a causal connection between these two growing and consequential social trends. 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Published Research Social Psychology Once bitten, twice shy: The negative spillover effect of seeing betrayal of trust. Authors: Eileen Chou, Noah Myung, Dennis Y. Hsu Our research demonstrates that people who had perceived a recent betrayal were significantly less likely to trust a new entity that shared nominal group membership with the previous trust transgressor. By systematically investigating whether, why, and to what extent betrayal spillover can subsequently contaminate trust development, we present a robust account of the downstream economic and behavioral consequences of observing others who have been betrayed by a similar entity, particularly in the context of charitable organizations. Learn more
Published Research Health Policy Social Psychology Estimated Prevalence of and Factors Associated With Clinically Significant Anxiety and Depression Among US Adults During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm, Ronald C. Kessler, Victor Puac-Polanco How much did clinically significant anxiety and depression increase among US adults during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic? In this survey study of more than 1.4 million respondents in the US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, responses to a screening question calibrated to a 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire score of 6 or greater suggested that aggregate prevalence of clinically significant anxiety and depression increased only modestly overall among US adults in 2020 compared with 2017 to 2019. Learn more
Published Research Social Psychology The “Equal-Opportunity Jerk” Defense: Rudeness Can Obfuscate Gender Bias Authors: Gabrielle Adams, Peter Belmi, Sora Jun In this research, we identified a barrier that makes sexism hard to recognize: rudeness toward men. We found that observers judge a sexist perpetrator as less sexist if he is rude toward men. Learn more
Published Research Social Psychology Gender Differences in Law School Classroom Participation: The Key Role of Social Context Authors: Sophie Trawalter, Molly Bishop Shadel, J.H. Verkerke Even though women make up roughly half of the students enrolled in law school today, they do not take up roughly half of the speaking time in law school classes. We found that women, more than men, report backlash for speaking in class, and this difference affects their willingness to participate in the law school classroom. Learn more
Published Research Social Psychology Racial Justice and Equity Are Americans less likely to reply to emails from Black people relative to White people? Authors: John Holbein, Ray Block, Jr., Charles Crabtree, J. Quin Monson Although previous attempts have been made to measure everyday discrimination against African Americans, these approaches have been constrained by distinct methodological challenges. We present the results from an audit or correspondence study of a large-scale, nationally representative pool of the American public. We provide evidence that in simple day-to-day interactions, such as sending and responding to emails, the public discriminates against Black people. Learn more
Published Research Social Psychology Anger Damns the Innocent Authors: Gabrielle Adams, Katherine A. DeCelles, Holly S. Howe, Leslie K. John False accusations permeate social life—from the mundane blaming of other people to more serious accusations of infidelity and workplace wrongdoing. Importantly, false accusations can have grave consequences, including broken relationships, job loss, and reputational damage. In this article, we document an equally pernicious phenomenon—the misuse of anger as a cue to predict whether a suspect has been falsely accused. Learn more
Working Paper Social Psychology Keep the Kids Inside: Juvenile Curfews and Urban Gun Violence Authors: Jennifer L. Doleac, Jillian B. Carr Gun violence is an important problem across the United States. Due to limited data, it has been difficult to convincingly test the impacts of government policies on the quantity and geography of gunfire. This paper uses a new source of data on gunfire incidents, which does not suffer from selective underreporting common in other crime datasets, to measure the effects of juvenile curfews in Washington, DC. Learn more
Published Research Social Psychology Slow Motion Increased Perceived Intent Authors: Benjamin Converse, Eugene M. Caruso, Zachary C. Burns To determine the appropriate punishment for a harmful action, people must often make inferences about the transgressor’s intent. In courtrooms and popular media, such inferences increasingly rely on video evidence, which is often played in “slow motion.” Learn more
Published Research Social Psychology What Lies Beneath? Minority Group Members’ Suspicion of Whites’ Egalitarian Motivation Predicts Responses to Whites’ Smiles Authors: Sophie Trawalter, Jonathan W. Kunstman, Taylor Tuscherer, E. Paige Lloyd Antiprejudice norms and attempts to conceal racial bias have made Whites’ positive treatment of racial minorities attributionally ambiguous. Although some minorities believe Whites’ positivity is genuine, others are suspicious of Whites’ motives and believe their kindness is primarily motivated by desires to avoid appearing prejudiced. Learn more
Published Research Social Psychology Safety in Numbers: Why the Mere Physical Presence of Others Affects Risk‐taking Behaviors Authors: Eileen Chou, Loran F. Nordgren As social mammals, being in a group signals a state of relative security. Risk‐taking behavior in other social mammals formed the basis for our prediction that the mere physical presence of others, absent any social interaction, would create a psychological state of security that, in turn, would promote greater risk‐taking behavior. Learn more
Published Research Social Psychology Racial Justice and Equity Research and Commentary Racial bias in pain assessment and treatment recommendations, and false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites Authors: Sophie Trawalter, Kelly M. Hoffman, Jordan R. Axt, M. Norman Oliver Black Americans are systematically undertreated for pain relative to white Americans. We examine whether this racial bias is related to false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites (e.g., “black people’s skin is thicker than white people’s skin”). Learn more
Published Research Economics Social Psychology Economic Insecurity Increases Physical Pain Authors: Eileen Chou, Bidhan L. Parmar, Adam D. Galinsky The past decade has seen a rise in both economic insecurity and frequency of physical pain. The current research reveals a causal connection between these two growing and consequential social trends. Learn more