<< Back to Faculty Gerald Higginbotham Assistant Professor of Public Policy Education & Training PhD, Social Psychology, University of California - Los Angeles MS, Psychology, University of California - Los Angeles BA, Psychology, Stanford University ghigginbotham@virginia.edu Garrett Hall 105 Curriculum Vitae (171.48 KB) @gd_higginbotham Areas of focus Social Psychology As of Fall 2023, Gerald Higginbotham is an assistant professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. Utilizing social and cultural psychological insights, Higginbotham researches the imprint of history on people’s modern social perceptions and policy attitudes, and the psychological underpinnings of how people perceive history and its consequences. Higginbotham was a postdoctoral research associate at the Batten School. He received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from University of California, Los Angeles and holds an M.A. in Psychology from University of California, Los Angeles and a B.A. in Psychology from Stanford University with a minor in African & African-American Studies. Related Content Higginbotham in APA Article: Anti-Black racism linked to lower support for some gun rights News The American Psychological Assocation shares findings from post-doctoral scholar Gerald Higginbotham's research that racial resentment leads some to associate gun rights with white people. When an Irresistible Prejudice Meets Immovable Politics: Black Legal Gun Ownership Undermines Racially Resentful White Americans’ Gun Rights Advocacy Research Historical evidence suggests that White Americans’ support for gun rights (i.e., opposition to gun control) is challenged by Black Americans exercising their legal rights to guns (e.g., The Black Panther Party and the Mulford Act of 1967). This study examined two empirical questions. In both studies, racially resentful White Americans expressed less support for a gun right (i.e., concealed-carry) when informed that Black (vs. White) Americans showed greater utilization of the gun right. Overall, these results support that Black legal gun ownership can reduce opposition to gun control among gun rights’ most entrenched advocates. View All
Higginbotham in APA Article: Anti-Black racism linked to lower support for some gun rights News The American Psychological Assocation shares findings from post-doctoral scholar Gerald Higginbotham's research that racial resentment leads some to associate gun rights with white people.
When an Irresistible Prejudice Meets Immovable Politics: Black Legal Gun Ownership Undermines Racially Resentful White Americans’ Gun Rights Advocacy Research Historical evidence suggests that White Americans’ support for gun rights (i.e., opposition to gun control) is challenged by Black Americans exercising their legal rights to guns (e.g., The Black Panther Party and the Mulford Act of 1967). This study examined two empirical questions. In both studies, racially resentful White Americans expressed less support for a gun right (i.e., concealed-carry) when informed that Black (vs. White) Americans showed greater utilization of the gun right. Overall, these results support that Black legal gun ownership can reduce opposition to gun control among gun rights’ most entrenched advocates.