Category: Research

Children’s Evaluations of and Reactions to Racial Discrimination

Developmental Psychology (2023) Authors: Katharine E. Scott, Madeline A. Henkel, Olivia M. Moens, Patricia G. Devine, and Kristin Shutts Abstract: Despite the potential benefits of children’s confrontations of other children’s racial biases—especially for targets of bias—little is known about how young children react upon observing instances of racial discrimination. In the present research, child participants completed …

Empowering Behaviors to Address Race with Kids (EmBARK): A Racial Socialization Program for White Families

Applied Developmental Psychology (2024) Authors: Katharine E. Scott, Nicole Huth, Eren Fukuda, Kristin Shutts, Patricia G. Devine Abstract: We evaluated the EmBARK (Empowering Behaviors to Address Race with Kids) program, which we developed to help White parents in the US address race and racial biases with their White 5- to 7-year-old children. Parents (N = …

Testing the Generalizability of Minimal Group Attitudes in Minority and Majority Race Children

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology (2025) Authors: Brenda Straka, Ashley E. Jordan, Alisha Osornio, May Ling Halim, Kristin Pauker, Kristina R. Olson, Yarrow Dunham, Sarah Gaither Abstract: The minimal group effect, in which people prefer ingroup members to outgroup members even when group membership is trivially constructed, has been studied extensively in psychological science. Despite …

Diversity Science Podcast: Bridget Goosby on How Experiencing Racism Impacts Physical Health

In this episode, Dr. Bridget Goosby of the University of Texas at Austin talks with Dr. Angela Byars-Winston about her work to better understand how experiencing racism and discrimination impacts a person’s physical health. They also talk about a research project that they’re a part of that looks at the experiences and pressures that Black …

A Systematic Review of Modern Measures for Capturing Children’s Ethnic and Racial Attitudes, Stereotypes, and Discrimination

Developmental Review (2025) Authors: Eren Fukuda, Katharine E. Scott, Katherine Swerbenski, Nicole Huth, Natalie Sarmiento, and Kristin Shutts Abstract: In recent years, there have been accelerated efforts among developmental scientists to understand and address children’s ethnic and racial attitudes, stereotypes, and discrimination. For such efforts, using high-quality and context-appropriate measures is critical. However, focused discussions and …

“Who’s Better at Math, Boys or Girls?”: Changes in Adolescents’ Math Gender Stereotypes and Their Motivational Beliefs from Early to Late Adolescence

Educational Sciences (2023). Authors: Christine R. Starr, Yannan Gao, Charlott Rubach, Glona Lee, Nayssan Safavian, Anna-Lena Dicke, Jacquelynne S. Eccles, and Sandra D. Simpkins Abstract: Though adults tend to endorse the stereotype that boys are better than girls in math, children tend to favor their own gender or be gender egalitarian. When do individuals start endorsing …

Undergraduates’ pSTEM Identity and Motivation in Relation to Gender- and Race-based Perceived Representation, Stereotyped Beliefs, and Implicit Associations

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations (2023) Authors: Christine R. Starr and Campbell Leaper Abstract: Women and underrepresented minoritized (URM) persons remain marginalized in physical science, technology, engineering, and math (pSTEM). Relative to non-URM men, URM women may experience a double disadvantage based on their gender and race whereby they observe few same-gender and few same-race role …

International Perspectives on Lesbian Psychology

Journal of Lesbian Studies (2023) Authors: Ella Ben Hagai and Christine R. Starr Abstract: Researchers from the Philippines, Mexico, Italy, Germany, Chile, Canada, Brazil, China, and the US shed new light on important questions in lesbian psychology while subverting the hegemonic status of Western scholarship. Articles part of this special issue move away from treating LGBTQ + identity as a …

Immigrant’s Death at the Border: Do They Influence White and Latinx Americans’ Belief in the American Dream?

Analysis of Social Issues and Public Policy (2024) Authors: Alexa Vega Rivas, Ella Ben Hagai, and Christine Starr Abstract: In this study, we test a clashing narrative approach to conflict, which argues that political conflict is based on opposing narratives that negate one another. We focus on the role of two master narratives central to political …

That’s Not Me: (Dis)concordance Between pSTEM Nerd-genius Stereotypes and Self-concepts Predicts High School Students’ pSTEM Identity

Social Psychology of Education (2023) Authors: Christine R. Starr and Campbell Leaper Abstract: Nerd-genius stereotypes about people in the physical sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (pSTEM) are barriers to getting many adolescent girls interested in pSTEM. Endorsing these stereotypes may undermine youths’ pSTEM identity especially when they are incongruent with their self-concepts—possibly more likely for girls …