Social Psychology

Marika Lamoreaux

		Graduate Student  -  Primary Advisor: Samuel Gaertner Research Interests Recent Publications Webpage marikal@udel.edu Office: 111 McKinly Hall (302) 831-4582 (302) 831-3645 -fax Lab: 110 McKinly Hall (302) 831-4581 Preferred contact method - email

Research Interests

My primary research interest is on the causes, consequences, and practical methods of reducing intergroup bias.  My interest in the causes of intergroup bias is exemplified by my dissertation research, which assesses how perceptions of the outgroup’s contribution to a collective goal influence cooperation’s effect.  I have conducted two studies showing that when groups believe that working with the outgroup is better than working separately from the outgroup, bias is lower than we groups believe working separately is better.  The third study in my dissertation (data collection occurring in the Fall of 2007) is assessing antecedents to perceptions of the outgroup’s contribution.

My interest in the consequences of intergroup bias is exemplified by a diary study conducted with a colleague in Northern Ireland.  We assessed university student’s daily social interactions for two weeks and found that when students did not know their interaction partners’ religious identities their interactions were less positive (e.g., more anxiety, less intimacy).

my interest in the practical methods of reducing intergroup bias is exemplified by my involvement in an assessment of an intervention to reduce bias between graduate students from different scientific fields in order to increase productivity in the business environment (e.g., reducing bias between PhD biologists and PhD chemists who may need to work together at a multi-disciplinary company).

Research Summary:

Currently I am researching different areas of interracial group interactions.

My first area of interest is whether White people unconsciously treat Black people differently than other White people.  Aversive racism occurs when self-professed egalitarian White people discriminate against Black people in ambiguous situations.  Aversive racism occurs in many types of ambiguous such as when people make hiring decisions and when people decide whom to offer assistance to.

My second area of interest is in studying the many types of interventions that have been developed to reduce prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination.  Although there are many effective interventions, we do not know much about how the different interventions compare to each other.  There are several questions I would like to address such as which interventions are applicable across multiple different domains, and which interventions create the most change in attitudes, behavior, and beliefs?

Recent Publications

Dovidio, J. F., Gaertner, S. L., & Lamoreaux, M. J. Leadership and Identity: The Role of Common Group Identity (in press). In T. Pettinsky (Ed.), Intergroup Leadership Leading Across Silos. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Riek, B. M., Gaertner, S. L., Dovidio, J. F., Brewer, M. B., Mania, E. W., & Lamoreaux, M. J. (in press). Social psychological approaches to post-conflict reconciliation. In A. Nadler, T. Malloy, D. Fisher (Eds.), Social Psychology of Inter-group Reconciliation. London: Oxford University Press.

Mania, E. W., Gaertner, S. L., Riek, B. M., Dovidio, J. F., Lamoreaux, M. J., & Direso, S. A. (in press). Intergroup contact: Implications for peace education. In G. Salomon & E. Cairns (Eds.), Handbook of peace education. LEA Inc.

McConnell, A. R., Renaud, J. M., Dean, K. K., Palladino, S. M., Lamoreaux, M. J., Hall, C. E.,  & Rydell, R. J. (2005).  Whose self is it anyway?  Self-aspect control and the self-complexity buffering hypothesis.  Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 41, 1-18.

Manuscripts in Preparation

Lamoreaux, M. J., & Smith, C. V. (2007).  Intergroup bias in Northern Ireland: An examination of interpersonal behavior and attitudes. 

Lamoreaux, M. J., Gaertner, S. L., Riek, B. M., & Mania, E. W. (2007). Reducing Intergroup Bias: When Intergroup Contact is Instrumental for Achieving Group Goals.

Morling, B., & Lamoreaux, M. J. (2007).  Measuring culture on the “outside:” A meta-analysis of studies of books, songs, websites, and other cultural products.

Riek, B. M., Mania, E. W., Gaertner, S. L., Direso, S., & Lamoreaux, M. (2007) The relationship between common ingroup identification and intergroup threat.

Riek, B. M., Mania, E. W., Gaertner, S. L., Direso, S., & Lamoreaux, M. (2007) Does a

Common Ingroup Identity Reduce Intergroup Threat?  

Presentations

Lamoreaux, M. J., & Smith, C. V. (2008, February). Intergroup bias in Northern Ireland: An examination of interpersonal behavior and attitudes.  Poster to be presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

Gaertner, S. L., Dovidio, J. F., Mania, E. W., Riek, B. M., Lamoreaux, M., Direso, S. A., Wilson, D. C., O’Brien, J. D., Saguy, T., & Pearson, A. R. (2007, June). When does a “dual identity” reduce intergroup bias? Conference on Identity, Innovation and Organizational Learning, Carnegie Mellon University, PA.

Morling, B., & Lamoreaux, M. (2007, January). Measuring culture on the “outside:” A meta-analysis of studies of books, songs, websites, and other cultural products. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

Gaertner, S. L., Dovidio, J. F., Riek, B., Mania, E., & Lamoreaux, M. (2005, July). When does a dual identity reduce intergroup bias? Symposium presentation at the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology, Wurzburg, Germany.

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