Intersectionality in Psychology: How Multiple Identities Shape Prejudice and Discrimination
Sa-kiera Hudson, Professor
Business, Haas School
Applications for Fall 2024 are closed for this project.
In 1989, University of California Los Angeles law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality to describe how intersecting structures of power shape modes of discrimination and prejudice. Drawing from Black feminism, Crenshaw argued that the discrimination of Black women could not be understood as simply a composite of sexism and racism (Crenshaw, 1989). Rather than existing on separate axes of subordination, multiple identities interact within intersecting systems of power, shaping the way that people experience advantage and disadvantage.
Social psychology researchers have long theorized how social identity influences perception, treatment, and experience, but until recently, researchers have almost exclusively studied social identity in isolation. Recognizing these gaps, social psychologists have increasingly adopted intersectionality as an analytical tool to inform theory, hypotheses, and methodology. At the Haas Intersectionality, Group Hierarchy, and Emotions Research (HIGHER) Laboratory, critically engaging intersectionality theory in the research of group-based hierarchies is a central focus of the lab.
In one line of research, our lab studies intersectional stereotypes, or stereotypes based on a target’s multiple group memberships. Specifically, Hudson explores the descriptive (what people are like), prescriptive (what people should like), and proscriptive (what people should not be like) stereotypes at the intersection of race and gender (e.g., Black women, Asian men, etc.); sexual orientation and gender (e.g., straight women, gay men); and race, religion, and gender (e.g., Black muslim women, White Christian men, etc.). Finding that people do hold different stereotypes about targets based on their multiple group identities, we study the consequences of such stereotypes on the experiences of multiple marginalized people. One such consequence is stereotype threat, which describes the psychological threat that arises when an individual is in a situation where a negative stereotype about their group arises (Steele & Aronson, 1995). A current research question is whether multiply marginalized individuals experience stereotype threat atypical for their gender. For instance, are gay men subjected to stereotype threat traditionally expressed in straight women, and are lesbian women subjected to stereotype threat traditionally expressed in men, as a function of stereotypes of femininity and masculinity, respectively?
Finally, we research how well existing theories of intersectionality in social psychology predict these phenomena. In this intersectional theories competition (ITC) project, we seek to assess the application of theory and methodology in various contexts (e.g., sexual harassment, hiring, and criminal justice) with multiple actors (e.g., multiply-marginalized women).
Role: Students will act as research assistants (RAs) for Haas Intersectionality, Group Hierarchy, and Emotions Research (HIGHER) Lab, a social psychology research laboratory directed by Professor Hudson. As a part of this apprenticeship, students will assist in the production and publication of experimental social psychological research for a minimum of 7 hours/week, including literature reviews, survey design, data management, stimuli creation, and running experiments. Students will also attend weekly, mandatory in-person lab meetings (Thursdays, 10:00 - 11:00 AM) facilitated by the lab manager and meet at least monthly with their assigned mentor(s). At the end of the semester, all students will write a final paper and present a research poster summarizing their work.
Qualifications: An ideal candidate is interested in graduate school in Social Psychology, Management, and Organizational Behavior, or a career in behavioral research. Experience with SPSS/R (or other coding languages) is beneficial but not required. All technical knowledge necessary to do well in the position will be taught throughout the semester.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Teresa Campbell, Staff Researcher
Hours: 9-11 hrs
Related website: http://www.sakierahudson.com/
Related website: https://www.higherlaboratory.com