PSYCHOLOGY AND WOMEN'S STUDIES
DUAL DEGREE

Since I have come to graduate school I have had a driving goal of applying feminist theory to psychology. I am specifically interested in the social construction of emotion. My masters thesis was about how contextual factors influence gender differences in the use of emotions in moral reasoning. More recently, I have been exploring the social structural function of emotion stereotypes and how emotion evaluation is used as a tool to delegitimize certain social groups. I served as president of the Women’s Studies Graduate Organization in 2004-05.

Recent publications:

Warner, L.R. , & Shields, S.A. The perception of crying in women and men. To appear in the forthcoming edited volume: Hess, U. & Philippot, P., Eds. Group Dynamics and Emotional Expression.

Pinel E.C., Warner L.R., & Chua, P.P. (In press). Getting there is half the battle: maintaining diversity in higher education. Journal for Social Issues .

I study power and how it relates to stereotyping, objectification, patronizing behaviors, and confronting prejudice. Terri Vescio and I investigate situations when power leads to stereotyping and patronizing behaviors directed towards subordinates in masculine domains and how the patronizing behaviors of the powerful are interpreted by their subordinates and lead to performance decrements (for women) and performance enhancement (for men). More recently, I have been exploring target, perpetrator, and situation variables that lead to objectification processes in male and female objectifiers.

Recent publications:

Vescio, T. K., Gervais, S. J., Snyder, M., & Hoover, A. (In Press). Power and the creation of patronizing environments: The stereotype-based behaviors of the powerful and their effects on female performance in masculine domains. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

I am interested in aging and mental health. I am specifically interested in doing multicultural work. The major area of my interest is grandparenting in minority cultures with a focus on how mental health is defined in these communities, as well as how the power structures within and power relation with the majority culture influence the definition of mental health and access to services.

I am in the Social Psychology area. I'm interested in all sorts of psychological research areas that are related to Women's Studies, such as feminism, sexism, racism, LGBT issues, collective action, identity, the self, and translating feminist theory for use in psychological research. I am currently doing research on identity, sexism, the intersection of race and gender, and core social goals.