Research Overview 

 

Role Models in STEM. 

​Research on Improving Education and Learning Outcomes: Women in math and science and racial/ethnic minority students in academics more generally are severely underrepresented. Among the many prominent explanations for this gender and race gap is the theory of stereotype threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995), which posits that there is a general “threat in the air” whenever a negatively stereotyped individual enters a situation where a negative, group-relevant stereotype might apply. It is argued that this threat is what undermines the performance and academic motivation of these individuals (Steele, 1997). Because of this, the TEST Lab has focused on developing and refining an intervention known as the role model effect ( Marx & Roman, 2002).

 

Changing Face of America. 

​Research on Immigration, Diversity, and Intergroup Relations: America is often described as a land of immigrants. While the majority of U.S. citizens can trace their recent family histories to other countries, there has been a long history of opposition to immigration (Diaz, Saenz, & Kwan, 2011). Surprisingly, we know relatively little about the specific ways that members of the host country perceive these immigrant groups. Consequently, the TEST Lab focuses on how different immigrant groups are perceived and whether these perceptions depend, in part, on the group in question and the perceiver’s own backgrounds and ideologies. In related we examine issues surrounding diversity and intergroup relations more broadly. For instance, we investigate the overarching question of how the racial makeup of college students’ friendship networks impacts how their peers will perceive them on dimensions of competence and sociability.