Research Interests
The social psychological study of intergroup relations focuses on how our thoughts about other people and our interactions with them are influenced by our knowledge and our awareness of our own group memberships and the group memberships of the other, as well as our understanding of the general relationship between our group and theirs.
All of my work holds as fundamental the concept of collective identity—that the groups we belong to form an essential part of our understanding of who we are. With this as a starting point, my research explores three related themes.
Reducing Prejudice:
The first involves the reasons why people hold prejudicial attitudes about other groups, and how these attitudes can be changed. Specifically, our research investigates the impact of contact between members of different groups and work addresses not only when cross-group contact will lead to better intergroup attitudes (and when it will not), but also why.
Responding to Disadvantage:
The second major theme focuses on the targets of discrimination, investigating the psychological processes that guide the thoughts and actions of members of societally disadvantaged groups. This part of my work seeks to uncover the psychological resources that allow some individuals to “manage” the discriminatory treatment they face and to maintain a strong positive collective identity. Specifically some of this work has focuses on the determinants of collective action in an effort to determine the condition that lead members of disadvantaged groups to act on behalf of their group (as opposed to engaging in efforts to improve their own personal status). In other lines of research, I have investigated the nature of ingroup identification and the role it plays in determining how targets cope with the expressions of prejudice and discrimination they face in their daily lives.
Minority Languages & Heritage Culture:
Finally, another line of research explores how psychological processes and educational practices come together to affect the lives of “minority-language” children. This research looks at the impact of heritage vs. second language education on the linguistic, social and academic development of children whose mother tongue is a minority language. While I have studied these issues with a number of groups of children, much of this work has been done in collaboration with the Kativik School Board in Arctic Quebec.