Bailey Identity and Social Cognition Lab

How can we create a more inclusive, equitable society for all? 

Does your language influence how you think about different social groups? If you think of an identity as biologically caused versus socially constructed, does that matter? Why do children and adults tell more stories about boys than girls? When you think of a "person," who comes to mind?

The BIAS lab, located at the University of New Hampshire, investigates questions about social groups from a social cognitive perspective. Broadly, we're interested in how the mind causes people to make "mistakes" that result in inequity and discrimination. We study biases based on gender, race, and sexual orientation alongside other group dimensions, identities, and their intersections. We also address concepts, essentialism, impression formation, nonverbal behavior, and power, as well as applied consequences of bias on psychological well-being, organizational leadership, and fairness in AI. Our research has been featured in popular outlets including Scientific American and Psychology Today.

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