Bailey Identity and Social Cognition Lab
How can we create a more inclusive, equitable society for all?
When you think of a "person," who comes to mind? 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?
Led by Dr. April H. Bailey, the BIAS Lab at the University of Edinburgh investigates questions about social groups from a social cognitive perspective.
We study beliefs and biases about gender, race, sexual orientation, and other group dimensions. We also address concepts, essentialism, impression formation, nonverbal behavior, and power alongside applied consequences of social biases for psychological well-being, organizational leadership, legal decision-making, and fairness in AI. Our research has been featured in popular outlets including Scientific American and Psychology Today.
Research and Media Highlights
2024: New paper in press! Bailey, A. H., Ikizer, E., Dembroff, R., Wodak, D., & Cimpian, A. (in press). People's beliefs about pronouns reflect both the language they speak and their ideologies. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
2024: New paper in press! Bailey, A. H., Williams, A., Poddar, A., Cimpian, A. (in press). Intersectional male-centric and White-centric biases in collective concepts. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
2023: Bailey, A. H., & Knobe, J. (2023). Biological essentialism correlates with (but doesn’t cause?) intergroup bias. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
2023: Dr. Bailey spoke about our research on the Opinion Science podcast
2022: Bailey, A. H., Williams, A., & Cimpian, A. (2022). Based on billions of words on the internet, PEOPLE = MEN. Science Advances. (Media Coverage)
Lab News
2024: The BIAS Lab moves to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland 🏴
2024: Congratulations to BIAS Lab graduating seniors: Will Gaudreau, Erin Luckern, and Niko McPherson!
2024: PhD student Trish successfully defended their master's! Congratulations to Trish Burkins, M.S. 🎉
2024: Research assistant Natalie Wagner received the psychology department's award for an outstanding junior student. Way to go Natalie!
2024: Research assistants Sadie and Abigail received competitive summer funding fellowships through the Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research ("SURFs"). Congratulations Sadie and Abigail!
2024: Dr. Bailey shared the BIAS Lab's research with psychology departments around the country and around the world! Thank you to Edinburgh, NYU, and others for having us.
2024: Dr. Bailey received a Knowledge Frontier's grant as a co-PI from the British Academy. This grant will facilitate a new line of work on gender, autonomy, and consent with a team of philosophers at Oxford.
2024: PhD student Trish Burkins received a competitive summer funding fellowship, the "STAFF". Congrats Trish!
2024: Dr. Bailey is selected as a ⭐ Rising Star ⭐ by the Association for Psychological Science.
2024: The BIAS Lab was awarded a research grant through the Global, Racial, and Social Inequality Lab at UNH.
2023: Dr. Bailey presented research led by PhD student Trish Burkins at the SESP conference in Wisconsin.
2023: Sofía Briones joined the BIAS Lab as a research coordinator. Welcome Sofía!
2023: Dr. Bailey shared the BIAS Lab's research with psychology departments around the country and around the world! Thank you to UCONN, NYU Abu Dhabi, Maryland, and others for having us.
2023: The BIAS Lab welcomed research assistants Cade, Courtney, Mi, Will G., Will C., Abigail, Sadie, and Niko to the lab. Welcome!
2023: The BIAS Lab presented research posters at the "Live Free" Symposium in Durham, New Hampshire.
2023: Research Coordinator Nich DiMaggio is accepted to the Chicago Booth School of Business Behavioral Science PhD Program. Congrats Nich!
2023: The BIAS Lab was awarded a research grant and summer funding through the Global, Racial, and Social Inequality Lab at UNH.
2023: The BIAS Lab welcomed research assistants Alexandra, Erin, and Paige to the lab.
2022: The BIAS Lab is founded at the University of New Hampshire.