Graduate Student, Institute of Social Psychology
PhD Candidate, Social Psychology
Thesis Title: Made to Stick? Exploring the Potentials of a Cognition and Culture Account of Social Group Stereotypes
About
Within the field of social psychology the study of stereotypes has been approached from 2 different perspectives. Early research adopted a descriptive approach, focusing on the content of stereotypes. However, since the late 1970s, the social cognition approach has come to dominate the study of stereotypes, and the focus shifted to a study of the process of stereotyping. Increasingly social psychologists have come to recognize that these traditional approaches offer only a partial explanation of stereotypes because they focus largely on one aspect of the phenomenon, i.e. content or process. A complete explanation, it has been argued, must theoretically integrate a study of the content of stereotypes and the stereotyping process. In my doctoral research, in an attempt to fill this conceptual and empirical gap, I postulate that the Cognition and Culture approach is best suited to facilitate just such an integration. More specifically, I am exploring the potential role of evolved cognitive predispositions in shaping the contents of social group stereotypes, and in facilitating the ability of such stereotypes to justify and naturalise social status differences between groups. The expected contribution of this research will be in providing a more coherent account of stereotypes; their contents, functions and ability to stabilize within a cultural population. This is an important goal not only for what answers it provides us about social cognition, but also for its potential contribution to social policy debates concerning the negative impact of stereotypes on peoples' life chances.
My research interests lie in exploring the interaction of cognition and culture. Besides Social Psychology, I am especially interested in Cognitive Science, Evolutionary Psychology, Anthropology, Epistemology and Sociology. I am also interested in the application of social scientific theories and research to 'real' world issues and its implications for social policy.
Contact Information
http://www.psych.lse.ac.uk/socialpsychology/research/people/dhesi_japinder/
Institute of Social Psychology
London School of Economics
Houghton Street
WC2A 2AE
