Evolution, Ecology, and Social Behavior Lab (Dr. Neuberg)

Welcome to the Neuberg Lab! 

Here are a few of the questions we are currently exploring:

• Why do stereotypes and prejudices exist? What forms do they take? It’s often presumed that the stereotypes and prejudices people hold are simple, but they are not. Our research has demonstrated that the stereotypes people use to understand others are often quite complex—more complex than can be accounted for by currently dominant theoretical approaches to stereotyping and prejudice... and some of our prejudices are quite ambivalent, containing aspects that are "positive" as well as "negative." Although we're interested in stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination related to many groups, much of our current research in this domain is focusing on how Americans think and feel about immigrants and Jewish people.   
• Why do we hate?  Different emotions serve different functions.  What functions does hate  serve for us? In what ways is hate different than, say, anger, disgust, envy, or just extreme dislike? Where does hate come from, and what behaviors does it elicit? 
• How do our physical and social ecologies shape cognitions, behaviors, culture, and health? The environments in which people live can vary greatly—in terms of resource availability and predictability, the presence of disease-causing pathogens, dangerous people, sex ratio (the numbers of women versus men), etc. How do these environments change us, and do these effects across alter our life-span? 
• Why do people hold and propagate beliefs that appear to be logically irrational? We hypothesize that many such beliefs can serve quite deeply rational social functions for people -- for example, being seen as a good member of one's group, gaining prestige, motivating aggression against rival groups -- partially accounting for their power and immunity to change by evidence. We're interested in understanding this better. 
• What does the concept of "diversity" mean to people?  It turns out that "diverse" can mean quite different things to different people, and even quite different things to the same person across circumstances or types of tasks (e.g., in assessing the diversity of existing groups versus creating new groups that are diverse). Interestingly, even in the face of this diversity in what "diversity" means, people across the political spectrum appear to agree much more than they disagree, suggesting ways to lessen  ideology-based tension.   

Our approach is an integrative one, pulling together theory and findings from social psychology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary biology to explore fundamental questions of social cognition and behavior.

Interested in Joining Us?

CONDUCT RESEARCH AND EARN COURSE CREDIT!!

We seek motivated, conscientious, curious, and enthusiastic research assistants to help us investigate research questions like those above. Learn first-hand about research and gain valuable experience for graduate school and the job market. You will run studies and collect data, read the scientific research literature, and perform other project-related tasks while learning about a wide range of topics in social and evolutionary psychology.

In addition to research-related activities during the week, and participation in smaller project meetings, all undergraduate and graduate students working in the lab join Professor Neuberg every Friday afternoon for a two-hour research meeting. During this time, we review the week’s activities, generate new research ideas, design new studies, bring to the group hot-off-the-presses data from studies just completed, discuss new findings in social and evolutionary psychology, and/or relate our research to events in the broader world.

We encourage active participation by undergrads and grads alike—the livelier, the better. The vast majority of undergraduate students who work in this lab go on to graduate school—and many are now even running their own lab meetings as professors!