Projects

My current research interests

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Understanding the interconnected nature of social identities in experiences and perception

Understanding the role of stereotypes in hierarchy maintenance

The impact of increasing diversity and shifting demographics in America

The relationship between hierarchy maintenance and empathic, as well as counter-empathic, emotions

Projects that examine our field more broadly.

Hierarchy-enhancing myths support inequality between social groups

Additional projects with my various collaborators and mentors.

Publications

Published Manuscripts, Chapters, and Pre-prints

This review serves as a primer for conducting intersectionally-informed research within social psychology, using the intersection of …

Across two studies, the present work tests hair texture as one possible perceptual mechanism by which the exclusion of Black women from …

Examining gender normative stereotypes at the intersection of sexual orientation (Study 1) and race (Study 2), we find evidence of …

The present research investigates whether benevolent and hostile sexism are applied differently by Black and White U.S. Americans to …

Across two studies, we analyzed stereotypes and emotions towards the men and women of three religious groups; Christians, Jews, and …

Recent & Upcoming Talks

DEI Presentation at the 2024 Berkeley Culture Connect Conference

REI Virtual Presentation at Berkeley, California

Presentations for the BRiDGE2Science and BRiDGE2Impacts at UMass Amherst

Presentation at the Women and Public Policy Forum at the Harvard Kennedy School

Emerging Scholars Presentation at NYU and Princeton

Accomplishments

Selected Awards, Grants, and Honors

Won a NSF CAREER Award for $849,000 to study schadenfreude

This project investigates the importance of schadenfreude to intergroup harm and advances basic understanding of the cognitive mechanisms that allow schadenfreude to flourish. One set of studies identify whether empathy and schadenfreude both require the same cognitive components, such as perspective taking. A second set of studies assesses the importance of threat in feeling schadenfreude, manipulating whether increased perceptions of intergroup threat also increase the level of schadenfreude felt towards outgroups. A final set of studies examine the connection between schadenfreude and willingness to engage in intergroup harm.

Assistant Professorship

I will be starting an Assistant Professor position in the Management of Organizations group at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business in the Fall of 2022!

Harvard Open Gate Foundation Grant

With Asma Ghani and Aerielle Allen, we received $4,000 to work on our project titled To be gay is to be low status: sexual orientation, not gender inversion, predicts perceived competences of gay and straight men and women

National Science Foundation SBE Postdoctoral Fellowship

The Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) offers Postdoctoral Research Fellowships to encourage independence early in the Fellow’s career through supporting his or her research and training goals. The research and training plan of each Fellowship must address important scientific questions within the scope of the SBE Directorate and the specific guidelines in this solicitation. The SPRF program offers two tracks: (I) Fundamental Research in the SBE Sciences (SPRF-FR) and (II) Broadening Participation in the SBE Sciences (SPRF-BP). See the full text of the solicitation for a detailed description of these tracks.

Attendee of the 2021 ISPP Summer Academy

The ISPP Academy aims to train interested faculty and students in both foundational research and cutting-edge methodologies in the area of political psychology. The Academy’s central objective is to spread interest and promote training in political psychology around the world

Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship Honorable Mention (Alternate)

Through its program of fellowships, the Ford Foundation seeks to increase the diversity of the nation’s college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, maximize the educational benefits of diversity, and increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students. Predoctoral, Dissertation, and Postdoctoral fellowships will be awarded in a national competition administered by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on behalf of the Ford Foundation.

Harvard Horizon Finalist

Awarded a $2,100 Grant from the Harvard Open Gate Foundation

Project Title: Stereotype Threat in the LGBTQ+ Community

Awarded a $3,500 Grant from the Harvard Anderson Fund

Project Title: How preferences for hierarchy impact people’s willingness to feel empathy, feel counter-empathy, and behave prosocially

Awarded the Harvard Women and Public Policy Fellowship

Awarded a $5,000 Grant from the Harvard Mind, Brain, and Behavior Interfaculty Inititive

Project Title: The Biology behind Social Dominance Orientation

Awarded a Small Research Grant for Graduate Students

Project Title: The Intersection of Power and Gender: The Ways in Which Power Dynamics Reinforce Gender Inequality

Awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Project Title: Children’s understanding of social categories as social hierarchies

Awarded the Harvard Inequality and Social Policy Fellowship

Awarded a $3,000 Harvard GSAS Summer Pre-Dissertation Research Grant

Project Title: Going from categorization to hierarchy: Children’s understanding of social hierarchy in society

Became an Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers (IRT) Fellow

Awarded the Stephen H. Tyng Scholarship

Experience

 
 
 
 
 

Attendee of the 2019 Summer Institute in Social and Personality Psychology

SISPP

Jul 2019 – Jul 2019 Cambridge, MA
 
 
 
 
 

Graduate Research Assistant

Harvard Kennedy School

Jun 2019 – Aug 2019 Cambridge, MA
Work for Dr. Robert Livingston
 
 
 
 
 

Women in Public Policy Program (WAPPP) Fellow

Harvard Kennedy School

Sep 2017 – Jun 2019 Cambridge, MA
 
 
 
 
 

First-Generation and Low-Income Student Advocate

Harvard College Freshmen Deans Office

Aug 2017 – Aug 2018 Cambridge, MA
 
 
 
 
 

Attendee of the 2017 BIG Ideas Doctoral Workshop

Harvard Business School

Jun 2017 – Jun 2017 Cambridge, MA
 
 
 
 
 

Social Science Graduate Coordinator

Summer Research Opportunities Program at Harvard

Jun 2017 – Aug 2018 Cambridge, MA
 
 
 
 
 

Member of the University-Wide Task Force on Inclusion and Belonging

Harvard University President’s Office

Sep 2016 – May 2018 Cambridge, MA
 
 
 
 
 

Graduate Coordinator

WoGPoP: Working Group in Political Psychology and Behavior

Sep 2015 – Jun 2018 Cambridge, MA
 
 
 
 
 

Inequality and Social Policy Fellow

Harvard Kennedy School

Sep 2015 – Jun 2017 Cambridge, MA
 
 
 
 
 

Freshmen Proctor

Harvard College Freshmen Deans Office

Aug 2015 – Jun 2019 Cambridge, MA
 
 
 
 
 

PhD Student

Harvard University

Sep 2014 – May 2020 Cambridge, MA
 
 
 
 
 

Lab Manager

Social Interaction and Social Stigma Lab at UCLA

Sep 2012 – Jun 2014 Los Angeles, CA
Worked under PI Dr. Jenessa Shapiro

People

Principal Investigators

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Sa-kiera T. J. Hudson, PhD

Assistant Professor

Psychological underpinnings of social dominance, Intersectionality (e.g. race, gender, class, sexual orientation), Empathy and schadenfreude, Intergroup conflict

Collaborators

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Aerielle Allen, Ph.D.

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Annalisa Myer

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Asma Ghani, MA

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Benedek Kurdi, Ph.D.

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Calvin Lai, PhD

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Elisabeth S. Noland

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Elyssa C. Berney, MS

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Gregory Davis, PhD

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Jim Sidanius, PhD

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Mahzarin Banaji, PhD

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Negin Toosi, PhD

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Nicole Noll, PhD

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Ryan Lei, Ph.D.

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Fatih Uenal, PhD

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Jennifer Richeson, PhD

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Michael W. Kraus, PhD

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Mina Cikara, PhD

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Xanni Brown, MA

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Brittany R. Torrez, MA

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Cydney H. Dupree, PhD

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Alison Ledgerwood, PhD

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Julian Rucker, PhD

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Robin Bergh, PhD

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Neil Lewis, PhD

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Elizabeth Spelke, PhD

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Emily Cogsdill, PhD

Collaborator

Lab Members

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Daniel Sanji, BA

Lab Manager

Administration

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Sa-kiera T. J. Hudson, PhD

Assistant Professor

Psychological underpinnings of social dominance, Intersectionality (e.g. race, gender, class, sexual orientation), Empathy and schadenfreude, Intergroup conflict

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Daniel Sanji, BA

Lab Manager

Visitors

Alumni

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Dylan Rice, AB

Collaborator

Contact Kiera

  • Haas School of Business; University of California, Berkeley; 2220 Piedmont Avenue; Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
  • DM Me