Research Labs
Research Labs in Social Psychology
The Social Psychology Program at CU hosts active research in a broad range of areas including stereotyping and prejudice, judgment and decision making, health, relationships, evolutionary psychology, and social neuroscience.
CU Change Lab
At the CUChange lab we seek to conduct transdisciplinary research to explore the social, psychological, physiological, and genetic factors that are linked with health behavior. We believe that a better understanding of the full range of influences on health behavior will allow better tailoring of behavioral interventions to increase health behavior and decrease morbidity and mortality.
Supervising Faculty:
Lab web page:
CU Social Neuroscience Lab
The CU Social Neuroscience Lab addresses social psychological issues using a multi-level perspective that integrates psychological and physiological measures. We focus in particular on issues related to prejudice, stereotyping, attitudes, emotion, and face perception using psychophysiological and neuroscience measures. The lab is housed in the psychology building and is equipped for the collection of event-related brain potentials (ERPs), facial electromyography (EMG), heart rate, and skin conductance. Studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are conducted in collaboration with the Brain Imaging Center at the CU Health Sciences Center in Denver.
Supervising Faculty:Tiffany Ito
Lab web page:CU Social Neuroscience Lab
CU Stereotyping and Prejudice (CUSP) Lab
The CUSP lab is composed of social psychologists with common interests in a broad array of research questions relating to stereotyping, prejudice, and intergroup relations. Our research explores issues concerning factors that influence the development and expression of valenced beliefs about social groups. It also encompasses work on the consequences of these beliefs for both intergroup relations and public policy issues. Fundamental to our work is a deep concern about the multifaceted nature of group perceptions and the ways in which explicitly expressed beliefs or sentiments may or may not be consistent with those assessed at the implicit, automatic, or more spontaneous level. We are also interested in the ways in which the social positions occupied by perceivers, such as whether they are or are not members of dominant, majority groups in society, influence group stereotypes and sentiments. And finally, we are interested in naive theories or ideologies that perceivers espouse about the different ways in which intergroup hostility might be reduced.
Supervising Faculty:Tiffany Ito, Evava (Eva)Pietri
Lab web page: CUSP Lab
Emotion Decision Judgment and Intuition (EDJI) Lab
The EDJI laboratory investigates the interplay between Emotions, Decisions, Judgments, and Intuitions. The lab's theoretical and methodological base lies in the fields of social and cognitive psychology, with an emphasis on the interdisciplinary field of judgment and decision-making. The JEDI lab is concerned with understanding and improving everyday experience, thought, and behavior.
Supervising Faculty:Leaf Van Boven
Lab webpage: EDJI Lab
Social Interventions and Attitudes Lab
An overarching goal of the Social Intervention and Attitudes lab is to investigate how basic processes in social cognition and attitudes influence various domains pertinent to real-world issues. The lab aims to do theoretically impactful work while also developing new and scalable interventions. Much of our current research focuses onreducing biases in STEM and exploring who acts as an ingroup member and fosters belonging among women with multiple marginalized identities (e.g., Black and Latina women).
Supervising Faculty: Evava (Eva)Pietri
Lab webpage:
Social Perception Lab
The Correll Social Perceptionlab examines the influence of social categories (such as race and gender) on our perceptions of others. We examine questions like: Why do people have more trouble recognizing members of another race? Do members of other groups evoke a sense of threat? Does interpersonal contact with members of other groups alter the way we think about and act toward them?
Supervising Faculty: Joshua Correll
Lab webpage: Social Perception Lab
Social Psychoneuroimmunology (SPNIL) Lab
Who gains or loses status and why? How do these changes or perceived changes in status impact stress and health? The CU Boulder Social Psychoneuroimmunology* Lab (SPNIL, pronounced “Spineli”) broadly focuses on behavior, stress, and health outcomes within social hierarchies. Using an approach that combines social endocrine and psychoneuroimmunology methodology, we also examine biological determinants of status-seeking social behavior with a particular emphasis on causal mechanisms linking biology to behavior. Ultimately, SPNIL research aims to uncover psychosocial and biological determinants of resilience to social disparities in stress and health.
Supervising Faculty: Erik L. Knight
Lab webpage: Social PNI Lab