EXPERT ON SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF PREJUDICE TO GIVE TALK APRIL 19

Stacey Sinclair, associate professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and an expert on the social psychology of prejudice, will give a talk titled, "It's Not Who You Are, It's Who You Know: Social Tuning of the Self," Thursday, April 19, on the Old Dominion University campus.

The colloquium, scheduled for 3-4:15 p.m. at Perry Library, Room 151, is sponsored by the ODU psychology department. A reception will follow.

"Each day people interact with friends, relatives and colleagues, each of whom has different thoughts and expectations. The research I will discuss demonstrates that fundamental aspects of the self are shaped and regulated by these social interactions, particularly when one is motivated to affiliate with the other person or motivated to know more," Sinclair explained.

"When these motivations are present, how people feel, their implicit attitudes and their self-views spontaneously converge toward the perceived opinions of others to create interpersonal synchrony. Because much of this work focuses on outcomes related to stereotyping and prejudice, it suggests that interpersonal interactions are a vehicle by which these cultural phenomena become individual thought."

A member of the UVa faculty since 1999, Sinclair received doctoral and master's degrees in social psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a bachelor's degree in psychology and economics from Stanford University. She was awarded a National Institutes of Health New Minority Scientist Award for 2005-10.