Kumar Yogeeswaran
Contact
Department of Psychology
626 Tobin Hall
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003, USA
kumar@psych.umass.edu
I am a fifth year PhD student in Social Psychology at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst. At the broadest level, my research interests lie in the realm of intergroup relations. This interest is fuelled by the desire to understand the complexities and challenges of achieving national unity in the face of ethnic diversity. Specifically, my primary research (a) identifies factors that help versus hinder in the creation of unity in diversity; (b) demonstrates when and why such changes are likely to occur; and (c) illustrates how people's inability to internalize these principles of national inclusion have detrimental consequences on their behavior and judgments toward members of other social groups. For my research, I examine psychological processes that occur at both the conscious and unconscious level using varied methodologies including reaction time measures, self-report measures, and electrophysiological measures.
My current research falls into several related realms:
1) Unpacking Multiculturalism: This research examines how varied construals of popular sociopolitical ideologies such as multiculturalism can differentially impact intergroup relations in pluralistic societies such as the United States. This research also explores the psychological processes driving such intergroup outcomes and identifies ways to promote harmonious relations between diverse social groups.
2) White America: This research investigates how people’s unconscious tendency to exclude ethnic minorities from the national group may lead to discriminatory actions against non-White individuals who are born and raised in the country and also how such unconscious biases may be changed.
3) Varied Expressions of Ethnic Identification: In collaboration with my honors students, this research examines how White Americans perceive and respond to ethnic minorities who personify the popular ideologies of assimilation and multiculturalism.
4) Group-Based Threat & Prejudice: In collaboration with Dr. David Butz at Morehead State University, this research examines the role of group-specific threat and anxiety on intergroup relations.
5) Implicit Stereotypes in Law: In collaboration with Dr. Nilanjana Dasgupta at UMass, and Drs. Jerry Kang and Gary Blasi at the UCLA Law School, this research investigates the predictive validity of implicit stereotypes in the legal domain.
6) Emotion & Prejudice: Using various physiological and non-physiological measures including ERP, eye-tracking, reaction time, and self-report measures, this collaborative project with Drs. Nilanjana Dasgupta and David DeSteno examines the psychological mechanism underlying the relationship between incidental emotions and intergroup prejudice.
My Current Advisees
Alyssa Gaudet
My research interests lie in better understanding the implications of various interethnic ideologies on intergroup harmony in pluralistic societies. My honors thesis (in collaboration with Kumar Yogeeswaran and Dr. Nilanjana Dasgupta) takes public debate beyond the popular ideologies of multiculturalism and colorblindness to explore new strategies for achieving intergroup harmony in the United States.
Levi Adelman
The United States is a nation of immigrants from different parts of the world. Over the course of its history, this country has seen several attempts to integrate people of different ethnic backgrounds as a way of fostering harmonious intergroup relations within society. For my honors thesis, I am interested in studying how people perceive and respond to different expressions of ethnic identification and the psychological mechanism behind such effects.
Alison Eccleston
My main interest lies in studying implicit bias and race relations in the United States in relation to the sociopolitical ideologies of multiculturalism and assimilation. My honors thesis currently explores how White Americans perceive and respond to Asian Americans and White ethnic group members who exemplify these dominant ideologies of assimilation and multiculturalism, and how such perceptions translate into perceptions of these ethnic groups as a whole.
Course Materials for Psych 491A at UMass
Course Materials for Psych 36 at Tufts