Biography

I completed my B.A. (Honours) in Psychology at the University of Saskatchewan in 2005.  In conjunction with Dr. Melanie Morrison, I examined implicit and explicit weight bias and behavioural intentions toward overweight and average weight men and women for my Honours thesis. I then began my graduate student career at the University of Western Ontario under the supervision of Dr. Victoria Esses. In 2007, I completed my M.Sc. in Social Psychology. For my Master's thesis, I examined the validity of the distinction between old-fashioned and modern forms of weight prejudice. I am currently working on my Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Western Ontario. In research using a forced choice employment decision paradigm, I observed systematic discrimination between stigmatized and nonstigmatized candidates for several types of stigma (e.g., ethnicity, weight, sexual orientation). For my dissertation, I am examining various prejudice reduction strategies within this forced choice methodology from the perspective of justification and suppression processes in prejudice expression. I plan on defending my dissertation in the spring of 2011.

Esses Lab for the Study of Intergroup Relations (ELSIR)

ELSIR is headed by Dr. Victoria Esses and currently consists of seven graduate students (Caroline Bennett-AbuAyyash, Leah Hamilton, myself, Karen Dickson, Stelian Medianu, Mandy DeVaul, and Natalia Lapshina), two honours students (Carolyn Armstrong and Jean Kim), one project manager (Tasha Williamson), one lab coordinator (Lisa Bitacola), and twelve research assistants (Maia Abbas, Coco Destacamento, Dan Dick, Tanaz Javan, Brenna McConnell, Fiona Meek, Shabnam Mohtadi, Malorie Rumble, Jennifer Stewart, Gillian Tohver, Danny Tran, and Deanna Visconti). ELSIR research examines stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination; dehumanization; immigration and cultural diversity; ethnic relations; gender relations; attitudes toward overweight individuals; and attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women.

Front Row (left to right): Carolyn Armstrong, Tasha Williamson, Vicki Esses, Gillian Tohver, Caroline Bennett-AbuAyyash

Back Row (left to right): Tanaz Javan, Lisa Bitacola, Alina Sutter, Paula Brochu, Stelian Medianu, Jean Kim, Karen Dickson, Leah Hamilton, Mandy DeVaul, Natalia Lapshina

UWO Social Cognition Lab

I am also a member of Dr. Bertram Gawronski's Social Cognition lab. Research in the Social Cognition lab examines the influence of automatic and controlled processes on human behaviour.

Sitting (left to right): Bertram Gawronski, Laura Creighton, Pam Nelson, Jasmine Desjardins, Sarah Stanton

Standing (left to right): Yang Ye, Kurt Peters, Chris Wilbur, Kimberly Dalke, Matthew Maxwell-Smith, Paula Brochu, Paul Conway