Research shows the increasing tendency of political considerations to influence decisions outside the context of politics. This work documents examples of partisan affiliation influencing judgments and behaviors – and often resulting in favoritism or discrimination – in ostensibly nonpolitical contexts such as the workplace, academia, and dating, among others. To...
The U.S. population is rapidly changing with recent projections showing that soon whites will no longer be the majority. This information, when shown to white Americans, can generate a sense of threat. Across the three studies of this dissertation, I frame this group threat (i.e., a change in the demographic...
The social groups to which individuals belong, as well as the identities that result from these group memberships, exert powerful influences on their political attitudes. Additionally, political elites offer cues that shape these same preferences—often by targeting and interacting with identities. However, there remain underexplored pathways by which elites can...
Many democratic theorists suggest that harmonious relationship between groups are critical for democracy; however, far less is known about how everyday experiences promote or impede such intergroup harmony. In this dissertation, I explore a common, but overlooked, form of intergroup contact casual, brief experiences with outgroup strangers. I propose a...