Kimberly Michelle Rios

Identities can be derived from many sources, including membership in social categories (e.g., race/ethnicity, religion, gender) and personal characteristics (e.g., opinions, beliefs). The overarching goal of my work is to better understand how individuals respond to threats to their social and personal identities, with a particular focus on majority versus minority identity.

Currently, I have two primary areas of research within this tradition. In the first, I study the factors that influence majority group members' (e.g., White/European Americans') perceptions of threat from and attitudes toward minority groups, and vice versa. Much of my work in this area examines reasons that majority group members may see multiculturalism - the recognition and celebration of diversity - as threatening, and ways to reduce these feelings of threat. In the second, I study the causes and consequences of stereotyping/prejudice among religious majorities (e.g., negative stereotypes about Christians' scientific abilities) and minorities (e.g., negative stereotypes about atheists' morality and trustworthiness), both within the U.S. and cross-culturally.

That said, I am interested in a wide variety of research topics related to self and identity, intergroup relations, and attitudes/social influence. Feel free to browse my publication list to get a sense of what I have worked on over the years!