Rape avoidance Threat management

We postulate that women possess a threat management system for rape avoidance. When activated, the system is argued to produce a fearful emotional response that motivates women to engage in behavioral avoidance of potential threats to their reproductive choice. The PEP lab is currently investigating inputs into this system that signal an increased likelihood of rape or increased reproductive costs of rape. Additionally, we are examining the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral output of this system, including women’s interest in true crime as a means of learning information about effective strategies for avoiding sexual threats.

Promoting STEM Education

I am the Co-PI on two NSF grants that seek to promote persistence and success in STEM fields among academically talented minority students in the Southern US.

A Theory of Intergroup Bias

I advance an evolutionary theory that posits that the presence of coalitional conflict throughout human evolutionary history has posed different adaptive challenges for men and women, given their distinct reproductive strategies. As a result, the underlying motivations for intergroup bias is argued to be sex-specific. Men stand to benefit from the establishment and maintenance of dominance over other groups. In contrast, because intergroup conflict affords opportunities for sexual attack by outgroup men, a key underlying motivation for intergroup bias among women may be the desire to avoid individuals perceived as a threat to reproductive choice. Many projects in the lab are devoted to testing the predictions of this theory.

Advancing intergroup openness

During my postdoctoral fellowship in Israel, I worked with Eran Halperin and Tamar Saguy at the Interdisciplinary Center to develop small-scale interventions for reducing bias and promoting openness between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as the religious and secular Jews living in Israel. Work continues on these projects, as well as the application of similar interventions in the cultural context of race relations in the US.