When does inequality seem like inequity? Broadly speaking, my research examines how people perceive and react to the fact that some groups in society have more than others. I am especially interested in how different types of motivations (e.g., to bolster the hierarchy, to see oneself as a good and deserving person), lead people to deny the existence of inequity, dis-identify with their ingroup, or form attitudes likely to reduce intergroup disparities.
Primary Interests:
Person Perception
Political Psychology
Prejudice and Stereotyping
Self and Identity
Person Perception
Political Psychology
Prejudice and Stereotyping
Self and Identity
Journal Articles:
Chow, R. M., Lowery, B. S., & Knowles, E. D. (2008). The two faces of dominance: The differential effect of ingroup superiority and outgroup inferiority on dominant-group identity and group-esteem. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 1073-1081.
Glaser, J., & Knowles, E. D. (2008). Implicit motivation to control prejudice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 164-172.
Knowles, E. D., Lowery, B. S., Chow, R. M., & Hogan, C. M. (2009). On the malleability of ideology: Motivated construals of color blindness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 857-869.
Knowles, E. D., Lowery, B. S., & Schaumberg, R. L. (2009). Anti-egalitarians for Obama? Group-dominance motivation and the Obama vote. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 965-969.
Knowles, E. D., Morris, M. W., Chiu, C.-y., & Hong, Y.-y. (2001). Culture and the process of person perception: Evidence for automaticity among East Asians in correcting for situational influences on behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1344-1356.
Knowles, E. D., & Peng, K. (2005). White selves: Conceptualizing and measuring a dominant-group identity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 223-241.
Lowery, B. S., & Knowles, E. D., & Unzueta, M. M. (2007). Framing inequality safely: Whites’ motivated perceptions of racial privilege. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 1237-1250.
Lowery, B. S., Unzueta, M. M., Knowles, E. D., & Goff, P. A. (2006). Concern for the ingroup and opposition to affirmative action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 961-974.
Nelson, K. J., Laney, C., Fowler, N. B., Knowles, E. D., & Loftus, E. F. (in press). Change blindness can cause mistaken eyewitness identification. Legal and Criminological Psychology.
Park, S., Glaser, J., & Knowles, E. D. (2008). Implicit motivation to control prejudice moderates the effect of cognitive depletion on unintended discrimination. Social Cognition, 26, 401-419.
Peng, K., & Knowles, E. D. (2003). Culture, education, and the attribution of physical causality. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 1272-1284.
Unzueta, M. M., Lowery, B. S., & Knowles, E. D. (2008). How believing in affirmative action quotas affirms White men’s self-esteem. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 105, 1-13.
Other Publications:
Knowles, E. D., & Ditto, P. H. Preference, principle, and political casuistry. To appear in J. Hanson (Ed.), Ideology, psychology, and law.
Peng, K., Ames, D. R., & Knowles, E. D. (2001). Culture and human inference: Perspectives from three traditions. In D. Matsumoto (Ed.), Handbook of culture and psychology (pp. 245-264). New York: Oxford University Press.
Courses Taught:
Attribution Theory Graduate Seminar
Cultural Psychology
Cultural Psychology Graduate Seminar
Dominant-Group Identity and the Experience of Privilege
Research Design
Research Seminar in Psychology and Social Behavior
The Social Animal
Workshop in Behavioral Research
Attribution Theory Graduate Seminar
Cultural Psychology
Cultural Psychology Graduate Seminar
Dominant-Group Identity and the Experience of Privilege
Research Design
Research Seminar in Psychology and Social Behavior
The Social Animal
Workshop in Behavioral Research
Eric D. Knowles Department of Psychology and Social Behavior
University of California, Irvine
4314 Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway
Irvine, CA 92697-7085 United States
Phone: (949) 824-1730
Fax: (949) 824-3002
Last edited by profile holder: December 21, 2009
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