Columbia University (1998)
Associate Professor, Social and Health Psychology
Office Hours: varies by semester
Phone Number: (631) 632-4355
e-mail: Sheri.Levy@stonybrook.edu
Website: http://www.psychology.stonybrook.edu/slevy-/
Areas of Interest:
Lay Theories and Intergroup Relations; Social-Developmental Determinants of Prejudice; Prejudice Reduction; Sexism; Racism; Helping and Volunteerism.
Editor of Journal of Social Issues:
See http://www.spssi.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewpage&pageid=950
Current Research:
Dr. Sheri R. Levy and her research team study factors that cause and maintain prejudice, stigmatization, and negative intergroup relations and that can be harnessed to reduce bias, marginalization, and discrimination. Our research focuses on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and immigration. One main line of our research concerns the pivotal role of people’s lay (everyday) belief systems on social, academic, and health outcomes relevant to prejudice, stigmatization, and intergroup relations. Examples of these beliefs systems are entity and incremental theories of personality, essentialism, Protestant work ethic, polyculturalism, multiculturalism, and colorblindness. To obtain a fuller understanding of intergroup processes, our research team studies different age groups in educational and community settings (including children, adolescents, adults) in several countries (including Colombia, the Philippines, and the United States) and uses a variety of methodologies including relatively brief experimental research in our laboratory, online questionnaire studies, brief surveys in the local community, nationwide telephone surveys, cross-sectional longitudinal studies, and daily and weekly diary studies (especially during pivotal transitions, e.g., transition to college). In this work, we examine social, academic, and health outcomes such as stereotyping, prejudice, group identification, diversity orientation, intergroup volunteerism, academic engagement, academic persistence, and psychological well-being. We invite you to look around our website and check out what we do.
Representative Journal Articles:
Note: Levy’s vita is available here.
Rosenthal, L., & Levy, S. R. (2012). The relation between polyculturalism and intergroup attitudes among racially and ethnically diverse adults. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 18, 1-16. DOI: 10.1037/a0026490.
Rosenthal, L., London, B., Levy, S. R., Lobel, M., & *Herrera-Alcazar. A. (2011). The relation between the Protestant work ethic and undergraduate women’s perceived identity compatibility in nontraditional majors. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 11, 241-262. 10.1111/j.1530-2415.2011.01264.x
Rosenthal, L., & Levy, S.R., & Moyer, A. (2011). Protestant work ethic’s relation to intergroup and policy attitudes: A meta-analytic review. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41, 874-885. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.832.
Rosenthal, L., & Levy, S.R. (2010). The colorblind, multicultural, and polycultural ideological approaches to improving intergroup attitudes and relations. Social Issues and Policy Review, 4, 215-246.
Rosenthal, L., & Levy, S.R. (2010). Understanding women’s risk for HIV infection using social dominance theory and the four bases of gendered power. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 34, 21-35. DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-6402.2009.01538.x.
Levy, S.R., Freitas, A.L., Mendoza-Denton, R., **Kugelmaas, H., & *Rosenthal, L. (2010). When Sociopolitical Events Strike Cultural Beliefs: Divergent Impact of Hurricane Katrina on African Americans’ and European Americans’ Endorsement of the Protestant Work Ethic. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 32, 207-216. DOI: 10.1080/01973533.2010.495673.
Plaks, J., Levy, S.R., & Dweck, C. (2009). Lay theories of personality: Cornerstones of meaning in social cognition. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 3, 1069 - 1081. DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00222.x.
Levy, S.R., *West, T., *Ramírez, L., & *Karafantis, D.M. (2006). The Protestant work ethic: A lay theory with dual intergroup implications. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 9, 95-115. DOI: 10.1177/1368430206059874.
Levy, S.R., Chiu, C.Y., & Hong, Y.Y. (2006). Lay theories and intergroup relations. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 9, 5-24. DOI: 10.1177/1368430206059855.
Haslam, N. & Levy, S.R. (2006). Essentialist beliefs about homosexuality: Structure and implications for prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 471-485. DOI: 10.1177/0146167205276516.
Karafantis, D.M., & Levy, S.R. (2004). The role of children’s lay theories about the malleability of human attributes in beliefs about and volunteering for disadvantaged groups. Child Development, 75, 236-250.
Levy, S.R., Plaks, J.E., Hong, Y.Y., Chiu, C.Y., & Dweck, C.S. (2001). Static vs. dynamic theories and the perception of groups: Different routes to different destinations. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5, 156-168.
Levy, S.R., & Dweck, C.S. (1999). The impact of children's static vs. dynamic conceptions of people on stereotype formation. Child Development, 70, 1163-1180.
Levy, S.R., Stroessner, S.J., & Dweck, C.S. (1998). Stereotype formation and endorsement: The role of implicit theories. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1421-1436.
Edited Book:
Levy, S.R., & Killen, M. (Editors, 2008). Intergroup Attitudes and Relations in Childhood through Adulthood. Oxford University Press.
(Honorable Mention for Otto Klineberg Intercultural and International Relations Prize competition by SPSSI )
Research Support:
National Science Foundation (GSE/RES Research on Gender in Science and Engineering)
9/1/10 – 9/1/12
Bonita London (Principal Investigator)
Sheri Levy (Co-Principal Investigator)
Marci Lobel (Co-Principal Investigator)
National Science Foundation (GSE/RES Research on Gender in Science and Engineering)
9/1/07 - 9/1/10
Bonita London (Principal Investigator)
Sheri Levy (Co-Principal Investigator)
Marci Lobel (Co-Principal Investigator)
Survey Research Center at Stony Brook University
9/1/09 – 9/1/10
Sheri Levy (Principal Investigator)
National Science Foundation (NSF 02-2, Social Psychology Division; partial funding from Developmental and Learning Sciences Division)
9/1/02 - 9/1/06
Sheri Levy (Principal Investigator)
Frances Aboud, McGill University (Co-Principal Investigator)
Rebecca Bigler, UT-Austin (Co-Principal Investigator)
Alumni Network