The University of Chicago
Department of Psychology
5848 South University Avenue
Chicago, IL, 60637
Nicole Donders
Nicole is a third year doctoral student in the Social Psychology program at the University of Chicago.
Nicole graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.A. in Psychology in 2006. As an undergraduate, she worked in Howard Nusbaum's lab. Here, she assisted with studies covering a range of topics including the effects of sleep on declarative and procedural memory. As a graduate student, Nicole studies stereotyping and prejudice, working primarily with Drs. Joshua Correll and Bernd Wittenbrink. Her research is funded by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
Research Interests:
Nicole's primary line of research deals with the formation of danger stereotypes and the implications of danger stereotypes for behavior. Her previous work has demonstrated that White participants who associate Black people with danger show biased attention toward Black, versus White faces. This attentional bias is similar to that elicited by threatening stimuli such as snakes and spiders, and occurs independently of danger-irrelevant Black stereotypes and prejudice (general negativity) associated with Blacks. Following on this finding, Nicole is currently investigating why White participants may come to associate Blacks, more than Whites, with danger. This may occur for at least two possible reasons: outgroup members may become associated with threat more readily than ingroup members, and Black targets may become associated with threat more readily than White targets due to Black-danger stereotypes reinforced by the media and popular culture. Thus, the main goal of this research is to identify the roles of race, cultural stereotypes, and group membership in the acquisition of danger associations toward social targets.
Beyond Research:
Nicole is an active member of the Psychology Graduate Student Organization (PGSO), where she currently serves as the Social Chair.
Publications:
Donders, N. C., Correll, J., & Wittenbrink, B. (2008). Danger Stereotypes Predict Racially Biased Attentional Allocation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 1328-1333.
Presentations:
Donders, N. C. (2007). Racially Biased Attentional Allocation: A Fear-Mediated Effect? First-Year Project, University of Chicago, May 2007
Wittenbrink, B., Correll, J., & Donders, N. C. (2007). On the Lookout: Automatic Stereotypes and Prejudice and their Role in Visual Attention to Faces. Talk presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, Chicago, IL.
Correll, J., Donders, N.C., Sadler, M.S., & Wittenbrink, B. (2008). Implicit danger stereotypes. Talk presented at the 9th annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Albuquerque, NM.
Donders, N. C., Correll, J., & Wittenbrink, B. (2008). Danger Stereotypes Predict Racially Biased Attentional Allocation. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Albequerque, NM.
Donders, N. C., Correll, J., & Wittenbrink, B. (2008). Danger Stereotypes Predict Racially Biased Attentional Allocation. Talk presented at Psychfest, Chicago, IL.
Donders, N. C., Correll, J., & Wittenbrink, B. (2008). Danger Stereotypes Predict Racially Biased Attentional Allocation. Talk to be presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
