People
Faculty
The University of Chicago
Department of Psychology
5848 South University Avenue
Chicago, IL, 60637
Office Phone: (773) 834-1331
Fax: (773) 702-0886
Office: Kelly Hall 410
Labs: Green Hall 314, 316, 318
Email me
Kimberly Rios
Biography
I was born and raised near San Diego, California. I earned my BA in Psychology from Stanford University in 2003 and my PhD in Organizational Behavior from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2008. From 2008 to 2010, I was an Assistant Professor of Communication – with a courtesy appointment in Social Psychology – at The Ohio State University. I joined the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago in 2010. In my free time, I enjoy cooking, exercising (especially Zumba), and volunteering with animal rescue organizations.
Research Interests
I am primarily interested in people's responses to threat and uncertainty regarding their individual self-concepts, social relationships, and group identities. In one area of research, I examine how threat and uncertainty (e.g., personal uncertainty, social exclusion, uncertainty about one's attitudes) can influence individuals' motives to be unique from versus similar to others. Although much of this work focuses on opinion expression and perception (e.g., people's willingness to express minority/dissenting opinions), I also study the consequences of threat and uncertainty for perceptions of material possessions, nonconscious assimilation to trait and stereotype primes, performance on creativity tasks, and pursuit of interpersonal goals.
In a second area of research, I examine the effects of threat on intergroup relations. For example, I have studied the conditions under which “realistic threat” to a group’s power and resources or “symbolic threat” to a group’s fundamental values and way of life can cause group members to become more prejudiced, more socially dominant, and less supportive of cultural diversity. I have also begun to investigate whether and how people’s conceptions of their own group identities (e.g., dominant group members’ perceptions of themselves as “White” versus “European American”) can induce feelings of threat, and hence affect their attitudes and behaviors toward other groups.
Selection of Recent Publications
Minority/Majority Opinions
Morrison, K. R. (2011). A license to speak up: Outgroup minorities and opinion expression. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 756-766.
Morrison, K. R., & Matthes, J. (2011). Socially motivated projection: Need to belong increases perceived consensus on important issues. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41, 707-719.
Morrison, K. R., & Wheeler, S. C. (2010). Nonconformity defines the self: The role of minority opinion status in self-concept clarity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 297-308.
Matthes, J., Morrison, K. R., & Schemer, C. (2010). A spiral of silence for some: Attitude certainty and the expression of political minority opinions. Communication Research, 37, 774-800.
Miller, D. T., & Morrison, K. R. (2009). Expressing deviant opinions: Believing you are in the majority helps. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 740-747.
Morrison, K. R., & Miller, D. T. (2008). Distinguishing between silent and vocal minorities: Not all deviants feel marginal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 871-882.
Threat and Intergroup relations
Morrison, K. R., & Chung, A.C. (2011). "White" or "European American"? Self-identifying labels influence majority group members' interethnic attitudes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
Morrison, K. R., Plaut, V. C., & Ybarra, O. (2010). Predicting whether multiculturalism positively or negatively influences White Americans' intergroup attitudes: The role of ethnic identification.Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
Morrison, K. R., Fast, N. J., & Ybarra, O. (2009). Group status, perceptions of threat, and support for social inequality. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 204-210.
Morrison, K. R., & Ybarra, O. (2009). Symbolic threat and social dominance among liberals and conservatives: SDO reflects conformity to political values. European Journal of Social Psychology, 36, 1039-1052.
Morrison, K. R., & Ybarra, O. (2008). The effects of realistic threat and group identification on social dominance orientation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 156-163.
Other topics
Morrison, K. R., & Johnson, C. S. (2011). When what you have is who you are: Self-uncertainty leads individualists to see themselves in their possessions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 639-651.
Morrison,, K. R., Johnson, C. S., & Wheeler, S. C. (2012). Not all selves feel the same uncertainty: Assimilation to primes among individualists and collectivists. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3, 118-126.
DeMarree, K. G., Morrison, K. R., Wheeler, S. C., & Petty, R. E. (2011). Self-ambivalence and resistance to subtle self-change attempts. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 674-686.
Wheeler, S. C., Morrison, K. R., DeMarree, K. G., & Petty, R. E. (2008). Does self-consciousness increase or decrease priming effects? It depends. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 882-889.
Morrison, K. R., Wheeler, S. C., & Smeesters, D. (2007). Significant other primes and behavior: Motivation to respond to social cues moderates pursuit of prime-induced goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 1661-1674.
More Information
Kim Rios' personal webpage.
