Projects in Social Psychology Supervised by Jen Borton
Professor Borton will supervise projects in social psychology in the areas of (1) the social self and (2) stereotyping and prejudice. Students conducting two-semester projects will conduct an empirical study; students conducting one-semester projects will conduct a literature review and write a research proposal. Senior project topics of particular interest to Professor Borton are listed below:
Contingent Self-esteem
People differ in the extent to which they base their sense of self-worth on achieving success in different domains (e.g., academic, social, athletic, physical appearance) and on what domains they value. Contingent self-esteem has been associated with a variety of negative outcomes, including poorer well-being (depression, anxiety), perfectionism, poorer relationship satisfaction, and defensiveness. It’s also been shown to moderate how people handle self-threatening events. Students could ask a variety of interesting questions in this area.
Self-esteem Threat and Resilience
In the face of self-esteem threat, people engage in a variety of negative behaviors, such as derogating others, self-handicapping, or externalizing failure. Self-affirmation is a strategy that allows people to gain greater perspective on their shortcomings or failures and reduces many of these maladaptive behaviors. Self-compassion provides another avenue via which people can cope with threats to the self in more adaptive ways. Students could investigate the role of self-affirmation or self-compassion in helping to reduce negative effects of threats to self-worth.
The Self in Relationships with Others
The self is a social product; we define ourselves in relation to the world around us. When we form relationships with others or become part of a group, our self-concept expands to incorporate aspects of the other person or group into our concept of self. And when we break up with a romantic partner or dissolve a close friendship, our self-concept contracts a bit. Students could explore a variety of interesting hypotheses in this area.
Stereotyping & Prejudice
Students could pursue a variety of topics in the area of stereotyping and prejudice, including perceptions or experiences of biracial and multiracial individuals, negative effects of so-called “positive” stereotypes, stereotype threat, internal and external motivation to respond without prejudice, effects of masculinity threat on prejudice, and prejudice-reduction techniques.