My current research projects attempt to better understand the following questions:

Politics and Race Projects:

Do the safety cues of political diversity in friendship networks and learning goals independently and/or additively contribute to decreased social identity threat and improved interaction outcomes for liberals and conservatives in the United States?

With Paula Sholander and Drs. Daryl Wout and Grace Flores-Robles, we are attempting to build off of recently published work (Anderson et al., 2025) showing that encountering an interaction partner who is across the political divide and also has political diversity, rather than political homogeneity, in their friendship network can decrease social identity threat and improve interaction outcomes among White liberals and White conservatives in the United States. We have analyzed data for a pilot study with liberals in the United States, and we found that learning goals, like friendship diversity, also positively impact social identity threat and interaction outcomes, although to a somewhat lesser degree. While learning goals did independently impact identity threat and the interaction outcomes, it was not additive to the friendship diversity manipulation. We are currently collecting data for a follow-up study with conservatives in the United States.

How does the racial identity of a potential interaction partner affect potential interracial interactions? 

Dr. Daryl Wout and I are also conducting research with similar social identity and interaction outcome DVs in the racial domain. We have data for pilot studies with Asian-American participants and Black participants. The study with Asian-American participants investigated how Asian Americans experienced intraminority safety when faced with the prospect of interacting with another racial minority group (Blacks, Hispanics) or with Whites. In parallel to the study with Asian-American participants, in another study, we also investigated how Black participants experienced intraminority safety when faced with the prospect of interacting with another racial minority group (Asian-Americans, Hispanics) or with Whites. We are currently conducting data analyses and planning follow-up studies.

Disability-Related Projects:

How do articles published in major social-psychological journals include or discuss disability?

Members of the Disability Advocacy and Research Network (DARN) and I are researching how disability is either discussed or mentioned in articles published in major social-psychological journals (JPSP, PSPB, SPPS). We found that major social-psychological journals rarely publish articles as a primary focus (the central focus of the article) or a non-primary focus (e.g., within the methods, statistical analyses, etc.).

How can intraminority relations between White disabled people and nondisabled racial minorities be improved?

I am in the early stages of writing an integrative review article on intraminority relations between White disabled people and nondisabled racial minorities. I am primarily interested in how shared experiences of discrimination, in the absence of specific shared identities, could improve intraminority relations and facilitate a common ingroup identity of shared disadvantage, in line with Cortland et al. (2017). While an initial correlational study was planned, based on a similar, more simplified version of the diagram in Craig & Richeson (2016), we are switching back to a review article, given that the funding for that study was canceled. While there are numerous topics I am considering investigating in this broad area of research, I am particularly interested in issues related to necropolitics and eugenics.

How can institutional policies and practices be changed to provide more appropriate care for disabled people who have acute or chronic pain?

With Drs. Lakeya McGill, Shanna Kattari, and Mark Vorensky, I am also working on a review article on suggestions for improving the assessment and treatment of pain that disabled patients are experiencing. Specifically, this review will critique capitalism and take an intersectional framing, with a focus on how institutional factors influence and interact with group and interpersonal factors that contribute to healthcare providers either misperceiving and/or undertreating pain in disabled patients. We are currently retooling the paper, as the authors on the paper recently changed.