Kimberly Rios
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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 individuals' perceptions of threat and uncertainty can influence their motives to be unique from versus similar to others. Much of this work focuses on opinion expression and perception - for example, people's willingness to express minority/dissenting opinions. However, 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 study the conditions under which “realistic threats” to a group’s power and resources or “symbolic threats” 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 also 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.
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Kimberly Rios
Department of Psychology
University of Chicago
5848 S. University Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
United States
Phone: (773) 834-1331
Fax: (773) 702-0886