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Steven Neuberg

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Psychology
Foundation Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology
Faculty, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 1104
Center for Evolution & Medicine Affiliated Faculty
Chair (FSC) & Professor
Faculty, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 1104
Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity (CSDC)
Chair (FSC) & Professor
Faculty, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 1104
Biosocial Complexity Initiative
Chair (FSC) & Professor
Faculty, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 1104
Affiliate Faculty, Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict
Chair (FSC) & Professor
Faculty w/Admin Appointment, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 1104
Biography

Steven Neuberg is a Foundation Professor and chair of the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University. He received his bachelor's from Cornell University and a master's and doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University. Neuberg integrates social-cognitive and evolutionary approaches in his research exploring the origins, nature, and nuances of prejudices and stereotypes, and the ways that fundamental motivations shape cognition and social behavior. He is the co-director of the Kenrick-Neuberg Social Cognition Laboratory. He also founded the ASU Global Group Relations Project, a multidisciplinary and global study of factors, including religion, which shape intergroup conflict. Neuberg is a fellow of multiple scientific societies and the recipient of several teaching awards, including ASU’s 2012 Outstanding Doctoral Mentor Award.

Fax
480/965-8544
CV
Binary Data Curriculum Vitae
Education
  • A.B. Cornell University, 1983
  • M.A. Carnegie Mellon University, 1984
  • Ph.D. Carnegie Mellon University, 1987
  • NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Waterloo, 1987-1988
Research Website
https://psychology.clas.asu.edu/research/labs/neuberg-lab-neuberg
Google Scholar
Google Scholar Profile
Research Interests

Interests include evolutionary approaches to human sociality; stigma; prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination; effects of ecology on social cognition and behavior; motivation influences on cognition; religion and conflict.

Research Group

Our lab is is currently exploring the following issues, and others like them:

  • Why do stereotypes and prejudices exist? What forms do they take?  Why, in particular, do people possess such strong stereotypes and prejudices based on age, sex, and race? Such stereotypes and prejudices can have profound implications for how individuals are viewed and the opportunities they have.  It’s often presumed that stereotypes and prejudices people are simple, but they are not. Rather, our research has demonstrated that the stereotypes people use to understand others are often quite complex—more complex than can be accounted for by currently dominant theoretical approaches to stereotyping and prejudice.  Understanding this nuance thus has important implications both for creating stronger models of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination processes and for reducing instances of inappropriate stereotyping and discrimination.
  • The environments in which people live can vary greatly—in terms of their predictability, resource availability, presence of dangerous pathogens, numbers of women versus men, etc.  How do such factors shape social behaviors, attitudes, norms, and legal systems? 
  • What leads relatively weak groups to aggress against more powerful groups?  What features of religion might lead weak groups to take on more powerful groups?  More generally, in what ways might religion increase or decrease intergroup conflict?  
  • Female relationships are different than male relationships in some interesting ways.  In what ways are female relationships especially complex, and how do girls and women manage their relationships with one another?
  • How do social goals (e.g., to protect oneself, to find romance, to care for offspring) shape how we perceive and come to understand the individuals around us?

Our approach is an integrative one, pulling together theory and findings from social psychology, ecological psychology, and evolutionary biology to explore fundamental questions of social cognition and behavior.

Publications

Selected Recent Publications:

In press

Kenrick, D.T., Cohen, A. B., Neuberg, Sl. L., & Cialdini, R. B. (in press).  The science of anti-scientific thinking.  Scientific American.

Cohen, A. B., & Neuberg, S. L. (in press). Religious cultures and religious conflict. S. Kitayama & D. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of Cultural Psychology (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford.

 

 

 

2017

Neuberg, S. L., & Kenrick, A. C. (2017).  Discriminating ecologies: A life history approach to stigma and health.  In B. Major, J. F. Dovidio, & B. G. Link (Eds.), Handbook of stigma, discrimination and health (pp. 125-145).  Oxford, UK:  Oxford University Press.

Schaller, M., Kenrick, D.T., Neel, B., & Neuberg, S. L. (2017).  Evolution and human motivation: A fundamental motives framework.  Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 11. Online only, DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12319.

*Sng, O., Neuberg, S. L., Varnum, M. E. W., & Kenrick, D. T. (2017). The crowded life is a slow life: Population density and life history strategy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 112, 736-754.

2016

*Filip-Crawford, G., & Neuberg, S.L. (2016). Homosexuality and pro-gay ideology as pathogens? Implications of a disease-spread lay model for understanding anti-gay behaviors. Personality and Social Psychology Review.

*Krems, J.A., Dunbar, R., Neuberg, S. (2016). Something to talk about: Are conversation sizes constrained by mental modeling abilities? Evolution and Human Behavior.

*Krems, J.A., Neel, R., Neuberg, S.L., Puts, D.A., & Kenrick, D.T. (2016, April). Women selectively guard their (desirable) mates from ovulating women. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 110(4), 551-573.

Neel, R., Kenrick, D.T., White, A. E., & Neuberg, S.L. (2016). Individual differences in fundamental social motives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 110(6), 887-907.

Neuberg, S.L., & Schaller, M. (2016). An evolutionary threat-management approach to predudices. Current Opinion in Psychology, 7, 1-5.”

*Williams, K.E., *Sng, O., & Neuberg, S. L. (2016). Ecology-driven stereotypes override race stereotypes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,113(2), 310-315.

*Sng, O., *Williams, K. E. G., & Neuberg, S. L. (2016). Evolutionary approaches to stereotyping and prejudice. In C. Sibley & F. K. Barlow (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of the psychology of prejudice (pp. 21-46). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

2015
*Krems, J.A., *Filip-Crawford, G., & Neuberg, S.L., & Kenrick, D.T. (2015). Is she angry? (Sexually desirable) Women ‘see’ anger on female faces. Psychological Science, 26, 1655-1663.

2014
Neuberg, S.L., & Schaller, M. (2014). Evolutionary social cognition. M. Mikulincer & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), APA handbook of personality and social psychology (Vol. 1, Attitudes and social cognition, pp. 3 - 45, E. Borgida & J. A. Bargh [Assoc. Eds.]). Washington, D.C.:  American Psychological Association.

Neuberg, S.L., Warner, C.M., *Mistler, S.A., *Berlin, A., *Hill, E. D., *Johnson, J.D., *Filip-Crawford, G., Millsap, R.E., Thomas, G., Winkelman, M., Broome, B.J., Taylor, T.J., & Schober, J. (2014).  Religion and intergroup conflict:  Findings from the Global Group Relations Project. Psychological Science, 25, 198-206.

*Pirlott, A.G., & Neuberg, S.L. (2014). Sexual prejudice: Avoiding unwanted sexual interest? Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5, 92-101.

2013
Neuberg, S. L., & *Sng, O. (2013).  A life history theory of social perception:  Stereotyping at the intersections of age, sex, and ecology (and race).  Social Cognition, 31, 696–711.

*Kenrick, A. C., *Shapiro, J. R., & Neuberg, S. L. (2013).  Do parental bonds break anti-fat stereotyping? Parental work-ethic ideology and disease concerns predict bias against heavy-weight children. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4, 723-731.

*Neel, R., *Neufeld, S.L., & Neuberg, S.L. (2013). Would an obese person whistle Vivaldi? Targets of prejudice self-present to minimize the appearance of specific threats. Psychological Science, 24, 678-687.

2012 and earlier
Schaller, M., & Neuberg, S.L. (2012).  anger, disease, and the nature of prejudice(s). J. Olson & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 46, pp. 1 - 55).  Burlington, VT:  Academic Press. [Winner, Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues]

*Neel, R., Becker, D.V., Neuberg, S.L., & Kenrick, D.T. (2012). Who expressed what emotion? Men grab anger, women grab happiness. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 583-586.

Neuberg, S. L., Kenrick, D. T., & Schaller, M. (2011).  Human threat management systems:  Self-protection and disease avoidance. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 35, 1042-1051.

Research Activity
Spring 2020
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 399Supervised Research
PSY 451Stereotyping/Prejudice/Discrim
PSY 499Individualized Instruction
PSY 595Continuing Registration
PSY 792Research
PSY 795Continuing Registration
Fall 2019
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 399Supervised Research
PSY 499Individualized Instruction
PSY 595Continuing Registration
PSY 792Research
PSY 795Continuing Registration
Summer 2019
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 595Continuing Registration
PSY 792Research
PSY 795Continuing Registration
Spring 2019
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 399Supervised Research
PSY 499Individualized Instruction
PSY 501Supervised Teaching
PSY 590Reading and Conference
PSY 591Seminar
PSY 592Research
PSY 595Continuing Registration
PSY 599Thesis
PSY 790Reading and Conference
PSY 792Research
PSY 795Continuing Registration
PSY 799Dissertation
Fall 2018
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 399Supervised Research
PSY 499Individualized Instruction
PSY 501Supervised Teaching
PSY 590Reading and Conference
PSY 592Research
PSY 594Conference and Workshop
PSY 595Continuing Registration
PSY 599Thesis
PSY 790Reading and Conference
PSY 792Research
PSY 795Continuing Registration
PSY 799Dissertation
Summer 2018
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 590Reading and Conference
PSY 592Research
PSY 595Continuing Registration
PSY 599Thesis
PSY 790Reading and Conference
PSY 792Research
PSY 795Continuing Registration
PSY 799Dissertation
Spring 2018
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 399Supervised Research
PSY 451Stereotyping/Prejudice/Discrim
PSY 499Individualized Instruction
PSY 501Supervised Teaching
PSY 590Reading and Conference
PSY 592Research
PSY 595Continuing Registration
PSY 599Thesis
PSY 790Reading and Conference
PSY 792Research
PSY 795Continuing Registration
PSY 799Dissertation
Fall 2017
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 399Supervised Research
PSY 499Individualized Instruction
PSY 501Supervised Teaching
PSY 590Reading and Conference
PSY 592Research
PSY 594Conference and Workshop
PSY 595Continuing Registration
PSY 599Thesis
PSY 790Reading and Conference
PSY 792Research
PSY 795Continuing Registration
PSY 799Dissertation
Spring 2017
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 399Supervised Research
PSY 499Individualized Instruction
PSY 551Advanced Social Psychology
Fall 2016
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 399Supervised Research
PSY 499Individualized Instruction
Spring 2016
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 399Supervised Research
PSY 499Individualized Instruction
Fall 2015
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 399Supervised Research
PSY 451Stereotyping/Prejudice/Discrim
PSY 499Individualized Instruction
PSY 591Seminar
Presentations
  • Pirlott, A. G., & Neuberg, S. L. Beyond sexual prejudice: exploring prejudices against bisexuals lends clarity to prejudices against gay men and lesbian women. the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Las Vegas, NV (Jan 2010).
  • Neel, R., & Neuberg, S. L. When does seeing through your eyes help me? Emotions functionally encourage and inhibit perspective taking. annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Las Vegas, NV (Jan 2010).
  • Berlin, A., & Neuberg, S. L. Are you stereotyping me? A preliminary look at constructs underlying the desire for impression formation accuracy. annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Las Vegas, NV (Jan 2010).
  • Mistler, S. A., Pirlott, A. G., & Neuberg, S. L. Different prejudices toward different types of interracial relationships: Examining alternative explanations. the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Las Vegas, NV (Jan 2010).
  • Mortensen, C. R., Becker, D. V., Ackerman, J. M., Kenrick, D. T., & Neuberg, S. L. Concerns with disease promote functionally adaptive biases in judgments and behaviors. The annual meeting of Evolutionary Psychology preconference, the Society of Pers (Jan 2010).
  • Shapiro, J. R., Neuberg, S. L., & Mistler, S. Converging processes, diverging behaviors: Attributional ambiguity and prejudice expression within white and black perceivers. symposium, "Contending with discrimination: psychological, neurological, physiological, and behavior (Jan 2010).
  • Neuberg, S. L. Toward a functional, affordance-centered model of person perception, prejudices, and social interaction: Taking into account life history and ecological considerations. Invited colloquium, Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Psychology, UCLA (Nov 2009).
  • Neuberg, S. L. Toward a functional, affordance-centered model of person perception, prejudices, and social interaction: Taking into account life history and ecological considerations. Invited talk, Center for Evolutionary Psychology, UC-SB (Nov 2009).
  • Neuberg, S. L. Discriminating affiliations, textured prejudices, and other implications of the human affordance management system. Invited colloquium, Evolutionary Studies, Department of Biology, University of Binghamton (Mar 2009).
  • Mistler, S. A., & Neuberg, S. L. Lay beliefs about the life course of fundamental social goals. Annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Feb 2009).
  • Pirlott, A. G., & Neuberg, S. L. "Slut," "fag," and "dyke": Situationally sensitive attempts at social control. Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, (Feb 2009).
  • Mortensen, C. R., Becker, D. V., Ackerman, J. M., Kenrick, D. T., & Neuberg, S. L. Concerns with disease promote functionally adaptive biases in judgments and behaviors. Annual Meeting of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology (Feb 2009).
  • Berlin, A. & Neuberg S. L. Lay beliefs about situations that produce stereotyping: A comparison to empirical research. Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Conference (Feb 2009).
  • Mortensen, C. R., Becker, D. V., Ackerman, J. A., Neuberg, S. L., & Kenrick, D. T. Magnetic personalities: Ostracism and disease concerns produce attractive and repulsive functionally-biased first impressions. Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Kyoto, Japan (Jun 2008).
  • Perea, E., F., Anderson, U. S., Mortensen, C. R., Neuberg, S. L., & Kenrick, D. T. Revenge-biased cognition. Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Albuquerque, NM (Feb 2008).
  • Ackerman, J. M., Shapiro, J. R., Becker, D. V., Neuberg, S. L., & Kenrick, D. T. An evolutionary perspective on intergroup threat detection. Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Albuquerque, NM (Feb 2008).
  • Richeson, J. A., & Neuberg, S. L. "Taking a relational approach to intergroup contact: When stigmatized and non-stigmatized group members’ experiences diverge and converge,". Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Albuquerque, NM (Feb 2008).
  • Shapiro, J. R., & Neuberg, S. L. Perceiving White norms: Ironic effects in Blacks’ versus Whites’ judgments of minority targets. Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Albuquerque, NM (Feb 2008).
  • Cohen, A. B., & Neuberg, S. L. The psychological omnipresence of religion. Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Albuquerque, NM (Feb 2008).
  • Neuberg, S. L. Toward understanding the effects of religion on intergroup conflict. Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Albuquerque, NM (Feb 2008).
  • Ackerman, J, Shapiro, J, Neuberg, Steven, Kenrick, D. When do they and when do we all look the same to me? Understanding heterogeneity and homogeneity effects. Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Jan 2007).
  • Neuberg, Steven. Controversies and New Directions in Stereotype Threat Theory. Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Jan 2007).
  • Neuberg, Steven. Dehumanization as the worst kind of prejudice. Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Jan 2007).
  • Perea, E, Neuberg, Steven. Functional friendships: Women want loyalists, men want specialists. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Jan 2007).
  • Shapiro, J, Neuberg, Steven. From stereotype threat to stereotype threats: A multi-threat framework; Controversies and New Directions in Stereotype Threat Theory. Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Jan 2007).
  • Becker, D, Neuberg, Steven, Kenrick, D. Disjunction-Junction, What's your Function? Picking up information relevant to fundamental motivations. Annual convention of the Association for Psychological Science (May 2006).
  • Cottrell, C, Neuberg, Steven. Why different groups view one another differently: Evidence from a national sample of European Americans, African Americans, and Asian Americans. Annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Jan 2006).
  • Duncan, L, Park, J, Faulkner, J, Schaller, M, Neuberg, Steven, Kenrick, D. Socio sexual orientation and visual attention to attractive men and women. Annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Jan 2006).
  • Shapiro, J, Ackerman, J, Neuberg, Steven, Kenrick, D. We all look harmless and they all look threatening: Contrast and assimilation effects for in-group and out-group threat perceptions. Annual conference of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Jan 2006).
  • Neuberg, Steven, Cottrell, C. A socio functional approach to intergroup relations. Annual conference of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (Oct 2005).
  • Neuberg, Steven, Schaller, M. The nature in prejudice(s). Invited paper presented at the conference: Looking toward the future: Discrimination and prejudice in the 21st century (Sep 2005).
  • Becker, D, Blackwell, K, Kenrick, D, Neuberg, Steven. The confounded nature of angry men and happy women. The annual convention of the American Psychological Society (May 2005).
  • Cottrell, C, Neuberg, Steven. What impressions do people want to convey to other? A socio functional analysis of valued self-presentations. The annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Jan 2005).
  • Neuberg, Steven. Discriminating sociality: A socio functional approach to intra group and intergroup relations. Evolutionary Psychology Pre-Conference, annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Jan 2005).
  • Ackerman, J, Shapiro, J, Becker, D, Hofer, B, Neuberg, Steven, Kenrick, D. Safety or romance? The asymmetry of fundamental motivations on memory for faces. The annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Jan 2005).
  • Shapiro, J, Neuberg, Steven. From stigmatized to empathizer or from stigmatized to stigmatizer? The effects of perceived majority group norms on the expression and suppression of prejudice. The annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Jan 2005).
  • Neuberg, Steven, Schaller, M. The nature of prejudice(s): Evolution, stigma, and intergroup relations. Advances in evolutionary social psychology, 28th International Congress of Psychology (Aug 2004).
  • Neuberg, Steven. Exploring self and social identity processes in stereotype threat. Western Psychological Association (Apr 2004).
  • Neuberg, Steven. Stereotype threat or stereotype threats? Why a more textured conceptualization of stereotype threat may be useful; Exploring self and social identity processes in stereotype threat. Annual convention of the Western Psychological Association (Apr 2004).
  • Wilbur, C, Shapiro, J, Neuberg, Steven. Different prejudices from different threats: A socio functional analysis of intergroup relations. Annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Jan 2004).
  • Cottrell, C, Neuberg, Steven. From threat to emotion to action: A socio functional analysis of intergroup interactions. Annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Jan 2004).
  • Neuberg, Steven. From the anthropology of fundamental social structures and processes to the psychology of contemporary social life: A socio functional approach to intra group and intergroup relations. Invited colloquium, Department of Anthropology (Oct 2003).
  • Neuberg, Steven, Kenrick, D, Maner, J, Schaller, M. Fundamental social motives and early-stage cognitive processing: Contributions of an ecological/evolutionary psychology. Sydney Symposium on Social Psychology (Mar 2003).
  • Neuberg, Steven, Maner, J, Kenrick, D, Schaller, M, Becker, D, Butner, J. Fundamental social motives and functional projection: How self-protection and mating can bias interpersonal perception. Annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Feb 2003).
  • Neuberg, Steven, Cottrell, C. From patterns of threat to patterns of behavior: Capturing the complexity of intergroup interaction. Annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Feb 2003).
  • Neuberg, Steven, Cottrell, C. What do people want in a group member? A biocultural analysis of valued and devalued characteristic. Annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Feb 2003).
  • Neuberg, Steven. Why fundamentalist Christians and activist feminists are the same (but different from African Americans and gay men): Introducing a biocultural approach for exploring intra group and intergroup relations. Presentation to the University of Arizona Social Psychology Program (Nov 2002).
  • Neuberg, Steven, Cottrell, C. A biocultural approach to intra group and intergroup relations: Implications for intergroup emotions; Evolutionary Approaches to Stigma, Prejudice, and Intergroup Discrimination. Annual convention of the American Psychological Society (Jun 2002).
  • Neuberg, Steven. Evolutionary Approaches to Stigma, Prejudice, and Intergroup Discrimination. Annual convention of the American Psychological Society (Jun 2002).
  • Neuberg, Steven. Why fundamentalist Christians and activist feminists are the same (but different from African Americans and gay men): Introducing a biocultural approach for exploring intra group and intergroup relations. Colloquium at the Ohio State University Psychology Department (May 2002).
  • Cottrell, C, Neuberg, Steven. General prejudice versus discrete emotions: A biocultural approach to intergroup relations. Annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Feb 2002).
  • Millevoi, A, Neuberg, Steven. Personal Need for Structure and Romantic Relationships. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Feb 2002).
  • Schaller, M, Neuberg, Steven. How Social Psychologists' Minds Work: Implications for Evolutionary Inquiries. Paper presented at the annual convention of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society (Jun 2000).
  • Neuberg, Steven. Managing life as an ultrasocial animal: Discriminating affiliations, textured prejudices, and the functional processing of complex social environments. Invited colloquium
Honors / Awards

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Editorships

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Professional Associations

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Work History

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Service

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Expertise Areas
Social Psychology
Psychology
Intergroup Relations
Motivation
Cognitive Science