Demis Glasford

Research Area(s)
Social and Personality

Lab Website
INSPIRE Lab

Research Interests
Research in our lab is primarily concerned with the study of social injustice. One program of research is broadly focused on inequality. This work examines not only the behaviors that maintain and perpetuate social inequality, but also understanding when and why people respond to injustice or engage in collective action. A second program of work is concerned with understanding relations between groups of differing power. This work seeks to explore how factors such as history, context, and ecology (e.g., segregation) not only explain the nature of relations between groups, but also the conditions that lead to negative (e.g., increased conflict) and positive (e.g., partnerships) outcomes. A third program of work is concerned with the perspective of racial, ethnic, and religious (e.g., Muslim) minority group members. This work investigates how history, power, and concerns about identity help to explain how minority group members approach and understand relations with majority groups and/or institutions. We examine our research questions primarily through the lens of Social Psychology, but our approach is interdisciplinary, such that we often use theory and research from a variety of disciplines, such as cultural anthropology or political psychology. We study these issues in both the lab and applied settings (e.g., in schools; urban communities).

Representative Publications
Glasford, D.E. (2022). The privileged liberal principle-implementation gap: How the personal behavior of privileged liberals contributes to social inequality. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 52(8), 865-885.

Glasford, D.E. (2021). Composition of place, minority vs. majority group-status, & contextualized experience: The role of level of group representation, perceiving place in group-based terms, and sense of belonging in shaping collective behavior. PloS one, 16(9), e0253571.

Glasford, D.E., & Johnston, B.M. (2018). Respect the technique: Status-based respect increases minority group social cohesion with majority groups, while also increasing minority collective action tendencies. Journal of Social Psychology, 158, 201-214.

Glasford, D.E., & Caraballo, K. (2015). Collective action from a distance:  Distance shapes how people view victims of injustice and decreases willingness to engage in collective action. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 19, 27-42.

Glasford, D.E., & Pratto, F. (2014). When extraordinary injustice leads to ordinary response: How perpetrator power and size of an injustice event affect bystander efficacy and collective action. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44, 590-601.

Glasford, D.E. (2013). Seeing is believing: Communication modality, anger, and support for action on behalf of out-groups. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43, 2223-2230.

Glasford, D. E. & Calcagno, J. (2012). The conflict of harmony: Intergroup contact, commonality, and political solidarity between minority groups. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 323-328.

Glasford, D. E., Dovidio, J. F., & Pratto, F. (2009). I continue to feel so good about us: In-group identification and the use of social identity-enhancing strategies to reduce Intragroup dissonance.  Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 415-427.

Pratto, F. P., & Glasford, D. E. (2008). Ethnocentrism and the value of a human life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 1411-1428.

Glasford, D. E., Pratto, F., & Dovidio, J. F. (2008). Intragroup Dissonance:  Responses to In-group violation of personal values. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,    44, 1057-1064.