This is my favorite paper from my dissertation and hopefully it plants the seed for more exciting research in the future! We started doing this because we think features of the environment will guide behavior in those spaces, and we’re working on that right now. Check back in a bit?
There’s so much cool work on environments and we stand on the shoulders of giants. Our hope is that these 4 factors can serve as a shared foundation to systematically compare and connect findings across the many disciplines studying environments.
These factors were validated on behavioral intentions. In addition, digital manipulation of environment images revealed that our impressions of the environment are rooted in its features. Doesn’t the environment feel a little colder when there’s snow on the ground?
We had people describe environments, then had other people rate hundreds of environments on those descriptors. Exploratory factor analyses revealed the 4 factors: density, desirability, light, and temperature. This was consistent in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
New paper out in JPSP with @erichehman.bsky.social! We asked: What is the framework underlying our impressions of environments? Our large bottom-up study shows that people pay attention to 4 factors. We’re calling it the Environment Impressions Model: doi.org/10.1037/pspa...
This is my favorite paper from my dissertation and hopefully it plants the seed for more exciting research in the future! We started doing this because we think features of the environment will guide behavior in those spaces, and we’re working on that right now. Check back in a bit?
There’s so much cool work on environments and we stand on the shoulders of giants. Our hope is that these 4 factors can serve as a shared foundation to systematically compare and connect findings across the many disciplines studying environments.
These factors were validated on behavioral intentions. In addition, digital manipulation of environment images revealed that our impressions of the environment are rooted in its features. Doesn’t the environment feel a little colder when there’s snow on the ground?
We had people describe environments, then had other people rate hundreds of environments on those descriptors. Exploratory factor analyses revealed the 4 factors: density, desirability, light, and temperature. This was consistent in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
Interested in attending the CPA Social & Personality pre-conference in Montreal on June 3rd? See below for more information!
forms.gle/vRp3zB3RRes2...
McGill is hiring a faculty lecturer in social psychology, in a (non-adjunct) permanent teaching position.
Please consider being my colleague, Montreal is really great: mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/McGill...
approach used to estimate needs from Discord posts
New paper out led by my student Jeremy Rappel using a natural language processing approach to examine behavior in leaked far right Discord chatrooms.
We find that *estimated* basic psychological needs are related to posting behavior and use of hate speech.
1/n
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
📄 New paper about single people's dating experiences is out!
We found that relationship clarity - the extent to which someone know what they want in a relationship - predicts single young adults' loneliness and well-being as they navigate the dating world.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
New paper out from the Self & Motivation Lab on Safety and Threat in the Environment Perceptions (STEP). The STEP scale assesses people's overall, gut-level impressions of any given space and uniquely predicts engagement, interest, & desire to recruit others
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
New lab paper in JESP! What is the association between gender and food portion sizes? And how might such associations impact actual real-world treatment? We used lab and field studies to explore this question 🍽️
A big thank you to everyone who turned up for my talk at #SPSP2025! I had fun discussing research with so many brilliant minds and it’s time to channel that energy into finishing up this manuscript.
(Look at my advisor @erichehman.bsky.social capturing the start of my first ever conference talk)
Unfortunately we didn't test this longitudinally, so can't answer. But I'd speculate that there would be critical periods!
Key takeaway: We find broad support for intergroup contact theory—contact is negatively associated with prejudice across groups with a wide array of distinct group properties.
Across 80 groups, we find that intergroup contact was consistently associated with lower prejudice.
Does a group’s properties (e.g., size, permeability, warmth) matter? No. (But we thought they would!)
Does the type of intergroup contact matter? No.
It is well-known that intergroup contact reduces prejudice.
However, existing research has largely tested the same type of groups but numerous other types of groups exist and they are not all the same (think: Asian people vs introverts vs people who live in the same neighbourhood).
My first paper with @erichehman.bsky.social and @acceb.bsky.social is out! We tested intergroup contact across many different types of groups:
doi.org/10.1525/coll...
New JPSP article is out, with @jordanaxt.bsky.social, @calvinklai.bsky.social, and many collaborators! We organised a contest study with an open call for interested researchers to submit their discrimination-reduction intervention ideas. doi.org/10.1037/pspa...
ISCON is excited to announce that the 2023 Best Social Cognition Paper Award goes to Hester, N., & Hehman, E. (2023). Dress is a fundamental component of person perception. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 27(4), 414-433! Congrats @neilrhester.bsky.social and @erichehman.bsky.social!
New paper in JPSP with @elianeroy.bsky.social ! Here, we ask: Is measuring attitudes more like playing darts or more like searching for a prize in a ”claw” machine? More details in the thread below....
And you can't use the cheap paint I think! When I was teaching in junior college years ago they used the cheap paint and the markers would stain the wall purple urgh
We have launched the competition. Can still join if interested in participating, but we won't be checking registration page anymore. Instead, can reach out to the lead author @travislim.bsky.social or [email] travis.j.lim@mail.mcgill.ca and we'll get you set up (models due June 13)
New paper out in Social and Personality Psychology Compass starting and sustaining fruitful collaborations in psych.
Thanks to Lara Aknin, Sarah Gaither, Emily Impett & Ashley Whillans for their valuable contributions.
Feel free to share with students, mentees, faculty:
dx.doi.org/10.1111/spc3...
Official launch of our prejudice modeling competition.
-We give you some data, you build a model, and we test it on new data
-$2k for winning teams, and authorship for all
Sign up and more info here: hehmanlab.org/competition
Would appreciate sharing widely!
#SocialPsyc #PrejudiceResearch
Relatedly, going to be launching a modeling competition of prej in the next 6 mos.
-We give you some data, you build a model, and we test it on hold out. Cash for winner and authorship for all teams.
-Just a soft launch announcement for now, but email eric.hehman@mcgill.ca to be included