Ian Hawkins

• University of Michigan

Recent research documents an increase in narcissism in the United States. Little research, however, has explored mechanisms that could cause higher narcissism. In 2 studies, we test the hypothesis that exposure to narcissistic reality TV characters is related to greater narcissism for those engaging in experience taking (Kaufman & Libby, 2012). Stu...

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has become an essential part of school curricula and is crucial to filling future jobs, so research examining ways to increase STEM motivations is essential. While an abundance of research has examined STEM in relation to traditional media, research examining the impact of digital l...

Politicians within the United States and across many Western societies are concerned about the extent to which Muslims are successfully integrating within their countries. The present research examined how interpersonal (discrimination) and mediated (negative news coverage of Muslims) social identity threats dynamically change young Muslim American...

The Tangram Help/Hurt Task is a laboratory-based measure designed to simultaneously assess helpful and hurtful behavior. Across five studies we provide evidence that further establishes the convergent and discriminant validity of the Tangram Help/Hurt Task. Cross-sectional and meta-analytic evidence finds consistently significant associations betwe...

There is limited empirical research examining cultivation theory’s proposition that first-order estimates influence second-order attitudes. In two studies, we examine how Middle Easterners are portrayed on entertainment television and how these portrayals cultivate stereotypical beliefs and policy support. A content analysis in Study 1 finds that n...

There are worldwide concerns about the rise of White nationalism and its implications for intergroup relations in multicultural societies. Social media, in particular, has allowed far-right groups to easily share their perspectives with and influence others in support of their ideologies. Yet, few studies have empirically examined what psychologica...

Social media users often push back against harmful rhetoric with satirical and aggressive counterspeech. How do the interconnected race and gender identities of the person posting counterspeech and the person viewing it impact evaluations of the comment? Across two online experiments, we manipulate the race (Black or White) and gender (man or woman...

Mobile media are fundamental to social life in a growing number of ways. Beyond the mundane, the technology has come to play a meaningful role in protests and emergent demonstrations worldwide, including recent cases of political violence among far-right groups in the U.S. Drawing from the folk theory tradition, this study samples Alt-Right support...

Recent data reveals that some White Americans perceive increasing levels of discrimination against their racial ingroup (i.e., reverse racism) and are resentful toward racial minorities (i.e., racial resentment). Using the theoretical framework of the Socially Mediated Stereotyping Model, the present research examines how social media use and polit...

Minorities often express dissatisfaction and frustration with media depictions of their ingroup motivating them to engage in strategies that can restore a positive group identity. Based on the dual model of collective action and relying on two studies, we examined if exposure to negative news media can motivate collective action among Muslim Americ...

Video game depictions of racial minorities are often stereotyped and likely to activate aggressive schema and behaviors. Using the theoretical framework of Proteus Effect, we manipulated the avatar race (White or Black) of main and enemy characters in a video game as well as the race of a partner in an aggressive behavior task. This allows for a mo...

Recent data from anti-hate organizations finds that pro-White events, propaganda, and groups are steadily increasing in the United States. Additionally, large collective actions and mass shootings that are racially motivated have become highly visible in the past few years. Given social media’s role in both influencing and acting as a platform for...

Most suspects waive the guaranteed protections that interrogation rights afford them against police intimidation. One factor thought to motivate suspects' inclination to waive their rights stems from the acquiescence bias whereby suspects mindlessly comply with interrogators' requests. However, research bearing on the phenomenology of innocence has...

Crime dramas have become a popular part of media culture, but research examining their influence on juror decision-making is in its infancy. This research examined the influences of crime drama viewing frequency, individuals' degree of engagement (engaged or non-engaged) with a crime drama, and type of evidence (forensic, eyewitness, or both) on mo...

Suspects, especially innocent ones, are highly susceptible to waiving their interrogation rights. This research tested the ability of two strategies to overcome innocent suspects' willingness to waive their rights. One strategy was based on the social influence of scarcity (i.e., not constraining the pre-interrogation time limit). The other strateg...