Associate Professor in Psychology at Wellesley University
About
Angela Bahns is a social psychologist doing research on the dynamics of prejudice and friendship formation. Prof. Bahns's research focuses on the dynamics of prejudice and friendship formation with the goal of reducing prejudice. Her work also considers whether prejudice is best understood as a general evaluation or as a specific emotion.
Current Work:
Prof. Bahns is currently exploring whether embracing political disagreement in the context of a friendship confers benefits for relationships and for intergroup relations. She is also studying how features of the social environment affect friendship choices, comparing friendships in big and small communities and in different cultural contexts. Her work on prejudice demonstrates that stereotypes and threat can serve as justification of prejudice, rather than forming the source of the prejudice itself.
Research Area Keyword(s):
prejudice; friendship; similarity; diversity; culture
