Rebecca Neel, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator // ​Lab Director

Dr. Neel received her B.A. in English from Carleton College, took classes in Psychology at Portland State University, and received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology from Arizona State University. From 2013-2018 she was an Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. She is currently an Associate Professor in the University of Toronto's Department of Psychology.​
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becca.neel@utoronto.ca  |  CV

Stella Zhang
​Lab Manager

Stella is a recent graduate from the University of Toronto, where she received her B.Sc in Psychology and Sociology. She is interested in understanding how personality development and general well-being are impacted by marginalization and stigmatization.
 
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ruixi.zhang@mail.utoronto.ca

Bethany Lassetter
​Graduate Student

Bethany received her B.S. in Psychology and General Science from the University of Oregon and her M.A. in Psychology from the University of Iowa. She studies how beliefs and stereotypes influence social judgment. More specifically, she is interested in how goal relevance (i.e., whether you think others can facilitate or impede your goals) shapes social attention and emotion. She also examines beliefs about who can vs. cannot change and the consequences of these beliefs, primarily within intergroup contexts. You can learn more about Bethany's research by visiting her website: bethanylassetter.com 

bethany.lassetter@mail.utoronto.ca


​Elia Q. Y. Lam
​Graduate Student

Elia received their B.Sc. in Psychology from the University of Waterloo. Broadly, Elia’s research interests include: intergroup relations and culture, beliefs about change, and self-regulation. More specifically, they are interested in how beliefs about change can impact intergroup relations and persistence. Elia is also interested in social invisibility and whether differing expectations can mitigate the effects of feeling invisible.

elia.lam@mail.utoronto.ca

Joel Le Forestier
Affiliated ​Graduate Student

Joel received his HBA in Social Development & Business at the University of Waterloo and his MA in Social Psychology here at the University of Toronto. Broadly speaking, Joel is interested in social psychological factors that prevent members of marginalized groups from thriving and how we can leverage knowledge of these factors to intervene to promote equity. More specifically, he is interested in how our identities—and how we engage with them—impacts outcomes in the domains of academics, health, and general well-being. Joel's work involves topics including concealable social identities, prejudice, and social belonging.

​joel.leforestier@mail.utoronto.ca

Jordana Schiralli 
Affiliated ​Graduate Student

Jordana received her B.Sc. and M.A. in Psychology from the University of Toronto. Jordana is primarily working with Dr. Alison Chasteen in the Intergroup Relations Lab. Her current lines of research are exploring how targets are perceived when confronting sexism and how sexist attitudes are prescribed to women who hold intersectional identities. 
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jordana.schiralli@mail.utoronto.ca

Veronica Bergstrom
Affiliated ​Graduate Student

Veronica received her BSc Honours in Psychology from the University of Alberta and her MA in psychology from the University of Toronto. Veronica is primarily working with Dr. Alison Chasteen in the Intergroup Relations Lab. Her interests lie in the area of prejudice and stereotyping. More specifically, she investigates how intersecting identities affect stereotype content. Additionally, she has a line of research that focuses on religious and nonreligious group biases. 

​v.bergstrom@mail.utoronto.ca

Emily Schwartzman
Affiliated ​Graduate Student

Emily received her BSc Honours in Psychology from McGill University and her MA in Psychology from the University of Toronto. She primarily works with Dr. Nick Rule in the Social Perception & Cognition Lab. Her research examines how membership to marginalized social groups influences social perception at both the target and the perceiver level, with a particular focus on the LGBTQ+ community.

​emily.schwartzman@mail.utoronto.ca

Louisa You
Affiliated ​Graduate Student

Louisa received both her HBA in Peace, Conflict, & Justice and her MA in Social Psychology from the University of Toronto. Primarily, Louisa works with Dr. Elizabeth Page-Gould in the Social Psychophysiological Research & Quantitative Methods Lab (SPRQL). Her research program is on intergroup contact, ideological groups, and outgroup perceptions. Louisa’s current work examines how we interact with people who are ideologically different to ourselves and how these interactions affect our group attitudes and emotions.

louisa.you@mail.utoronto.ca

​CURRENT UNDERGRADUATE AND POST-BACCALAUREATE STUDENTS

NAME
​Ashna Nagar
Brittany Cheng
Elizabeth Chan
Lucas Baron
Mai Kondo
​Qi (Kay) Sun
​Sooyeon Lee
Yibo (Eable) Sun
POSITION
ROP399 Student 
ROP299 Student
Affiliated Project Student
Post-Baccalaureate Researcher 
Individual Project Student
​Thesis Student
Individual Project Student
​Individual Project Student

Interested in volunteering?

ALUMNI

Stephanie Oliinyk | Lab Manager; now at the University of California, Davis
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Adira Daniel | Lab Manager; now at Western University

Merril Chesser | Post-Bac Research Assistant; now at the ACLU of Iowa

Joshua Gold, Ph.D. | Affiliated Graduate Student; now Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Washington 

Chloe Huelsnitz | Lab Manager; now at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
​Austin Simpson, M.A. | Affiliated Graduate Student; now at University of California, Davis
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Jillian Stuart, Ph.D. | Affiliated Graduate Student; now Assistant Professor of Psychology at Virginia Military Institute

Kelsey Thiem, Ph.D. | Affiliated Graduate Student; now Assistant Professor of Social Psychology at Ball State University 
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​Ji Xia, M.A. | Affiliated Graduate Student; now at SUNY University at Buffalo

PAST RESEARCH ASSISTANTS 

​Adrienne Jensen
Alexandrea Martin
Allyvia Fogarty
Ambur Hageman
Andrea Heinz
Anna Kraft
Annalise Castro
Bernardo Duarte
Bridget Ross
Chelle Praska
Conor Mittauer
Crystal Terman
Donney Jackson
Francesca Walton
Gabby Dillman
​Gabrielle Grothe
​​Gustav Lundberg
​Hala Bucheeri
​Jessica Mielenz
​Jingen (Anna) Yan
​Jovana Pajovic 
Justin Dodd
Kayla Karegianes
Lingyu (Albee) Li
​Lok Sang Jeffrey To
Madhuri Belkale
Maryam Fakri
Mckinna Wilts
Mina Jyung
Nora Tucker
Seunggun Lee
Solomon Worlds
Taylor Magnuson
Xiaotian (Amy) He
​Yu Han
Yuhao Chen
Zara Teichroew

PAST LAB GROUPS​
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