Is prejudice in your genes? Seminar
- Time:
- 15:00 - 16:00
- Date:
- 2 November 2016
- Venue:
- University of Southampton, Highfield Campus, Building 44 (Shackleton), Room 3095
For more information regarding this seminar, please telephone Sue McNally on 02380 595150 or email S.McNally@soton.ac.uk .
Event details
Why do some feel antipathy towards 'foreigners' and 'immigrants', whereas others are more embracing of diversity? The classical answer to this question stresses the power of familial socialization, although surprisingly little work has rigorously probed this proposition. I will present findings from a range of recent studies that formally test this claim using the classic and extended twin design, thus allowing one to independently assess the magnitude of genetic and environmental influences. The results suggest that families do indeed serve to shape attitudes towards out-groups, but not as is commonly conceived. I will also discuss these findings in the context of the infamous schism between social psychology and individual differences psychology.
Speaker information
Dr Gary Lewis , Royal Holloway, University of London. I am a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London. I have previously lectured at the Universities of York and Stirling. Prior to that I was a Sage Junior Fellow at the Sage Center for the Study of the Mind (University of California, Santa Barbara). My PhD was completed at the University of Edinburgh. My research is broadly concerned with the study of human individual differences. I have specific interests in personality, social attitudes, and social perception, and perhaps unsurprisingly these areas sometimes overlap. I have been using a range of methods to answer questions in these areas, including neuroimaging, quantitative genetics, and behavioural experiments.