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Office Hours

M 01:30 PM-04:00 PM
W 01:30 PM-04:00 PM

I earned my bachelor's degree in both Psychology and Leadership Studies from the University of Richmond in Richmond, VA. This is where my love for psychology, research, and the liberal arts began. After graduating, I held research positions at both Harvard University and the University of California, Santa Barbara before entering a PhD program in Social Psychology at Tulane University. Prior to Siena, I held a postdoctoral position at Carleton College in Northfield, MN where I had the opportunity to both teach and conduct research with undergraduate students in a liberal arts environment. While my past experiences have given me the opportunity to live in various regions of the US, I'm originally from Connecticut and am happy to be back home on the East Coast. 

Degree Program University
Ph.D. Social Psychology Tulane University
B.A. Psychology & Leadership Studies University of Richmond

My Siena Experience

My Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy is based on the psychological concept of a growth mindset, meaning that I encourage students to concentrate on mastery of new information and development of new skill sets. In doing so, I try to focus students' away from earning A's and towards intellectual curiosity, hard work, and dedication to learning. I implement this mindset change through the attainment of three interrelated learning objectives that I consider essential to a liberal arts education: development of critical thinking skills, engagement in scientific research, and application of psychology to the real world. 

Besides formal teaching that occurs in the classroom, I believe students can learn a lot by applying what they know. Thus, my teaching philosophy also involves mentoring and advising students in psychological research. My passion for teaching and mentoring is rooted in my own experiences as an undergraduate student at a liberal arts institution, and I am committed to the teacher-scholar model.

What I Love About Siena

 I love being a part of a close-knit community. At Siena,I have the opportunity to get to know my students over the course of the semester and even have them as students in several classes. I also value that the small community of Siena allows for colleagues across disciplines to work together and get to know each other. My colleagues, both within and outside of the Department of Psychology, as supportive, collaborative, and just nice people. 

My Favorite Courses to Teach

 As a social psychologist, my favorite courses to teach are Social Psychology where students get introduced to basic theory and research in the field, as well as special topics in Social Psychology that delve more deeply into issues of social diversity such as: gender, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination.

As an experimental researcher, I also enjoy teaching courses in Research Methods in Psychology and watching students develop the skills they need to conduct their own scientific research. Lastly, I find General Psychology exciting to teach, and I find the task of introducing students to this great field a very important one! 

My Professional Experience

Year Title Organization
2015 - 2017 Robert A. Oden Jr. Postdoctoral Fellowship for Innovation in the Liberal Arts Carleton College
2013 - 2015 Instructor Tulane University
2010 - 2015 National Science Foundation Graduate Student Research Fellow Tulane University
2008 - 2010 Lab Manager University of California, Santa Barbara
2007 - 2008 Research Fellow Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government

Current Research

My research centers around the social psychology of prejudice, social stigma, and diversity. I examine the consequences of perceiving prejudice and discrimination from the perspective of high status, majority group members and low status, minority group members. The goal of my research is to uncover strategies for reducing prejudice and improving intergroup relations.

My research is currently investigating the following questions:
  • Recognizing and Denying Discrimination: Why might Blacks and Whites or women and men in the US disagree about whether an event was discriminatory? How do perceptions of the intentions of a perpetrator of discrimination and the perceptions of harm to a victim influence whether people think an event was discriminatory? 
  • Confronting Prejudice: What are the costs and benefits of confronting prejudice? How do perceptions of a perpetrator's prejudice influence the anticipated outcomes of  confrontations? 
  • Diversity & Leadership: Why do nontraditional leaders (i.e., women and racial/ethnic minorities) face bias in leader evaluations?  Do women have a "leadership edge" in diverse contexts?
  • Reducing Anti-Immigrant Prejudice: How can perspective-taking and empathy techniques be used to reduce anti-immigrant prejudice in the US?

Articles & Book Reviews

  • Simon, S., Moss, A. J., & O'Brien, L. T. (2017). Pick your perspective: Racial group membership and judgments of intent, harm, and discrimination. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/1368430217735576
    Group Processes & Intergroup Relations
    2017
  • Hoyt, C. L. and Simon, S. (2016), The role of social dominance orientation and patriotism in the evaluation of racial minority and female leaders. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 46, 518-528.
    Journal of Applied Social Psychology
    2016
  • Reducing implicit racial preferences: II. Intervention effectiveness across time
    Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
    2016
  • Simon, S., & O'Brien, L. T. (2015). Confronting sexism: The effect of moral credentialing on interpersonal costs of target confrontations. Sex Roles, 73, 245-257.
    Sex Roles
    2015
  • Simon, S., & Hoyt, C. (2013). Exploring the effect of media images on women's leadership self-perceptions and aspirations. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 16, 232-245.
    Group Processes & Intergroup Relations
    2013
  • Simon, S., Kinias, Z., O'Brien, L. T., Major, B., & Bivolaru, E. (2013). Prototypes of discrimination: how status asymmetry and stereotype asymmetry affect judgments of racial discrimination. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 35, 525-533.
    Basic and Applied Social Psychology
    2013
  • O'Brien, L.T., Major, B., & Simon, S. (2012). Why did you choose that person over me? Ingroup rejections and attributions to discrimination. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 1225-1233.
    Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
    2012
  • Hoyt, C., & Simon, S. (2011). Female leaders: Injurious or inspiring role models for women? Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35, 143-157.
    Psychology of Women Quarterly
    2011
  • Hoyt, C., Simon, S., & Innella, A. (2011). Taking a turn toward the masculine: The impact of mortality salience on implicit leadership theories. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 33, 374-381.
    Basic and Applied Social Psychology
    2011
  • Hoyt, C., Simon, S., & Reid, L. (2009). Choosing the best (wo)man for the job: The effects of mortality salience, sex, and gender stereotypes on leader evaluations. The Leadership Quarterly, 20, 233- 246.
    The Leadership Quarterly
    2009
  • Simon, S., & Hoyt, C. (2008). Exploring the gender gap in support for a woman for president. Analysis of Social Issues and Public Policy (ASAP), 8, 157-181.
    Analysis of Social Issues and Public Policy
    2008
  • Pittinsky, T.L., & Simon, S. (2007). Intergroup leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 18, 586-605.
    The Leadership Quarterly
    2007

Books & Book Chapters

  • Leadership: Theory and Practice, 8th edition

    2018
  • Handbook of Research on Gender and Leadership
    Edward Elgar
    2017
  • The Cambridge Handbook of Sociology: Specialty and Interdisciplinary Studies
    Cambridge University Press
    2017

Presentations

  • Putting yourself in the victim's shoes: Does perspective-taking affect judgments of sexism and legal decision-making?
    2018
    Society for Personality and Social Psychology's Annual Convention, Atlanta, Georgia
  • Does remembering that "we" used to be "them" improve attitudes towards immigrants?
    2017
    Society for Personality and Social Psychology's Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas
  • Gender expression and transphobia: Cisgender reactions to gender nonconformity among transgender women and men
    2017
    Association for Psychological Science Convention, Boston, Massachusetts
  • Leading through diversity: The effect of leader gender on racial discrimination claims
    2016
    Society for Personality and Social Psychology's Annual Convention, San Diego, California
  • The black and white of racial discrimination: Understanding group differences in perceptions of racial discrimination
    2015
    Society for Personality and Social Psychology's Annual Convention, Long Beach, California