Cynthia L. Pickett
My broad research interests lie within the areas of social identity, intergroup relations, the self, social cognition, and self-regulatory processes.
Three specific lines of inquiry represent the bulk of my research program. One line of research is devoted to understanding the motivational processes that underlie social identification. More specifically, I have been interested in the motivations that may be served by memberships in social groups and how these motivations shape individuals’ perceptions of themselves and other group members. The second line of research centers on the processes through which individuals maintain social inclusion and belonging. A quizzical finding in the rejection and social exclusion literature is that rejected individuals often respond to rejection by becoming hostile, angry, and anti-social—precisely the behaviors that are likely to lead to further ostracism and exclusion. Although a large body of work now demonstrates the maladaptive consequences of rejection, relatively little is known about the adaptive mechanisms that may exist to ensure social inclusion. The goal of my research in this area has been to help fill this gap in our knowledge. In a third line of work, I am studying the role that perceived entitativity—the extent to which social aggregates are seen as coherent units—plays in the judgments that perceivers make about groups and group members.
Primary Interests:
- Group Processes
- Intergroup Relations
- Interpersonal Processes
- Neuroscience, Psychophysiology
- Prejudice and Stereotyping
- Self and Identity
- Social Cognition
Research Group or Laboratory:
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Books:
- Cacioppo, J. T., Visser, P. S., & Pickett, C. L. (Eds.). (2006). Social neuroscience: People thinking about thinking people. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Pickett, C.L., & Chen, S., & Gardner, W.L. (forthcoming). The Self. New York: Guilford Press.
Journal Articles:
- Gardner, W. L., Pickett, C. L., & Brewer, M. B. (2000). Social exclusion and selective memory: How the need to belong influences memory for social events. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 486-496.
- Gardner, W.L., Pickett, C.L., Jefferis, V., & Knowles, M. (2005). On the outside looking in: Loneliness and social monitoring. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1549-1560.
- Hess, Y. D. & Pickett, C. L. (2010). Social rejection and self- versus other-awareness. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 453-456.
- Leonardelli, G. L., Pickett, C. L., & Brewer, M. B. (2010). Optimal distinctiveness theory: A framework for social identity, social cognition, and intergroup relations. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 43, pp. 66-115) San Diego, CA: Elsevier Academic Press.
- Pickett, C. L. (2001). The effects of entitativity beliefs on implicit comparisons between group members. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 515-525.
- Pickett, C. L., Bonner, B. L., & Coleman, J. M. (2002). Motivated self-stereotyping: Heightened assimilation and differentiation needs result in increased levels of positive and negative self-stereotyping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 543-562.
- Pickett, C. L., & Brewer, M. B. (2001). Assimilation and differentiation needs as motivational determinants of perceived in-group and out-group homogeneity. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 37, 341-348.
- Pickett, C. L., Gardner, W. L., & Knowles, M. (2004). Getting a cue: The need to belong and enhanced sensitivity to social cues. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 1095-1107.
- Pickett, C. L., & Perrott, D. A. (2004). Shall I compare thee? Perceived entitativity and ease of comparison. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 283-289.
- Pickett, C. L., Silver, M. D., & Brewer, M. B. (2002). The impact of assimilation and differentiation needs on perceived group importance and judgments of ingroup size. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 546-558.
- Wesselmann, E. D., Butler, F. A., Williams, K. D., & Pickett, C. L. (2010). Adding injury to insult: Unexpected rejection leads to more aggressive responses. Aggressive Behavior, 36, 232-237.
Other Publications:
- Leonardelli, G. J., Pickett, C. L., Joseph, J. E., & Hess, Y. D. (in press). Optimal distinctiveness in nested categorization contexts: Moving from dueling identities to a dual identity. In Kramer, R., Leonardelli, G. J., & Livingston, R. (Eds.), Festschrift volume in honor of Marilynn B. Brewer. Association for Psychological Science Festschrift series.
- Nielsen, B.D., Pickett, C.L., & Simonton, D.K. (2008). Conceptual versus experimental creativity: Which works best on convergent and divergent thinking tasks? Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts.
- Pickett, C. L., & Brewer, M. B. (2004). The role exclusion in maintaining ingroup inclusion. In D. Abrams, J. Marques, and M. Hogg (Eds.), Social Psychology of Inclusion and Exclusion. Philadelphia: Psychology Press.
- Pickett, C.L., & Gardner, W.L. (2005). The social monitoring system: Enhanced sensitivity to social cues as an adaptive response to social exclusion. In K. Williams, J. Forgas, and W. von Hippel (Eds.), The social outcast: Ostracism, social exclusion, rejection, and bullying. New York: Psychology Press.
- Pickett, C.L. & Leonardelli, G.J. (2006). Collective identities as a resource for the satisfaction of assimilation and differentiation needs. In T. Postmes and J. Jetten (Eds.), Individuality and the Group: Advances in Social Identity. London: Sage Publications.
- Pickett, C.L., Smaldino, P.E., Sherman, J.W., & Schank, J. (in press). Agent-Based Modeling as a Tool for Studying Social Identity Processes: The Case of Optimal Distinctiveness Theory. In R. Kramer, G.J. Leonardelli, & R. Livingston (Eds.), Festschrift volume in honor of Marilynn B. Brewer. Association for Psychological Science Festschrift series.
- Sauerwein, K.A., & Pickett, C.L. (2009). Optimal distinctiveness model. In D. Matsumoto (Ed.), Cambridge Dictionary of Psychology. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Courses Taught:
- Directed Group Study
- Psychology of the Self
- Research in Personality and Social
- Social Cognition
- Social Psychology
- Topics in Social and Personality
Cynthia L. Pickett
Department of Psychology
University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, California 95616
United States of America
- Phone: (530) 754-5618
- Fax: (530) 752-2087