Dr. Jaihyun Park’s Social Cognition Lab
Since I came to Baruch College in 2001, my lab has been conducting a program of research on social and personality psychology. Working closely with graduate and undergraduate students, I have conducted several experiments on these topics for the past two years.
First, our lab has conducted experiments to examine the effects of mood states on the tendency to use stereotypes in making judgments about members of social groups. Replicating the findings by Park and Banaji (2000), we have varied the kinds of social category in the judgment tasks. In addition, we are interested in whether the effect of positive mood can ever be corrected with proper instructions.
Second, our lab has studied the influence of culture on human personality (especially in terms of five factor model in personality). Using NEO-PI, we have collected data from over 700 participants who are Baruch College undergraduate students, which is known to be the most diverse student population in the United States. We expect that the results of this study will provide valuable and useful information about personality structures of Americans from different ethnic backgrounds, as the American society becomes more diverse.
Last, our lab is planning to conduct a series of experiments on the effects of visual equipment on jury decision making. As new visual technologies such as video, computer animation, and PowerPoint are being used with increasing frequency in court, it becomes more important to understand the effects of using such technologies in courtrooms. Collaborating with Dr. Feigenson , a law professor at Quinnipiac University, we are designing a series of experiments to examine the effects of visual technologies on jurors’ legal decision making in civil cases.
We have completed several experiments for the past two years. Based on the findings that we obtained, we are currently preparing three manuscripts to submit for publication in academic psychological journals.