The Social Fringe Lab is usually working on a variety of projects. Most, but not all, projects come from a theoretical background of stereotyping & prejudice and focus on person perception or attitudes. See below for a short explanation of current projects.

Food and Masculinity

A body of research indicates that meat is associated with masculinity. This research investigates perceptions of people who eat omnivorous, vegetarian, and vegan diets. So far, we have found that men who eat vegetarian diets are perceived as similarly masculine compared to those who eat omnivorous diets, but that men who eat vegan diets are perceived as less masculine. It seems as though the choice to be vegan is what drives this perception. The publication below was covered in  Pacific Standard.

Thomas, M.A. (2016). Are vegans the same as vegetarians? The effect of meatless diets on perceptions of masculinity. Appetite. 97, 79-86. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2015.11.021

• Thomas, M.A. (2014, February). Vegan is the new vegetarian. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Austin, TX. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4027.0969

Gendered Pronouns and Perception

Gender is a multifaceted construct and can be displayed in many ways. While clearly elements such as clothing or hairstyle, behavioral patterns, or likes/dislikes can imply a gendered identity, a fundamental way to disclose one’s gender is through the use of gendered pronouns. Our research investigates the effect that stating gendered pronouns has on the perception of traits.

• Thomas, M.A., Hardt, S., Nesbitt-Daly, K., Salustri, O., & Wilson, A. (2018, March). “My pronouns are…”: Gendered pronouns and person perception. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Atlanta, GA.

More recent research examines the cognitive representation of collective gendered nouns, such as women, men, people, folks, or guys.

Optimally Distinct Others

Most people are not perfectly stereotypic members of their groups. Instead, most have some characteristics of their group, with some counterstereotypic characteristics as well. Social psychological research has not investigated perceptions of those people. Our research investigates whether those more realistic people are preferred over stereotypic and counterstereotypic others.