Understanding Prejudice, Racism, and Social Conflict

Martha Augoustinos is Professor of Psychology at the University of Adelaide and Co-Director of the Fay Gale Centre for Research on Gender. At the ANU I am a member of a team of social psychology researchers. My expertise is in investigating the role of the social self or social identity (sense of self as a group member - "we", "us") in shaping people's attitudes, affect and behaviour. Over recent years the focus of my work has been theory-driven research on (a) core organizational topics including leadership, power, diversity, casualization, negotiation and organisational change, (b) understanding the dynamics of social change (intergroup conflict and co-operation, prejudice, stereotyping, discrimination), and (c) the interplay between social identity processes and individual-level functioning (e.g., well-being, performance, personality). A particular strength of this work has been investigating these processes using more naturalistic samples in ACT high schools, community groups, and organisational settings. The research is of interest to a range of policy makers in areas such as educational leadership and school improvement, social norm change in dysfunctional communities, and building social cohesion in the face of ethnic and religious diversity.

My research has been published in numerous top-tiered journals including Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and European Journal of Social Psychology. It also is supported by numerous large grants from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and I am currently Chief Investigator on three large ARC grants.
In relation to other professional activities I am currently an Associate Editor of the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, a member of the Governing Council of the International Society of Political Psychology and serve and on numerous other editorial boards (ERSP, BJSP, PP, JASP).

My main teaching responsibilities are in the areas of social psychology and organizational psychology. I currently supervise Master and PhD student research projects on understanding personality stability and change, leadership, prejudice reduction, organisational/team functioning, the creation of prejudice through scapegoating, and the formation of social identity.