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Faculty Members

Dr. Luis M. Rivera

Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
Director, Rutgers Implicit Social Cognition (RISC) Lab
Ph.D., Social Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Research and Background: I joined Rutgers University-Newark in fall 2010. My experimental research investigates the implicit social cognitive processes that underlie stereotyped attitudes and how these processes shape the self, identity, and health of stigmatized individuals. My research elucidates the contextual and motivational factors that shape individuals’ stereotyped-based cognition about themselves and others that occur outside of awareness, control, and intention. My research has implications for the development and maintenance of stigmatized individuals’ social identities, the expression of implicit (and explicit) stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination, and the presence and persistence of health disparities between members of socially advantaged and disadvantaged groups.

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Bonita M. Veysey

Faculty Researcher

Ph.D, University at Albany

Research and Background:

I am a professor in the School of Criminal Justice. My collaboration with Dr. Luis Rivera was spurred, to a large degree, by a shared interest in understanding how individuals assume and shed explicit and implicit negative (in this case, criminal) identities. This represents a new direction in answering fundamental questions in the field of criminology. In addition to my collaborative work in the RISC Lab, my research foci also include understanding desistance through narratives of reform, evaluations of criminal justice policies and practices (particularly those related to behavioral health), and the effects of psychological trauma on women’s recovery from substance use/abuse and mental health conditions.

Current Projects:

My current projects in the RISC Lab focus on: (1) implicit criminal identities and how these identities shape involvement in the justice system, (2) how close relationships with criminal others may influence non-criminal persons implicit self-attribution of criminal identity, and (3) how implicit victim experience may predict revictimization.