Research

 Statement  
Tiffany  M.  Griffin,  PhD  
 
Overview  
Individuals  are  members  of  groups  that  shape  their  experiences,  how  they  are  perceived  and  
treated  by  others,  as  well  as  their  social  outcomes.    My  research  builds  from  this  premise  to  investigate  
the  pathways  by  which  discrimination,  or  systematically  biased  unfair  treatment,  creates  and  maintains  
social  disparities.    In  my  first  line  of  research,  I  investigate  the  social  psychological  processes  that  lead  to  
the  perpetration  of  unfair  treatment.    The  strength  in  examining  discrimination  perpetration  directly  lies  
in  the  ability  to  bypass  claims  that  discrimination  persists  only  in  the  minds  of  the  perceiver.    In  my  
second  line  of  research,  I  examine  the  influences  and  consequences  of  being  a  discrimination  target,  along  
with  individual  difference  and  contextual  factors  that  mitigate  or  exacerbate  the  negative  association  
between  discrimination  and  outcomes.    Together,  my  research  reflects  top-­‐down,  as  well  as  bottom-­‐up  
approaches  to  informing  the  linkages  between  discrimination  and  social  disparities  (see  Figure  1).  
 
Discrimination  Perpetration  as  a  Pathway  to  Social  Disparities  
Previous  research.    Researchers  have  argued  that  over  and  above  interpersonal  bias,  institutional  
discrimination  has  the  most  detrimental  effects  on  targets.    This  is  because  discrimination  that  occurs  on  
more  macro  levels  (e.g.,  laws,  policies,  institutional  practices)  can  negatively  affect  large  numbers  of  
people  and  is  often  perpetrated  without  the  ability  to  hold  one  specific  individual  accountable.    In  my  first  
line  of  research,  I  position  systematically  biased  decision  making  (e.g.,  allocating  resources,  voting  
behaviors)  as  a  bridge  between  individual  behaviors  and  institutional  discrimination.    In  my  dissertation  
research,  I  used  this  theoretical  framework  to  investigate  racial  biases  when  decision  makers  are  
instructed  to  allocate  resources  based  upon  non-­‐racial  factors.    In  the  first  study,  participants  were  
instructed  to  allocate  resources  based  upon  ostensible  targets’  gender  and  in  the  second  study,  
participants  were  instructed  to  allocate  resources  based  upon  targets’  social  class.    In  both  experiments,  
results  indicated  that  race  ‘sneaks  in’  to  influence  how  resources  are  allocated,  even  when  decision  
makers  are  instructed  to  focus  on  targets’  other  group  memberships.    Specifically,  White  women  were  
given  three  times  more  resources  than  Black  women.    Moreover,  among  high  social  class  targets,  
participants  were  more  likely  to  allocate  resources  to  Whites  than  to  Blacks.      
Together,  these  results  have  practical  implications  for  contemporary  discrimination,  and  for  
informing  social  disparities.    The  results  suggest,  for  instance,  that  White  women  may  be  favored  over  
Black  and  other  women  of  color  for  intervention  programs  designed  to  increase  the  representation  of  
underrepresented  females  in  education  and  employment  programs.    In  this  way,  the  very  programs  
designed  to  ameliorate  gender  disparities  between  women  and  men,  may  inadvertently  create  disparities  
between  White  women  and  women  of  color.    Additionally,  the  results  support  research  on  discrimination  
experiences  among  the  Black  middle  class,  which  has  shown  that  higher  status  Blacks  often  report  more  
discrimination  than  their  lower  status  counterparts.    The  findings  from  my  dissertation  suggest  that,  at  
least  in  some  instances,  such  reports  are  not  just  the  result  of  Blacks  perceiving  more  discrimination,  but  
that  discrimination  is  actually  perpetuated  against  them  more  vehemently.        
 
 Current/future  research.    My  immediate  next  step  in  this  line  of  research  is  to  explore  the  
mechanisms  that  produce  biases  against  Black  women  and  high  class  Blacks.    During  my  postdoctoral  
tenure,  I  have  conducted  experiments  to  accomplish  this  objective.    Results  showed,  for  instance,  that  
implicit,  but  not  explicit  racial  prejudice,  moderates  the  bias  against  higher  status  Blacks  (Griffin  &  Payne,  
under  review).    By  synthesizing  discrimination  and  psychological  social  cognition  literatures,  I  was  thus  
able  to  ascertain  that  these  biases  are  produced,  in  part,  by  individually  held  negative  feelings  towards  
Blacks  that  are  managed  explicitly,  but  that  seep  into  behaviors  nonetheless.    I  am  also  conducting  a  set  of  
experiments  that  test  two  conflicting  potential  mechanisms  for  bias  against  Black  females  (Griffin,  Payne,  
&  Brown,  in  prep.).    On  the  one  hand,  intersectionality  invisibility  research  argues  that  biases  likely  
manifest  because  decision  makers  overlook  Black  women,  given  their  gender  and  racial  atypicality.    On  
the  other  hand,  norm  theory  would  suggest  that  because  Black  women  are  atypical,  they  are  rendered  
hypervisible,  which  leads  them  to  biases  because  they  are  more  stringently  scrutinized.    Each  mechanism  
is  probable,  yet  would  warrant  different  interventions.    As  such,  understanding  when  each  process  is  the  
best  predictor  of  bias  can  lead  to  practices  that  mitigate  bias  and  reduce  disparities  over  time.    
Additionally,  I  am  working  on  paradigms  to  extend  these  research  findings,  which  have  focused  on  the  
higher  education  domain,  to  special  education,  medical,  and  criminal  justice  decision-­‐making.        
Second,  inherent  to  my  work  is  the  notion  that  discrimination  should  be  examined  within  an  
intersectionality  framework.    Broadly  speaking,  intersectionality  argues  that  individuals’  multiple  group  
memberships  work  multiplicatively  to  influence  their  outcomes.    Despite  being  prominent  in  the  
Humanities  and  more  qualitatively-­‐oriented  social  sciences,  intersectionality  has  been  resisted  heavily  by  
social  scientists  who  employ  quantitative  methods.    As  such,  my  additional  current/future  directions  
include  theoretical  research  on  intersectionality  as  the  paradigm  pertains  to  quantitatively-­‐oriented  
investigations  of  social  group  processes  (Griffin,  in  prep.),  as  well  as  the  development  of  a  set  of  
methodological  ‘best  practices’  for  quantitative  researchers  who  seek  to  synthesize  intersectionality  with  
their  current  research  agendas  (Griffin,  Jackson,  Gonzalez,  &  Destin,  in  prep.).      
   
Experiences  as  a  Pathway  to  Social  Disparities  
Previous  research.  Independent  of  whether,  ‘actual’  discrimination  has  occurred,  the  perception  
that  one  has  been  or  may  be  the  target  of  unfair  treatment  can  elicit  responses  that  lead  to  negative  
outcomes.    Over  time,  this  can  create  disparities  between  those  who  must  chronically  manage  the  
potential  for  negative  experiences  and  those  individuals  with  more  social  privilege.    My  second  line  of  
research  thus  examines  how  individuals’  responses  to  unfair  experiences  lead  to  disparities  between  
groups.    First,  collaborators  and  I  have  investigated  how  the  negative  effect  of  discrimination  on  academic  
outcomes  is  moderated  by  Black  college  students’  racial  identity  beliefs  (Chavous,  Branch,  Cogburn,  
Griffin,  Maddox,  &  Sellers,  2007;  Griffin,  Chavous,  Cogburn,  &  Sellers,  revise  and  resubmit).    Additionally,  
my  research  has  investigated  how  social  class  solo  status  (e.g.,  tokenism)  leads  one  to  evaluate  the  
intergroup  context  in  ways  that  produce  unique  outcomes  for  female  and  male  students  (Griffin,  
Sekaquaptewa,  Mowbray,  &  Bennett,  under  review).    
 
  Current/future  directions.    My  current  and  future  endeavors  in  this  area  are  to  focus  on  the  
psychological  and  contextual  factors  that  foster  resilience  to  unfair  experiences  related  to  one’s  social  
group  memberships.    Specifically,  I  am  currently  the  principal  investigator  for  a  longitudinal  study  
examining  the  influences  of  dispositional  and  racial  positivity  on  the  association  between  discrimination  
and  mental  health.    In  this  study,  data  are  being  collected  from  three  hundred  Black  college  freshmen  at  
three  time  points  to  examine  a  theory  of  “bounded  positivity.”    My  hypothesis  is  that,  for  racial  
discrimination  targets,  positivity  has  a  curvilinear  moderating  effect  on  the  association  between  
discrimination  and  outcomes.    I  posit  that  very  low  positivity  and  very  high  positivity  lead  to  the  worst  
mental  health  outcomes,  but  bounded  positivity  (e.g.,  moderate  levels)  facilitates  mental  health.  This  
research  has  the  potential  to  inform  general  mental  health  literature,  as  well  as  to  growing  research  on  
the  benefits  of  positivity  for  health  and  other  social  outcomes.    Importantly,  this  research  also  suggests  
that  the  process  by  which  positivity  influences  social  outcomes,  inherently  depends  on  the  status  and  
power  afforded  by  one’s  social  group  memberships.    This  not  only  is  theoretically  relevant,  but  also  has  
practical  implications  for  interventions  designed  to  ameliorate  disparities  between  social  groups.  
 
Conclusion  
Until  all  differences  can  be  explained  by  individual  differences,  there  will  be  a  need  to  identify  the  
pathways  by  which  discrimination  produces  and  reproduces  disparities  over  time.    My  research  
investigates  these  pathways  in  two  ways—by  examining  actual  perpetration  of  discrimination  and  by  
exploring  the  psychological  experiences  of  unfair  treatment.    Both  lines  of  research  are  guided  by  the  
following  assumptions:  a)  disparities  ought  to  be  understood  within  an  intersectionality  context,  b)  social  
group  memberships  imply  status  and  power  processes,  c)  context  matters,  d)  understanding  process  is  
part  and  parcel  of  informing  social  problems,  e)  theoretical  advancement  is  necessary  for  empirical  rigor,  
and  f)  multidisciplinarity,  multiple  methods,  and  collaboration  facilitate  the  most  powerful  research  
investigations.    Social  disparities  are  literally  a  matter  of  life  and  death;  and  I  see  conducting  rigorous,  
theoretically-­‐driven  research  as  doing  my  part  to  positively  affect  lives.        
  
Figure  1  
 
Guiding  Framework  for  my  Research  Agenda