Celia Maria Gonzalez

New York University
Department of Psychology
Program: Social Psychology
6 Washington Place, Room 572
New York, NY 10003
celia.gonzalez@nyu.edu
212 998 7924

Education

Ph.D. Candidate 2001- present, New York University (Social Psychology)
M.A. 2003, New York University (Psychology)
B.S. 2001, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (Psychology)

Honors and Awards

American Psychological Association Early Research Award, 2004
American Psychological Society Student Research Competition Award, 2004
National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, 2002-2007
MacCracken Award for Graduate Study, NYU, 2001-2006
Dean's Minority Fellowship, NYU, 2001-2006
Phi Beta Kappa, 2001
Ronald E. McNair Summer Research Fellowship, 2000

Research

My research focuses on issues of social perception and social response. How do we come to know those around us? And what factors shape the way we respond to those in our social environment? These interests have manifested themselves in several streams of research.

Membership Monitoring. Much of my research examines the ways that people monitor their membership in the groups to which they belong. When peoples' understanding of their connection to group is challenged, they are more strongly motivated to clarify their position within the group. What type of information is used to assess the quality of group membership? Under these circumstances people are more concerned with how fairly they are being treated, but not with other features of the intragroup experience. Furthermore, my research (with Tom Tyler) provides evidence that the conditions that evoke membership-monitoring motives, and thus sensitivity to issues of fair treatment, differ in surprising ways with the subjective importance placed on group membership.

Values and Rules Guide Intragroup Behaviors. A new and exciting line of research addresses the relationship between the perceived security of group membership and the guides that people use to direct their behavior in groups. Two strong contributors to the behavioral choices made in groups are the values and rules endorsed by the group in question. But sometimes the behaviors suggested by the values and the rules conflict – what standard of appropriate behavior do group members rely on in such situations? In my dissertation I examine the role that perceived membership security has in encouraging behaviors that are rule-or value-consistent.

Traits in Interpersonal Perception. Prior to generating strategic responses to others in the social environment, non-obvious properties about these others must be perceived or inferred to guide such responses. I have also conducted research in interpersonal perception. One area of research examines how other sources of information (such as stereotype based expectations) affect the extent to which traits are inferred from a person’s behaviors (with Jim Uleman and Alex Todorov). Another addresses the manner in which traits are psychologically represented and used in ensuing attempts to understand people and their actions (with Diane Ruble).

My CV is available upon request.

Updated 09/03/06