Social Psychology Network

Maintained by Scott Plous, Wesleyan University

Stefania Paolini

Stefania Paolini

  • SPN Mentor

Dr. Stefania Paolini is a social psychology lecturer and Australian Research Council Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Her interest in social and intergroup psychology started very early in her undergraduate studies at the University of Padova, Italy, under the supervision of Professor Dora Capozza. What immediately struck her was the possibility offered by social psychology to combine the study of complex human behaviours with methodological rigour and elegance. Research grants from the European Community, the British Economic and Social Research Council, and the University of Padova funded her Ph.D. research on the social cognitive bases of prejudice, stereotyping, and prejudice/stereotype reduction at Cardiff University under the supervision of Professor Miles Hewstone.

Her ongoing research focuses on social categorization during intergroup contact; the cognitive and affective bases of intergroup friendship; the motivational and affective predictors of people’s willingness to engage in intergroup contact; intergroup emotions, intergroup anxiety, and the learning mechanisms of interethnic anxiety; migrants’ psychology; stereotype change; and the effects of meta-cognitions on social judgment.

Dr. Paolini is a member of prominent international professional societies such as the Association for Psychological Science, British Psychological Society, European Association of Social Psychology, International Social Cognition Network, and Society of Australasian Social Psychologists.

She regularly acts as reviewer for international journals, including Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Australian Journal of Education and Developmental Psychology, Australian Journal of Psychology, British Journal of Social Psychology, European Journal of Social Psychology, Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, International Journal of Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Journal of Peace Research, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Social Issues, Personality and Individual Differences, Psychological Science, Social and Personality Psychology Compass, and Social Influence. She has been a reviewer for several grant bodies, including the Australian Research Council, the British Academy, the National Research Foundation (South Africa), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada), and the Leverhulme Trust (UK).

Primary Interests:

  • Culture and Ethnicity
  • Emotion, Mood, Affect
  • Intergroup Relations
  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Prejudice and Stereotyping
  • Social Cognition

Research Group or Laboratory:

Journal Articles:

  • Crisp, R. J., Hewstone, M., Richards, Z., & Paolini, S. (2003). Inclusiveness and crossed categorization: Effects on co-joined category evaluations of in-group and out-group primes. British Journal of Social Psychology, 42, 25-38.
  • Harwood, J., Hewstone, M., Paolini, S., & Voci, A. (2005). Grandparent-grandchild contact and attitudes toward older adults: Moderator and mediator effects. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 393-406.
  • Paolini, S., Crisp, R. J., & McIntyre, K. (2009). Accountability moderates member-to-group generalization: Testing a dual process model of stereotype change. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 676-685.
  • Paolini, S., Hewstone, M., & Cairns, E. (2007). Direct and indirect intergroup friendship effects: Testing the moderating role of the affective-cognitive bases of prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 1406-1420.
  • Paolini, S., Hewstone, M., Cairns, E., & Voci, A. (2004). Effects of direct and indirect cross-group friendships on judgments of Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland: The mediating role of an anxiety-reduction mechanism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 770-786.
  • Paolini, S., Hewstone, M., Rubin, M., & Pay, H. (2004). Increased group dispersion after exposure to one deviant group member: Testing Hamburger’s model of member-to-group generalization. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 569-585.
  • Rubin, M., Paolini, S., & Crisp, R. J. (2010). A processing fluency explanation of bias against migrants. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 21-28.

Other Publications:

  • Paolini, S., Hewstone, M., Voci, A., Harwood, J., & Cairns, E. (2006). Intergroup contact and the promotion of intergroup harmony: The influence of intergroup emotions. In R. Brown & D. Capozza. (Eds.), Social Identities: Motivational, emotional, and cultural influences (pp. 209-238). Hove, England: Psychology Press.

Courses Taught:

  • Advanced Social Cognition
  • Indigenous Issues
  • Introduction to Social and Cross-Cultural Psychology
  • Introduction to Structural Equation Modelling
  • Multivariate Analyses, Exploratory Factor Analysis

Stefania Paolini
School of Psychology
Behavioural Sciences Building
University of Newcastle, Australia
Callaghan NSW 2308
Australia

  • Phone: +61 2 4921 5938
  • Fax: +61 2 4921 6980

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