Stigma, Strengths, and Social Change: Leveraging Socio-cultural Insights to Advance Science and Society 

Social change is rife with dynamic challenges, it can require empowering marginalized social groups and securing intergroup buy-in from dominant social groups. This talk explores the promise of leveraging socio-cultural insights tied to psychological selves to meet such challenges, and to ultimately advance science and society. It theorizes and provides evidence that the psychological selves of marginalized social groups (e.g., racial/ethnic minorities, sexual violence survivors) while associated with stigma can also be related to strengths (e.g., resilience, intra-group pride, and interdependent motivations). Using longitudinal data and theory-driven intervention studies it provides evidence that efforts to minimize stigma while also affirming strengths tied to marginalized social identities can positively impact social change. It reveals evidence of advantageous intra-and intergroup consequences (e.g., empowerment, belonging, policy support) and impacts on outcomes linked to inequalities (e.g., academic achievement, well-being, and vaccine hesitancy). Theory and applied implications for psychological selves and intergroup dynamics are discussed. 

A32 Lecture Hall or via Zoom:Access Zoom Meeting Here