Dr. Sarah Gaither, Nicolas J. and Theresa M. Leonardy Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
Dr. Sarah Gaither is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience and a faculty affiliate at the Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University. Prior to Duke, she was a Provost’s Postdoctoral Scholar in the Psychology Department and Fellow at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago after earning her Ph.D. and M.S. in Social Psychology from Tufts University and her B.A. in Social Welfare from U.C Berkeley.
Her research focuses broadly on how a person’s social identities and experiences across the lifespan motivate their social perceptions and behaviors in diverse settings. More specifically, she studies how contact with diverse others shapes social interactions, how having multiple racial or multiple social identities affects different types of social behavior and categorizations of others, and what contexts shape the development of racial perceptions and biases from childhood through adulthood. Growing up as a biracial Black/White woman is what has fueled her research path. CV
Post-Doctoral Scholars
Dr. Esha Naidu, Post-Doctoral Scholar
Esha Naidu is a Postdoctoral Associate in the department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University. Esha earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Social-Personality Psychology at the University at Buffalo SUNY and her B.S. in Psychology from Arizona State University. Esha’s research interests broadly concern 1) how features the self (e.g. culture, identity, personality, religious beliefs etc.) influence feelings of belongingness in different social contexts and 2) how the social self can use a variety of strategies (e.g. technologically mediated relationships, parasocial relationships, anthropomorphism, social surrogates, collective effervescence and close relationships) to fulfill the need to belong. In her free time, Esha likes trying out new recipes, working out while complaining about working out, and desperately trying to keep her house plants alive. CV
Graduate Students
Jaelyn Nixon, Graduate Student
Jaelyn Nixon is a doctoral student in the joint Public Policy and Psychology PhD program. She received her B.S. in Psychology from Tuskegee University and her M.S. in Experimental Psychology from Georgia Southern University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of race and social class. She is primarily concerned with the factors that contribute to prison, education, and health disparities. CV
Mercedes Muñoz, Graduate Student
Mercedes Muñoz is a 5th year doctoral student in Social Psychology in the Duke Department of Psychology & Neuroscience. Before joining Duke, Mercedes earned her B.A. in Psychology with Honors from Boston University. Her research largely focuses on understanding how people’s race and culture influences their social cognition. In one line of research, she investigates identity development in people of Latin American heritage (Latine people). She uses methods such as semi-structured interviews, focus-groups, surveys, and experiments to explore how Latine children and adults understand their racial identities and whether they see their Latine identity as a race or an ethnicity, or both and why. Additionally, Mercedes explores how racial ethnic groups in the United States vary in their levels of social norm strength and interdependence. CV
Mohammad Wiswall, Graduate Student
Mohammad Wiswall is a doctoral student in social psychology at Duke University’s Psychology & Neuroscience department. Mohammad graduated Cum Laude from Rutgers University-New Brunswick with a B.A. in Cognitive Science with Honors. Furthermore, he graduated as a Ronald E. McNair Scholar, Paul Robeson Scholar, and Henry Rutgers Scholar. His research is interested in the interplay between contexts (e.g., culture) and person perceptions (e.g., stereotypes). Specifically, he is interested in how cues such skin tone variation skews stereotypes applied to Asian subgroups. Moreover, the role of racial ambiguity in perception and stereotyping. In parallel with research, Mohammad focuses on the mentorship of first generation, low-SES, and minority scholars. Thus, including these historically underrepresented scholars within the research process and academia. Outside of the lab, he enjoys finding new hiking trails in North Carolina, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, reading, and trying to take care of plants. CV
Kirby Lam, Graduate Student
Kirby Lam (he/they) is a 3rd year PhD student in social psychology working with both Dr. Gaither and Dr. Cristina Salvador at Duke. His research investigates social norms and the factors that influence how sensitive people are to norms. Their current projects focus on how identity influences our sensitivity to gender norm violations. His future research will explore how these reactions to gender norms change across race, culture, and time. CV
Tose Agbelusi is a doctoral student in Developmental Psychology in the Duke Department of Psychology & Neuroscience. Tose earned her B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Riverside. Tose’s research interests primarily focus on how socio-cultural factors contribute to children’s psychosocial development. In the same vein, she is interested in exploring the impacts of racism and the effects of culturally specific parenting patterns on protective factors, prosocial behavior, and the types of risk behavior that children from Black and other minority groups exhibit.
Lab Staff
Mariam Wahba, CHILD Studies Recruitment Coordinator
Mariam Wahba is a recent graduate from UNC Chapel Hill where she earned her B.S. in Psychology. Her research interests focus on how individuals from multicultural or immigrant backgrounds navigate the integration of cultures, particularly in the context of problem-solving, emotion regulation, and identity development. She is eager to grow her skills in community engagement as a Recruitment Coordinator and hopes to work with immigrant populations in the future. Outside of research, she enjoys painting and singing.
Some current and past student memories!
