The mixed-race population has increased by 32% over the last ten years, yet the bulk of psychology research has not studied this population and how they may differ in their behavior and racial perceptions from their monoracial counterparts. It is anticipated that this multiracial population will increase to around 21% of the general population by the year 2050 (Smith & Edmonston, 1997), demonstrating how important it is for people in today’s society and in research to begin focusing on not only how people from multiracial backgrounds develop and feel, but how others perceive them as well.
To address this problem, the Identity & Diversity Lab explores the experiences of both monoracial and biracial/multiracial individuals as a way to pinpoint how long-term vs. short-term contact may affect our various social behaviors, perceptions and expectations of others. We plan to examine the fluid-like nature of biracial or multiracial people’s racial identities and how having flexible racial identities may be a benefit for this growing population. In the future, we will compare having multiple racial identities to having multiple social identities more broadly as an avenue for comparing monoracial and mixed-race populations.
Additionally, we are interested in gender identities and how people may respond to perceiving or receiving a threat to their own gender identity. Previous research has shown that individuals become anxious or aggressive following insults about their gender. Similarly, we hope to understand the pressures men feel to conform to traditional masculinity norms through their experiences, cultural backgrounds, religious affiliations, and personal views on gender.
Finally, we are examining how Latinx children and adults interpret racial categories. In Latinx communities, the process of racial self-identification can be more challenging as racial categories can be complex and/or ambiguous. Furthermore, do various racial and ethnic groups within the United States differ in their norm-enforcing language?
Publications
Eddy, Z., Sanchez, D. T., & Gaither, S. E. (2025). “13: Social stigma and coping for people with pluralistic identities“. In Handbook of Experimental Social Psychology. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Retrieved Jun 5, 2025, from https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035310661.00020
Straka, B.C., Stanaland, A. and Gaither, S.E. (2025), Intentionality and Congruence Cues Shape Young Children’s Perceptions of Identity-Based Group Membership. Developmental Science, 28: e13607. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13607
Gaither, S. E., & Wu, R. (2024). How diversity in contexts and experiences shape perception and learning across the lifespan. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 153(11), 2627–2630. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001671
Stanaland, A., Gaither, S., Gassman-Pines, A., Galvez-Cepeda, D., & Cimpian, A. (2024). Adolescent boys’ aggressive responses to perceived threats to their gender typicality. Developmental Science, e13544. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13544
Keigan, J., De Los Santos, B., Gaither, S. E., Walker, C. (2024). The relationship between racial/ethnic identification and body ideal internalization, hair satisfaction, and skin tone satisfaction in black and black/white biracial women. Body Image, 50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2024.101719
Straka, B., Gaither, S. (2023). Considering multiracial youth: Identity challenges and health outcomes. In M. Trent, D. G. Dooley, & J. Dougé (Eds.), Untangling the Thread of Racism. American Academy of Pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1542/9781610027113-6
Hantzmon, S. V., Davenport, C. A., Das Gupta, M. N., Adekunle, T. A., Gaither, S. E., Olsen, M. K., Pinheiro, S. O., Johnson, K. S., Mahoney, H., Falls, A., Lloyd, L., & Pollak, K. I. (2023). Race differences in patient trust and distrust from audio-recorded cardiology encounters. Patient Education and Counseling, 119, 108083. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2023.108083
Halim, M. L. D., Glazier, J. J., Anais Martinez, M., Stanaland, A., Gaither, S. E. (2023). Gender attitudes and gender discrimination among ethnically and geographically diverse young children. Infant and Child Development, https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.2482
Stanaland, A., Gaither, S., Gassman-Pines, A. (2023). When Is Masculinity “Fragile”? An Expectancy-Discrepancy-Threat Model of Masculine Identity. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 27(4), 359-377. https://doi.org/10.1177/10888683221141176
Meyers, C., Gaither, S. E., Remedios, J., & Pauker, K. (2022). Detecting biracial identity strength: Perceived phenotypicality inaccurate. Self and Identity. doi: 10.1080/15298868.2022.2146742
Stanaland, A., Gaither, S. E., Gassman-Pines, A. (2022). When is masculinity “fragile”? An expectancy-discrepancy-threat model of masculine identity. Personality and Social Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/fgbk9
Walker, C., Gaither, S. E., De Los Santos, B., Keigan, J., Schaefer, L. M., Kevin Thompson, J. (2022). Development and validation of a measure of curvy ideals internalization.. Body Image, 43, 217-231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.09.005
Leslie, G. J., Masuoka, N., Gaither, S., Remedios, J. D., & Vinluan, A. C. (2022). Voter Evaluations of Biracial-Identified Political Candidates. Social Sciences, 11(4), 171. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11040171
Gaither, S. E., & Sims, J. P. (2022). How Cross-Discipline Understanding and Communication Can Improve Research on Multiracial Populations. Social Sciences, 11(3), 90. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11030090
Gaither, S., Chen, J., & Rules, N. (2021). Perceptions and experiences of (people with) unconventional identities. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2020.1711802
Herrmann, S., Varnum, M. E. W., Straka, B., & Gaither, S. (2021). Social Class Identity Integration and Success for First-Generation College Students: Antecedents, Mechanisms, and Generalizability. doi: 10.31234/osf.io/v98sn
Straka, B., Albuja, A., Desjardins, M., Swartzwelder, S., & Gaither, S. (2021). Alcohol Use and Related Consequences for Monoracial and Multiracial Native American/American Indian College students. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/hcve5
Tsai, A., Straka, B., & Gaither, S. (2021). Mixed-Heritage Individuals’ Encounters with Raciolinguistic Ideologies. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. 10.31234/osf.io/znkxw
Stanaland, A., & Gaither, S. (2020). “Be a Man”: The Role of Social Pressure in Eliciting Men’s Aggressive Cognition. Personality and Social Personality Bulletin. doi: 10.31234/osf.io/5wxtf
Leer, J., Gaither, S.E., & Gassman-Pines, A. (2020). Behavioral science interventions: Integrating the decision task, context, and individual differences to inform policy. Translational Issues in Psychological Science. doi: 10.1037/tps0000243
Paul, M., Gaither, S. E., Darity Jr, W. (2020). About Face: Seeing Class and Race. Journal of Economic Issues.
Rozek, C., & Gaither, S. E. (conditional acceptance). Not Quite White or Black: Biracial Students’ Perceptions of Threat and Belonging Across School Contexts. Journal of Early Adolescence Special Issue.
Albuja, A. F., Sanchez, D. T., & Gaither, S.E. (conditional acceptance). Intra-race intersectionality: Identity denial among dual-minority biracial people. Translational Issues in Psychological Science.
Gaither, S. E., Chen, J. M., & Rule, N. (2019). Perceptions and experiences of (people with) unconventional identities. Self & Identity, 1-7. doi: 10.1080/15298868.2020.1711802.
Skinner, A. L., Perry, S. P., & Gaither, S. E. (2019). Not quite monoracial: Biracial stereotypes explored. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Advance online version. doi: 10.1177/0146167219858344.
Albuja, A. F., Sanchez, D. T., Cipollina, R., Gaither, S. E., & Straka, B. C. (2019). Psychophysiological stress responses to bicultural and biracial identity denial. Journal of Social Issues, 75, 1165-1191. doi: 10.1111/josi.12347.
Straka, B. C., Gaither, S. E., Acheson, S. K., & Swartzwelder, H. S. (2019). “Mixed” Drinking Motivations: A Comparison of Majority, Multiracial, and Minority College Students. Social Psychological and Personality Science. Advance online version. doi: 10.1177/1948550619883294.
Gaither, S. E., Fan, S. P., & Kinzler, K. D. (2019). Thinking about multiple identities boosts children’s flexible thinking. Developmental Science, e12871.
Albuja, A. F., Sanchez, D. T., & Gaither, S. E. (2019). Identity questioning: Antecedents and consequences of prejudice attributions. Journal of Social Issues, 75, 515-537. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12322
Albuja, A. F., Sanchez, D. T., & Gaither, S. E. (2018). Identity denied: Comparing bicultural and biracial dual identities and psychological health outcomes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 45, 416-430. doi: 10.1177.0146167218788553
Babbitt, L. G., Gaither, S. E., Toosi, N. R., & Sommers, S. R. (2018). The role of gender in racial meta-stereotypes and stereotypes. Social Cognition, 36, 589-601. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2018.36.5.589
Pauker, K., Meyers, C., Sanchez, D. T., Gaither, S. E., & Young, D. M. (2018). A review of the multiracial malleability: Identity, categorization, and shifting racial attitudes. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 1-15. doi: 10.1111/spc3.12392
Albuja, A. F., Sanchez, D. T., & Gaither, S. E. (2018). Fluid racial presentation: Perceptions of contextual “passing” among biracial people. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 77, 132-142. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2018.04.010
Gaither, S. E. (2018). The multiplicity of belonging: Pushing identity research beyond binary thinking, Self and Identity, 17, 443-454. doi: 10.1080/15298868.2017.1412343
Gaither, S. E., Goldberg, A., Gidney, C, & Maddox, K.B. (2015). Sounding Black or White: Priming identity and biracial speech. Frontiers in Personality and Social Psychology, 6, 457. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00457
Gaither, S. E. (2015). “Mixed” results: Multiracial research and identity explorations. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24, 144-119. doi: 10.1177/0963721414558115
Gaither, S. E., Remedios, J. D., Sanchez, D. T., & Sommers, S. R. (2015). Thinking outside the box: Multiple identity mindsets affect creative problem solving. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6, 596-603. doi: 10.1177/1948550614568866SPPS.2015
Gaither, S. E., Remedios, J. D., Schultz, J. R., & Sommers, S. R. (2015). Priming White identity elicits stereotype boost for biracial Black/White individuals. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 18, 778-787. doi: 10.1177/1368430215570504
Howell, J., Gaither, S. E., Ratliff, K. A. (2014). Caught in the middle: Defensive responses to IAT feedback among Whites, Blacks, and Biracial Black/Whites. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6, 373-381. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550614561127
Gaither, S. E., Chen, E., Corriveau, K., Harris, P., Ambady, N., & Sommers, S. R. (2014). Monoracial and biracial children: Effects of racial identity saliency on social learning and social preferences. Child Development, 85, 2299-2316. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12266
Gaither, S. E., Wilton, L., Young, D. (2013). Perceiving a presidency in Black (and White): Four years later. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, Special Issue: The Social Psychology of the 2012 US Presidential Election, 14, 7-21. doi: 10.1111/asap.12018
