Social Psychologist Spotlight: Dr. Kristin Dukes
why I chose this person
Sometimes, it feels like psychologic research exists in a vacuum. Not only has Dr. Kristin Dukes done research which connects to racial justice, she also will actively use that knowledge to create organizational change within a college campus.
background
According to her LinkedIn profile, Dr. Dukes graduated from Rice University with her undergraduate degree in psychology in 2005. She went on to earn her master’s degree in social psychology at Tufts in 2007. In 2012, Dukes would earn her PhD in social psychology at Tufts. Up until recently, she had been an associate professor at Simmons College. She shifted her career focus and, this past summer, has taken a job as Chief Diversity officer at Chatham University.
research
She hasn’t produced a wide body of research, yet. She has a bit of research on the consequences of alcohol and marijuana use. However, she has a passion for social issues. She focuses on how racial stereotypes affect how victims of violence are perceived.
In Dukes and Gaither’s (2017) study, participants were asked to read about a fictional shooting that resembles the case of Trayvon Martin. Dukes and Gaither (2017) made three manipulations. Notably, most participants were white (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). All materials were pretested by research assistants (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). They provided a brief biography of the victim which would either contain black stereotypes or black counterstereotypes. The victim and shooter were both randomly chosen to be black or white (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). With this information in mind, participants were asked to rate how much the shooter and victim were to blame, how much sympathy they had for the shooter and victim (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). Then, Dukes and Gaither asked participants to rate the severity of legal punishment they wanted for the shooter (various degrees of murder, manslaughter). They controlled for racism by adding a specific racism measure. They also asked participants about their familiarity with the real-life cases of police violence, before the debriefing.
The results of Dukes and Gaither’s (2017) study suggested that regardless of the victim’s race, the stereotypical black victim information garnered them less sympathy and more blame, while increasing the sympathy and understanding for the shooter. Interestingly, with the stereotypical black victim information, white victims received more blame than black victims, and black shooters received more blame than white shooters (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). White shooters received more sympathy than black shooters, when the victim was black (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). When the victim was white, the shooter received the same amount of sympathy regardless of race (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). In terms of punishment, the counter stereotypical black victim information group yielded more severe sentences across the board, with black shooters receiving worse punishments than white shooters (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). These findings indicate that the portrayals of victims affect judgments of who to blame, who to sympathize with, and even how shooters will be punished (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). I think this research is interesting because it sheds light on how media outlets can cover these kinds of shootings more responsibly and respectfully.
personal information
In an interview with the Chatham Pulse, Dr. Dukes revealed her interest in bizarre documentaries, sci-fi television, and genealogy. She grew up in Greenville, Texas. From looking at her Facebook, she has a very cute 15-month-old daughter!
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Honor Code: I have acted with honesty and integrity in producing this work and am unaware of anyone who has not. /s/ Ellie Munson
References:
Dukes, K. N., & Gaither, S. E. (2017). Black racial stereotypes and victim blaming: implications for media coverage and criminal proceedings in cases of police violence against racial and ethnic minorities. Journal of Social Issues, 73(4), 789–807. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12248
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristin-nicole-dukes-ph-d-a7203376/
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