Melissa Burkley, Ph.D., 2006, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
Associate Professor, Social Psychology
Visit Dr. Burkley's Social Cognition Laboratory
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Teaching
Dr. Burkley teaches courses in research methods and motivation.
Research
Dr. Burkley's research focuses on stereotypes and prejudice. In particular, she is interested in studying the positive and negative consequences of being a member of a stigmatized group. Most recently, she has investigated why women endorse negative gender stereotypes. Her research shows that negative stereotypes are often endorsed after failure in order to protect one's self-esteem. In another line of work, she has helped develop a new measure of implicit attitudes known as the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP). This method combines cognitive priming with projective tests in order to create a more valid and user-friendly measure of implict affect, cognition, and prejudice. Other interests include intergroup relations, and social cognition.
- Burkley, M., Parker, J., Stermer, P. S., & Burkley, E. (2010). Trait beliefs that make women vulnerable to math disengagement. Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 234-238
- Parker, J. & Burkley, M. (2009). Whos chasing whom: The impact of gender and relationship status on mate poaching. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 1016-1019.
- Burkley, M. & Blanton, H. (2008). Endorsing a negative in-group stereotype as a self-protective strategy: Sacrificing the group to save the self. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 37-49.
- Payne, K., Burkley, M., & Stokes, M. (2008). Why do implicit and explicit attitude tests diverge? The role of structural fit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 16-31.
- Burkley, M., & Blanton, H. (in press). Research designs in applied social psychology. In L. Steg, B. Buunk, & T. Rothengatter (Eds.), Applied social psychology: Understanding and managing social problems.
- Blanton, H., & Burkley, M. (in press). Deviance regulation theory: Applications to adolescent social influence. In M. Prinstein & K. A. Dodge (Eds.). Peer contagion processes among youth: Peer contagion processes in youth Duke series on child development and public policy. Guilford Press.
- Burkley, M. & Blanton, H. (2005). When am I my group? Self-enhancement versus self-justification accounts of perceived prototypicality. Social Justice Research, 18, 445-463.
- 2005-2006 Graduate Mentor Support Grant
- 2005 Graduate and Professional Student Federation Award
