Social Psychology
Iuzzini is committed to bringing social psychological theory to bear on social issues.
One of these issues is prejudice, where Iuzzini has helped pioneer new ways of understanding racism and the psychological underpinnings of affirmative action. "Findings indicate that impressions of affirmative action policies are strongly influenced by the manner in which those policies are framed," he said. "Framing programs in terms of "quotas," for example, elicits a far more negative impression than does framing in terms of 'fostering equal opportunity.'"
Iuzzini also found that the negative views of affirmative action programs may have a racial component. His research compared two equally qualified (or unqualified) candidates for university admission, a white student who used a family legacy to gain admittance and a black student who benefited from affirmative action. His data reflected a strongly negative reaction to the latter case but not to the former, even with identically matched candidates. "Stated another way," he said, "evaluation of the white applicant was not affected by whether the applicant sought regular or special admittance. Evaluation of the African American, however, was negatively biased only when seeking special admittance via affirmative action." In his dissertation, Iuzzini suggested ways that prejudicial review of affirmative action candidates might be counteracted through the use of social psychological theory, emphasizing a shared group identity over a disparate one, for example.
Mass school violence is another topic being studied by Iuzzini, whose interest was sparked after the Columbine high school shootings in Littleton, Colorado. Along with collaborator Professor Lowell Gaertner, he designed an experiment to measure violent responses of individuals ostracized by a group of peers. "Rejection by a single person can elicit aggression toward multiple persons," Iuzzini said. "Consistent with the hypothesized synergistic effect, participants behave most aggressively... when the confederates appear to be a cohesive group and one confederate rejected the participant."
Iuzzini and Gaertner have also collaborated on a series of experiments measuring the creation of group identity and favoritism. Their data reexamines the popular perception that "comparison with an outgroup... is always necessary for persons to develop positive affect for their ingroup" he said.
He plans to continue his work in the psychology of prejudice and discrimination through a series of studies on racial anxiety. "I believe that we need a new paradigm for understanding the psychology of race relations," he said, "which can tap into the paradox that although people are far more comfortable today than they were years ago with having co-workers, classmates, and neighbors from different racial backgrounds, it is still less common for people to have close friends and romantic partners from other racial groups."
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Interview opportunities and additional background information may be requested through the Office of Communications, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York. Phone: (315) 781-3540. After business hours, Communications staff members are accessible through contact information on their answering machine at that number.
Jonathan Iuzzini joined Hobart and William Smith Colleges in fall, 2006 as an assistant professor in the department of psychology.
He received his B.A. from SUNY Albany and his M.S. in social psychology from Texas A&M University. Noted for his expertise as a teacher, Iuzzini received the Association of Former Students Award for Excellence in Teaching and was listed as one of the "most effective teachers of upper-level courses at Texas A&M University." In 2003, the University's new student orientation program was nicknamed "Camp Iuzzini" in his honor.
While working on his doctorate in social psychology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Iuzzini was a recipient of the Hilton A. Smith Graduate Research Fellowship and the Science Alliance Award for Excellence in Research.
Iuzzini is a prolific writer and researcher, having already published a substantial body of work with his collaborators, including "Us without them: Evidence for an intragroup origin of positive in-group regard" and "The 'I', the 'we', and the 'when': A meta-analysis of motivational primacy in self-definition" in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. His work has also appeared in a number of books, including "Rejection and entitativity: A synergistic model of mass violence," published In K. D. Williams, J. P. Forgas, & W. von Hippel (Eds.), The social outcast: Ostracism, social exclusion, rejection, and bullying.