Associate Professor; Director, Undergraduate Program
SBRB 310L
(205) 934-3850
Research Interests: Person Perception, Impression Formation, Stereotypes and Prejudice, Political Psychology, Belief Formation and Misbelief, Moral Judgment, Social Rejection and Ostracism, Attraction and Interpersonal Relationships
Office Hours: By appointment
Education:
- Ph.D., University of Alabama
At its core, my research asks a simple question: How do people come to believe what they believe about other people? I study the cognitive, motivational, and social processes that shape person perception, impression formation, and belief maintenance. Much of my work investigates how stereotypes, prejudice, and political identities influence the way we perceive and evaluate others, often from remarkably limited information such as facial appearance or other social cues. I am also interested in how people resist or revise deeply held beliefs, particularly when confronted with evidence that challenges their existing views. Related projects have explored social rejection and ostracism, attraction and interpersonal relationships, and moral and political judgment. Although these topics span several areas of social psychology, they are united by a common goal: understanding how people construct social reality and how those constructions influence judgment, relationships, and behavior.
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Recent Courses
- PY 201: Honors Introduction to Psychology
- PY 215: Research Literacy in Psychology
- PY 316: Research Methods in Psychology
- PY 420: Why We Believe 'Weird' Things
- PY 704: Social Psychology
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Select Publications
- Pitts, G. S., & Rule, N. O. (2024). Atheists and Christians can be discerned from their faces. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 48(4), 609-629.
- Summers, K. M., Pitts, S., & Lloyd, E. P. (2024). Racial bias in perceptions of children’s pain. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 30(1), 135.
- Pitts, S., Wilson, J. P., & Hugenberg, K. (2014). When one is ostracized, others loom: Social rejection makes other people appear closer. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5(5), 550-557.
- Klinger, M. R., Burton, P. C., & Pitts, G. S. (2000). Mechanisms of unconscious priming: I. Response competition, not spreading activation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26(2), 441.