Hardin Social Cognition Lab
Steven Noel
- Steven's CV (pdf file)
- Email: snoel@gc.cuny.edu
As an undergraduate student at the University of Toledo, I gained invaluable research experience working in the social cognition lab under Dr. Andrew Geers. I was involved in a variety of research projects dealing with ostracism (i.e., the act of being ignored, excluded, or rejected) and how its inherently negative effects are moderated by such factors as self-esteem and optimism. My involvement in these projects as an undergraduate has spawned into a continued interest as a doctoral student in the Cognition, Brain, & Behavior Ph.D. program through the Graduate Center and Brooklyn College, City University of New York.
I study the effects of interpersonal rejection on self-concept and attitudes believed to be well grounded and not subject to change (i.e., prejudice). I am interested in interpersonal rejection given that our fear of its occurrence underlies many principles observed and studied exhaustively in social psychology (i.e., conformity, obedience to authority).
Many researchers who study rejection are interested in how rejection negatively effects those who experience it. Many of them have found that rejection does indeed hurt those who experience it and has implications on affiliative / pro-social behavior toward others. In my own research, I take a uniquely "Bill McGuirean" approach, in that I believe in asking empirical questions that may not follow standard convention. Looking at things in an opposite way can often time lead to new and fruitful empirical questions to put to the test. Following this logic, one empirical question that has been a theme in a majority of my research to date is one that has received little attention in the rejection literature. Specifically, I am interested in whether or not people are willing to reconnect with those who reject them. Being kind to those who treat you poorly is widely considered taboo, but we have replicated this finding with several experiments.
The theoretical underpinning of my work is Curtis Hardin's shared reality theory (SRT; Hardin & Higgins, 1996; Hardin & Conley, 2001), which postulates that social bonds are established and maintained to the degree that beliefs are considered to be shared with others. The logic of this theory has provided a way in which to test whether people will reconnect (or not) with those who reject them. This mechanism is the adjustment (social tuning) of one's attitudes toward the relationship-relevant attitudes of other social actors. Will people tune their attitudes toward the ostensible attitudes of rejector(s), indicating a desire to get along with those aggressors? Under certain experimental conditions, yes, but beyond the adjustment of mundane attitudes, we have shown that people will endorse repugnant attitudes toward the self (i.e., sexist attitudes) and others (i.e., racist attitudes) as a consequence of interpersonal rejection.
If ever you have any questions regarding my work, or thoughts about it, please feel free to email me (snoel@gc.cuny.edu). Also, if you are interested in applying to our diverse Ph.D. program, I would be delighted to tell you more about it, New York City, and graduate school in general.