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John Tawa

he/him

  • Associate Professor of Psychology
John Tawa, Faculty

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John Tawa’s research falls within the domain of intergroup psychology and he has made contributions to literature in the areas of racial essentialism, inter-minority interactions, and police officers’ decisions to use lethal force. Tawa is the principal investigator of the BIAS (behavioral intergroup analysis studies) lab, and is particularly interested in directly assessing people's "real-time" intergroup behavior, in lieu of a primary reliance on self-reported behavior. Towards this end, the BIAS lab has frequently collaborated with faculty and students in the computer science department to develop software to assist in the collection of behavioral intergroup data. For example, the BIAS lab has recently developed and published a unique method for assessing visual attention patterns within immersive 360-degree video environments.

Areas of Expertise

Race-relations, racial essentialism, behavioral research methods, clinical psychology

Education

  • Ph.D., M.A., B.A., University of Massachusetts, Boston

HAPPENING AT MOUNT HOLYOKE

Recent Campus News

Blanchard Hall, photo taken in the fall of 2023

Six faculty win grant fellowships

Six Mount Holyoke College faculty members have been selected as recipients of the Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation Fellowship. The awards will fund travel to further advance their studies, leading to increased opportunities for students.

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Recent Publications

Tawa, J., LoPresti, A., & Lynch, D. (2020). Deconstructing racial essentialism in the classroom: The impact of social constructionist curricula on student diversity interactions. The Journal for Multicultural Education, 35(2), 101 – 115.

Tawa, J. (2020). Does social constructionist curricula both decrease essentialist and increase nominalist beliefs about race? Science & Education, 29, 1513 – 1540. 

Tawa, J. (2021). Triangulated racialization index (TRI): Incremental and predictive validity of a multidimensional stereotype measure. Social Cognition, 39(5), 608 – 631. 

Tawa, J. & Montoya, A.K. (2019).  Construals of self and group: How racial nominalism can promote adaptive intergroup outcomes for interdependent selves. Group Process & Intergroup Relations, 22(7), 1002 – 1020.

Tawa, J. (2018). Dimensions of racial essentialism and racial nominalism: A mixed method study of beliefs about race. Race and Social Problems, 10(2), 145 – 157.

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