Welcome to the Belief, Identity, and Group Relations (BIGR) Lab in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois Chicago. Directed by Dr. Michael H. Pasek, the lab asks questions like: How do people’s beliefs and identities influence our collective ability to peacefully coexist? Why do some people fear others, and how do these fears impact our political attitudes? And what can we do to promote pluralism? To answer these questions, much of our research focuses on the understudied role of religion in intergroup relations and politics.

 

We use a range of methods, including cross-cultural field research, longitudinal studies, controlled experiments, and surveys, allowing us expand social psychology beyond traditionally studied populations to build ecologically valid and contextually grounded theories on intergroup relations.

 

We believe that social psychological theories are best developed by studying issues of relevance to the real world, and that our theories have value when applied to impact the world. As such, we aim to not only conduct theoretically sound research, but to translate this work beyond the ivory tower.

 

If you are interested in our work and want to get involved, we hope to hear from you!