Our Lab is part of the Children's Research Laboratory and the
Department of Psychology at the University
of Texas at Austin. We research children's social
development, with particular emphasis on the origins of social stereotypes.
The stereotype we focus on concerns facial attractiveness because it is less
well studied and understood than gender or racial stereotypes and because it
can be a window through which we might better understand other stereotypes.
Because we are interested in the development of stereotypes, we typically
study infants and young children.
Dr.
Judith Langlois is the Director of our lab. She has been engaged in
infant research since her days as a doctoral student. She is now the Charles
and Sarah Seay Regents' Professor of Developmental Psychology at UT. She
regularly teaches courses on children's social development.
Graduate and undergraduate students who work in our lab help
conduct research on the origins and development of social stereotypes in
infants, children, and adults. This work includes designing studies,
collecting data, analyzing data, and presenting and publishing findings.
Would you like to find out more? Please explore our site to
learn more about us and our research. If you have more questions, feel free
to Contact Us.
Connor Principe, M.A.
Doctoral Student
Connor received his master's degree in Spring 2009. His thesis Experience with Faces Elicits Affect and Influences Preferences was the first study to find empirical evidence that faces differing in attractiveness evoke corresponding physiological affective responses and that attractiveness prototype-based preferences shift upon exposure to non-prototypical faces. His current areas of interest include the affective antecedents and consequences of experience with faces, behavioral outcomes of differential treatment based on attractiveness stereotypes, and the processing of uncanny facial stimuli in adults and children. Connor received his B.A. from Seattle University in 2002 and joined the Langlois Lab in the fall of 2005.
e-mail: principec@mail.utexas.edu
Jessica Jankowitsch, B.S.
Graduate Student
Jess received a B.S. in Psychology in 2009 from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her research interests include prototype formation and the role of experience in prototype shifts, approach and withdrawal motivation, and the interaction of behavior and attractiveness throughout development.
e-mail: jessjank@mail.utexas.edu
