Alison Chasteen received her BA from Kalamazoo College and her PhD from Washington University in St. Louis. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan before joining the University of Toronto. She is a social psychologist with specialized training in aging and cognition. She is a consulting editor for the journal Psychology and Aging and serves as a reviewer for numerous social psychology and aging journals. Please Click Here for her research interests.
I am interested in researching prejudice involving different populations, and in particular, the effects of stereotyping and biases on intergroup relations. Currently, I am focusing on people’s attitudes towards interracial relationships and how they relate to behaviors towards these couples. Some questions that I am exploring are: How are different types of interracial relationships perceived? What internal and external factors can account for people’s behaviors towards interracial couples? In the future, I hope to extend this research to the study of various types of close relationships such as interfaith dating and parent-child relations, as well as explore the implications of such attitudes on perceptions of multiracial children.
My main interest in intergroup relations research is examining how targets are perceived when confronting prejudice. In my research, I have examined how male and female targets are perceived when confronting hostile vs. benevolent forms of sexism. Currently, I am exploring how targets can confront most effectively, particularly when the prejudice being confronted is subjectively positive (i.e., benevolent). I am also interested in the intersection of race and gender, particularly in how sexist attitudes are prescribed to women who hold intersectional identities.
My interests lie very broadly in the area of prejudice and stereotyping. My primary research focuses on religious and non-religious group biases. I hope to deepen understanding on how agnostics are viewed and treated by other theists and non-theists, and how these views compare to atheists. In the future, I would like to find ways to reduce intolerance between opposing religious/non-religious groups. I am also working on projects involving stereotype intersectionality, where I am investigating how intersecting identities affect stereotype content.
Broadly speaking, I am interested in social psychological factors that prevent members of marginalized groups from thriving and how we can leverage knowledge of these factors to intervene to promote equity. More specifically, I am interested in how our identities—and how we engage with them—impacts outcomes in the domains of academics, health, and general well-being. My work involves topics including concealable social identities, prejudice, and social belonging.
Primarily, I am interested in stereotypes of aging in contemporary culture. I completed an Independent Project under the supervision of Dr. Chasteen during my undergraduate degree. My research focused on how negative self-perceptions about the aging process contribute to maladaptive behaviour and functioning amongst older adults. Now, as the Chasteen Lab Manager, my role is to ensure both Graduate and Undergraduate students are provided with the necessary resources to fulfil their research needs.
Undergraduate students who would like to either volunteer in the Adult Development Lab or do a research project for course credit with Professor Chasteen should email her for more information at alison.chasteen[at]utoronto.ca