I research how the social hierarchies embedded in cultural ideas, institutions, and interactions, shape people’s everyday lives and experiences

As a social and cultural psychologist, I study how cultural ideas and expectations shape and maintain intergroup tensions in organizations and society. One line of my research examines the organizational and social barriers faced by people who are “unexpected” and do not fit into a typical group category (e.g., working women who reject motherhood, interracial couples). In another line, I show how ideas and practices taken for granted as neutral or even beneficial, such as the advice to “follow your passions” or gender neutral items, can have gendered consequences for both women and men. I take a meso-level approach to generating my theories and questions, examining how broader social systems psychologically influence individuals, and a micro-level approach in my analyses, using experiments and archival datasets.

My research has been published in leading journals such as Psychological Science and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. In recognition of my scholarship, I have also been awarded both the SAGE Emerging Scholar Award and the Heritage Dissertation Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

I earned my B.F.A., cum laude, from the University of Florida in 2010, completed Columbia University’s post-baccalaureate certificate program in Psychology in 2013, and earned my Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Washington in 2021. Prior to joining Yale, I was a post-doctoral research scholar at Columbia Business School.

Learn more about my research here or by emailing me, adriana.germano@yale.edu.