I research how social hierarchies contribute to intergroup tensions in organizations and society.

My research investigates how social hierarchies manifest and are maintained by our cultural contexts. I examine how features of organizations and society that appear objective, neutral, and even positive drive real-world social conflict—such as racial disparities in housing and gender segregation in the workplace. As a social and cultural psychologist, I am particularly interested in how our cultural contexts can obscure the role that social hierarchies play in our everyday lives.

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.