I conduct research on how people's social identities - their sense of self grounded in the groups they belong to - affects their beliefs, emotions, and decisions. Over the years, this has led our lab to investigate a wide-range of topics, including racism and ageism, intergroup cooperation, conformity and dissent, leadership, and mental health. Ongoing research is investigating how social institutions (including rules, procedures, and laws) interact with social identities to influence a range of phenomena including intergroup bias, shaming on social media, sexual privacy, open science, and support for gun control.
Dominic Packer
Professor
Associate Vice Provost for Research
610.758.6779
djp208@lehigh.edu
Chandler-Ullmann room 104
Education:
Ph.D., University of Toronto
B.A., McGill University
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Research Areas
Additional Interests
- Intergroup relations
- Social influence
- Dissent
- Leadership
Research Statement
Biography
Dominic Packer is a Professor of Psychology and the Associate Vice Provost for Research at Lehigh University. He completed his bachelor's degree in from McGill University and PhD from the University of Toronto, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at The Ohio State University.
With Jay Van Bavel, Dominic recently published The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony. The Power of Us won the William James Award from Division 1 of the American Psychological Association for the best book of 2022 and the Social Impact Award from the Center for the Science of Moral Understanding. If you are interested, you can subscribe to our Substack newsletter for updates about the book and what we are up to.
Ruggeri, K., Stock, F., Haslam, S.A., … Packer, D. J., … Van Bavel, J. J. ,& Willer, R. (in press). A synthesis of evidence for policy from behavioral science during COVID-19. Nature.
Ungson, N. D., Bucher, K., Marsh, J. K., Lamadrid, A. J., & Packer, D. J. (2023) Won’t you be my neighbor? Local community identification predicted decreased stress over the first year of the pandemic. Social and Personality Psychology Compass.
Haslam, S. A., Reicher, S. D., Selvanathan, H. P., Gaffney, A. M., Steffens, N. K., Packer, D. J., Van Bavel, J. J., Ntontis, E., Neville, F., Vestergren, S., Jurstakova, K., & Platow, M. J. (2023). Examining the plausibility of Donald Trump’s denial of responsibility for the 2020 assault on the U.S. Capitol: A dual-agency model of identity leadership and engaged followership. Leadership Quarterly.
Azevedo, F., Pavlović, T., Rêgo, G. G. d., Ay, F. C., Gjoneska, B., Etienne, T.,… Packer, D. J. … Sampaio, W. M. (2023). Social and moral psychology of COVID-19 across 69 countries. Nature Scientific Data.
Pavlović, T…Packer, D. J….& Van Bavel, J. J. (2022). Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning. PNAS Nexus, 1, 1-15.
Van Bavel, J. J., Pärnamets, P., Reinero, D., & Packer, D. J. (2022). How neurons, norms, and institutions shape cooperation. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 65, 50-105.
Van Bavel, J. J… Packer, D. J… & Boggio, P. (2022). National identity predicts public health support during a pandemic. Nature Communications, 13.
Marsh, J. K., Ungson, N. D., & Packer, D. J. (2021). Bring out your experts: The relationship between perceived expert causal understanding and pandemic behaviors. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 27, 785-802.
Marsh, J. K., Ungson, N. D., & Packer, D. J. (2021). Of pandemics and zombies: The influence of prior concepts on COVID-19 pandemic-related behaviors. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 5207
Packer, D. J., Ungson, N. D., & Marsh, J. K. (2021). Conformity and reactions to deviance in the age of COVID. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 24, 311-324.
Van Bavel, J. J… Napper, L. E., Packer, D. J… & Willer R. (2020). Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response. Nature Human Behaviour, 4, 460-471.
Packer, D. J., Miners, C. T. H., & Ungson, N. D. (2018). Benefiting from diversity: How groups’ coordinating mechanisms affect leadership opportunities for marginalized individuals. Journal of Social Issues, 74, 56-74.
Cadieux, J., Chasteen, A. L., & Packer, D. J. (2018). Intergenerational contact predicts attitudes toward older adults through inclusion of the outgroup in the self. Journal of Gerontology B: Psychological Science.
Van Bavel J. J., Packer, D. J., Payne, C., & Rock, D. (2018). The neuroscience of leading effective teams. NeuroLeadership Journal, 7, 5-16.
Blader, S, L., Patil, S., & Packer, D. J. (2017). Organizational identification and workplace behavior: More than meets the eye. Research in Organizational Behavior, 37, 19-34.
van der Toorn, J., Jost, J. T., Packer, D. J., Noorbaloochi, S., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2017). In defense of tradition: Conservatism, religiosity and opposition to same-sex marriage in North America. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43, 1455-1468.
Lin, S-Y, & Packer, D. J., (2017). Dynamic tuning of evaluations: Implicit racial attitudes are sensitive to situationally-variable cooperative affordances. Social Cognition, 35, 245-272.
Hodges, B. H., & Packer, D. J. (2016). We agree and we disagree, which is exactly what most people do most of the time. Commentary on Baumeister, Ainsworth & Vohs, ‘Are Groups More than the Sum of their Members?’ Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 39, 27-28.
Dupuis, D. R., Wohl, M. J. A., Packer, D. J., & Tabri, N. (2016). To dissent and protect: Stronger identity increases willingness to dissent when group norms evoke collective angst. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 19, 694-710.
Gaertner, L., & Packer, D. J. (2015). Statistical and methodological advances for a science of group processes and intergroup relations. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 18, 271-273.
Packer, D. J., & Miners, C. T. H. (2014). Tough love: The normative conflict model of dissent. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 8, 354-373.
Packer, D. J. (2014). On not airing our dirty laundry: Intergroup contexts suppress ingroup criticism among strongly identified group members. British Journal of Social Psychology, 53, 93-111.
Packer, D. J., Fujita, K., & Chasteen, A. L. (2014). The motivational dynamics of dissent decisions: A goal conflict approach. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5, 27-34.
Packer, D. J., Fujita, K., & Herman, S. (2013). Rebels with a cause: A goal conflict approach to understanding when conscientious people dissent. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 927-932.
Gill, M. J., Packer, D. J., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2013). More to morality than mutualism: Consistent contributors exist and they can inspire costly generosity in others. [Commentary on N. Baumard, J. Andre & D. Sperber, ‘A mutualistic approach to morality.’] Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36, 90.
Van Bavel, J. J., Packer, D. J., Haas, I. J., & Cunningham, W. A. (2012). The top-down influence of moral construal: Moral vs. non-moral construal elicits faster, more extreme and universal evaluations of the same actions. PLoS ONE, 7.
Cunningham, W. A., Van Bavel, J. J., Arbuckle, N. L., Packer, D. J., & Waggoner, A. S. (2012). Rapid social perception is flexible: Approach and avoidance motivational states shape P100 responses to other-race faces. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6.
Packer, D. J., & Miners, C. T. H. (2012). At the first sign of trouble or through thick and thin? When dissent is and is not disengagement from a group. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 316-322.
Van Bavel, J. J., Packer, D. J., & Cunningham, W. A. (2011). Modulation of Fusiform Face Area following minimal exposure to motivationally-relevant faces: Evidence of in-group enhancement (not out-group disregard). Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23, 3343-3354.
Packer, D. J., Chasteen, A. L., & Kang, S. K. (2011). Facing social identity change: Interactive effects of current and projected collective identification on expectations regarding future self-esteem and psychological well-being. British Journal of Social Psychology, 50, 414-430.
Kesek, A., Cunningham, W. A., Packer, D. J., & Zelazo, P. D. (2011). Indirect goal priming is more powerful than explicit instruction in children. Developmental Science, 14, 944-948.
Packer, D. J., & Chasteen, A. L. (2010). Loyal deviance: Testing the normative conflict model of dissent in social groups. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 5-18.
Packer, D. J. (2010). The interactive influence of conscientiousness and openness to experience on dissent. Social Influence, 5, 202-219.
Remedios, J., Chasteen, A. L., & Packer, D. J. (2010). Sunny side up: The reliance on positive age stereotypes in descriptions of future older selves. Self and Identity, 9, 257-275.
Packer, D. J. (2009). Avoiding groupthink: Whereas weakly identified members remain silent, strongly identified members dissent about collective problems. Psychological Science, 20, 546-548.
Packer, D. J., & Cunningham, W. A. (2009). Neural correlates of reflection on goal states: The role of regulatory focus and temporal distance. Social Neuroscience, 4, 412-425.
Packer, D. J. (2008). On being both with us and against us: A normative conflict model of dissent in social groups. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 12, 50-72.
Packer, D. J. (2008). Identifying systematic disobedience in Milgram’s obedience experiments: A meta-analytic review. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4, 301-304.
Van Bavel, J. J., Packer, D. J., & Cunningham, W. A. (2008). The neural substrates of ingroup bias: An fMRI investigation. Psychological Science, 19, 1131-1139.
Cunningham, W. A., Zelazo, P. D., Packer, D. J., & Van Bavel J. J. (2007). An iterative reprocessing model of evaluation. Social Cognition, 25, 736-760.
Packer, D. J., & Chasteen, A. L. (2006). Looking to the future: How possible aged selves influence prejudice toward older adults. Social Cognition, 24, 218-247
Baccus, J. R., Baldwin, M. W., & Packer, D. J. (2004). Increasing implicit self-esteem through classical conditioning. Psychological Science, 15, 498-502.
Teaching
Introduction to Psychology
Social Psychology
Social Identity and Social Change