THE TEAM
DEBBIE MA
Debbie Ma is a Professor in the Psychology Department. She is originally from Denver, CO and attended the University of Colorado at Boulder. She holds dual Master's degrees in English Literature from SUNY Buffalo and Experimental Social Psychology from University of Chicago where she also earned a PhD. She has been on faculty at CSUN since 2011. In research funded by the National Science Foundation, Professor Ma examines social categorization, stereotyping and prejudice, face perception, and mental representations of multiracial individuals. She has conducted research examining police officers' decision to shoot and the cross-race effect. More recently, she has begun researching how intersected individuals conceive of their multiple identities.
JUSTIN KANTNER
Justin Kantner is a Professor of Psychology in the Psychology Department at California State University Northridge. His specializations are in memory and cognition, particularly at the intersection of memory and decision making. He is also interested in applying multidimensional scaling techniques to questions of mental representation.
Student Researchers
JESSICA LACAP
Jessica graduated from the University of the Pacific with a BA in Psychology Honors and is now a graduate student. They are interested in multiracial face perception, racial categorization, advanced research methods, and statistics. She plans to conduct her own research in the future.
TANISHA GUNBY
MARSHA RODRIGUES
Marsha Rodrigues graduated from Christ University, India with an MSc. in Behavioural Science. Her research interests focus on prejudice, discrimination, and intergroup relations. She has worked on colorism research in South India and utilizes mixed methods of research. She has expertise in EEG and mouse-tracking methods and plans to continue her education in a Social Psychology program.
DANIELLE VAN SICKLE
Tanisha completed her Bachelor's degree in Psychology. Her current research interests include human perceptions, intersectionality, stereotyping and prejudice, especially affecting multiracial individuals. She is interested in applying electroencephalograms (EEGs) in upcoming research projects to gain a deeper understanding of facial perceptions.
JON RIZKALLA
Daniella Van Sickle is an undergraduate student majoring in Psychology at California State University, Northridge. She grew up in Northern California and earned her Associate of Arts degree from Santa Monica College in 2023 before transferring to CSUN, where she is completing her Bachelor of Arts degree in Spring 2026. Her research interests are in social psychology, particularly prejudice, sense of self, and social cognition. She is interested in applied research that explores how social psychological processes shape everyday perception and interaction. Daniella plans to continue gaining research experience before pursuing graduate-level training.
JOSIAH HOENIG
Jon Rizkalla is an undergraduate student majoring in Psychology at California State University, Northridge, and is expected to graduate in December 2026. His research interests include organizational behavior, leadership communication, employee outcomes, and interpersonal dynamics within organizations. Jon plans to continue his education by pursuing a master’s degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology.
Josiah is an undergraduate psychology student at CSUN. His research interests center on social cognition, perception and emerging technology. He is particularly interested in situational influences and the cognitive processes driving how perception, categorization and evaluation are shaped by contextual information. He plans to continue exploring these through research and graduate-level study in psychology.
PATRYCJA MAKOWSKA
Patrycja Makowska grew up in Poland and later moved to California. She earned her AA in Behavioral Sciences from Santa Monica College before transferring to CSUN, where she is currently a senior majoring in Psychology with a minor in Literature. Her research interests include social psychology, memory, and unconscious processes that influence behavior and relationships.
SOME SIP LAB ALUM
Nallely graduated from the CSUN with a BA in CADV in 2023. She is currently working toward a PhD in Social Psychology from NYU under the mentorship of Professor Emily Balcetis.
ERIC ELIAS
Eric completed his BA in Psychology at CSUN in 2022 and is currently enrolled in the Social Psychology PhD program at the University of Colorado at Boulder where he is training with Professor Joshua Correll.
DANITA HOHL
Danita graduated in 2022. Together, we investigated political attitudes. Her thesis examined attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine and we co-authored a paper on the perception and racial categorization of Kamala Harris within the context of the 2020 US Presidential election. Danita works as a data analyst at Material.
JONATHAN BENITEZ
Jonathan completed his thesis in 2020 examining multiracial face categorization and the potential role that novel labels might play in higher rates of concordant multiracial classifications. He now works as a quantitative analyst.
STEPHANIE DUNN
Stephanie completed her thesis in 2020 examining individual differences in mental representations of multiracial individuals using INDSCAL procedures.
Denise is a PhD student at University of Delaware where she works with Jasmin Cloutier and Jeni Kubota. She studies visual and knowledge-based indicators of social categorization, as well as how perceiver attributes (e.g., endorsement of social beliefs about minorities, subjective social status, etc.) moderate impression formation and person perception.
Ryan completed his thesis in 2018 and is a PhD student at Boston University studying under Liane Young. His research focuses on moral judgment and he also has an interest in the intersection between technology and psychology.
Tannie completed her Master's thesis in 2017. Tannie is a doctoral student in Social Psychology at the University of Michigan under the advisement of Isis Settles. Her research focuses on intersectionality and the Black woman experience.
Elle completed her thesis in 2016 and went on to UCONN to complete a PhD under the co-advisement of Colin Leach and Felicia Pratto. She is current a Post-doctoral Fellow at NYU working with Maureen Craig and is expected to start an Assistant Professor position in the Psychology Department at Tufts University. Her work examines how disadvantaged group members perceive, cope, and respond to information about inequality.
Kolina earned a PhD in Information Studies at the University of Texas at Austin under the advisement of Kenneth R. Fleischmann. She is now a post-doctoral scholar at the University of Washington Center for an Informed Public (CIP). Her work focuses on decision making within the context of social media with a focus on misinformation and debates regarding the safety of vaccines.
Heather completed her Master's Degree in 2015 and is a doctoral student at UC Davis where she works with Jeff Sherman. Her work examines various facets of stereotyping and prejudice using various statistical modeling procedures.
Tawaun earned a PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford University. His work examines the role of peripheral glia in immune responses and inflammation. He is currently a post-doc at Genentech.
Kathy completed her degree in 2013 and went on to earn a PhD in Social Psychology from UCSB under the advisement of Brenda Major. She completed a teaching post-doc at Wake Forest University and is now an Assistant Professor at Western Oregon University