RESEARCH TOPICS
CHICAGO FACE DATABASE
The Chicago Face Database (CFD) was developed by me, Joshua Correll, and Bernd Wittenbrink and is the largest set of standardized face stimuli. The CFD is an ever-growing database containing digital images of faces, norming data, and physical measurements of the faces. Importantly, the database contains a diverse range of faces, including Asian, Black, Latinx, White, and Multiracial female and male faces. Soon, we will be adding faces and norming data from non-US samples. Researchers are able to view and download the database at www.chicagofaces.org.
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Lakshmi, A., Wittenbrink, B., Correll, J., & Ma, D. S. (2021). The India Face Set: International and Cultural Boundaries Impact Face Impressions and Perceptions of Category Membership. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 161.
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Ma, D. S., Correll, J., & Wittenbrink, B. (2015). The Chicago Face Database: A Free Stimulus Set of Faces and Norming Data. Behavior Research Methods, 47, 1122-1135.
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RACIAL PROTOTYPICALITY AND JUDGMENT
For over a decade, we have been examining social judgments such as stereotyping, prejudice, and police officers' decision to use deadly force. Our work investigates how racial prototypicality impacts these decisions over and above the effects of race. Understanding the features that contribute to racial prototypicality and its influence on various judgments is one line of research we are actively pursuing.
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Ma, D. S., Correll, J., & Wittenbrink, B. (2018). The Effects of Category and Physical Features on Stereotyping and Evaluation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 79, 42-50.
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Ma, D. S., Koltai, K., McManus, R., Bernhardt, A., Correll, J., & Wittenbrink, B. (2018). Race Signaling Features: Identifying Markers of Racial Prototypicality among Asians, Blacks, Latinos, and Whites. Social Cognition, 36, 603-625.
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Ma, D. S. & Correll, J. (2011). Target Prototypicality Moderates Racial Bias in the Decision to Shoot. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 391-396.
MULTIRACIAL FACE PERCEPTION
Currently, my lab is focused on understanding various aspects of multiracial face perception. Questions we are exploring include whether multiracial faces are categorically distinct, the information perceivers use to guide their categorizations of multiracial people, how the judgments context influences categorization of racially ambiguous others.
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Ma, D. S., Kantner, J., Benitez, J., & Dunn, S. (2021). Are Morphs a Valid Substitute for Real Multiracial Faces in Race Categorization Research?. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 0-10.
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Ma, D. S., Kantner, J., & Wittenbrink, B. (2021). Chicago face database: Multiracial expansion. Behavior Research Methods, 53(3), 1289-1300.
INTERSECTIONAL IDENTITIES
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My most recent line of research explores intersectionality and proposes that individuals vary in the extent to which they view their racial or ethnic and gender identities as integrated versus independent. Our recent paper establishes the reliability and validity of the iii-rg, which measures identity integration of race and gender, and is linked below!
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Ma, D. S., Berzenski, S., & Eccleston, C. (2024). The iii-rg: An individual difference measure of intersectional identities integration of race and gender identities. Self and Identity, 1-30.