College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Priscila Diaz, Ph.D., is interested in the broad content area of diversity issues focusing on intergroup relations and understanding the societal as well as intrapersonal challenges facing minority and immigrant groups. She has developed a program of research with a number of collaborations applying multiple methodologies, including lab experiments, longitudinal studies, survey and field interviews. This research is open to student participation in her Cultural Diversity and Social Development Lab. The lab aims to gain a deeper understanding of the confluence of multiple value systems in shaping the lives of individuals learning and living in a multicultural setting. How does the functional relevance (e.g., threats or benefits) perceived to be posed by minority outgroups bias an individual’s attention, memory, and judgments? How do cultural-specific factors (e.g., familism) play a role in protecting the well-being of minorities from perceived discrimination? How do immigrants negotiate the values and behaviors of their culture of origin with those elicited by the mainstream culture? Much of this collaborative work demonstrates how the adaptive cultural ecology bears a vital impact on the lives of minority and immigrant groups and is critical to inform policy, social services, behavioral scientists and prevention efforts.