Identity & Intergroup Relations Lab

University of Pittsburgh

Research

In the Identity & Intergroup Relations Lab, we study how people experience and navigate intergroup contexts and how to intervene to improve intergroup relations and minimize group-based disparities.

How do People Experience and Navigate Intergroup Contexts?

For members of many stigmatized groups, identity concealment is a common and consequential tool for managing the stigma they may face. However, the full and specific scope of when and why people engage in identity concealment has long been unclear. To understand the scope of concealment's relevance, much of our lab’s work has focused on the twin questions when people feel they can conceal their identities (Le Forestier et al., 2020, European Journal of Social Psychology; Le Forestier et al., 2022, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin; Le Forestier et al, 2024, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin; Le Forestier & Lewis, R&R, Nature Reviews Psychology), and when they feel they need to conceal their identities (Le Forestier & Lewis, R&R, Nature Reviews Psychology). In this work, we build from the idea that people’s intergroup experiences are best understood in context, and that explanations that use static identities as units of explanation do not adequately capture these experiences (Le Forestier & Lewis, R&R, Nature Reviews Psychology).

What are the Consequences of People’s Strategies for Navigating Intergroup Contexts?

Many (though not all) people who conceal their identities do so to avoid facing the consequences of stigma. We have found evidence that concealment may achieve this goal in some cases; people whose identities are more concealable report experiencing less prejudice, intergroup anxiety, and social identity threat (Le Forestier et al., 2022, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin). As a result, they are also more comfortable initiating intergroup interactions and ultimately have more diverse social networks (Le Forestier et al., 2020, European Journal of Social Psychology). At the same time, concealment can also carry steep costs. These costs can be interpersonal in nature; we have found that when someone is perceived to be concealing an identity, they are judged as immoral and unsociable and are less well-liked (Le Forestier et al., 2022, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology). These costs can also be personal in nature; we have found that concealing stigmatized identities is associated with worse mental and physical health (Le Forestier et al., 2024, Social Science & Medicine), possibly because it denies them access to important health information (Le Forestier et al., 2024, Psychological Science).

How can we Reduce Group-Based Disparities?

Compared to their dominant-group peers, members of many stigmatized groups face disparities in health, wellbeing, education, and career success that are vast and persistent. In our research, we learn about the social-psychological sources of these disparities and try to address them. For example, some of our ongoing work seeks to limit physical health disparities experienced by some stigmatized groups by capitalizing on what we have learned about why concealment undermines physical health (Le Forestier et al., 2024, Psychological Science; Le Forestier & Lewis, in progress). In collaborative work, we have also applied principles of social belonging to improve the experiences and outcomes of students from historically marginalized groups in higher education (Logel, Le Forestier, et al., 2021, Social Psychological and Personality Science; Walton… Le Forestier, et al., 2023 Science).

How can we Improve Intergroup Relations?

In our lab, we use multiple methods including big data and field intervention studies to document the harms of prejudice and find the best ways to reduce it. In collaborative work, we drew on millions of observations from the Stanford Open Policing Project and Project Implicit and found that counties with greater anti-Black bias exhibited larger disparities in rates of police traffic stops disfavoring Black drivers (Ekstrom, Le Forestier, et al., 2022, Psychological Science). Findings like this one bring the urgent need for scalable prejudice reduction into focus. In response, we develop naturalistic and scalable prejudice reduction interventions, such as by implementing intergroup contact through social media (Le Forestier et al., in prep) and seek to identify the best ways to reduce prejudice through large-scale, comparative investigations of interventions to reduce prejudice and improve intergroup relations (Lai & Le Forestier, under review; Koyama, Le Forester, et al., in prep).

Publications

*Indicates undergraduate student

Published or In Press

Le Forestier, J. M. & Lewis, N. A. (In press). When and why do people conceal their identities? The presentation of self in 21st century life. Nature Reviews Psychology.

Le Forestier, J. M., Skaknoon-Sparling, S., Page-Gould, E., & Chasteen, A. L. (In press). Experiences of stigma among sexual minority men during the 2022 global mpox outbreak. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity.

Le Forestier, J. M., Page-Gould, E., & Chasteen, A . L. (In press). Which identities are concealable? Individual differences in concealability. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. DOI: 10.1177/01461672231198162

Le Forestier, J. M., Page-Gould, E., & Chasteen, A . L. (2024). Identity concealment may discourage health-seeking behaviors: Evidence from sexual minority men during the 2022 global mpox outbreak. Psychological Science, 35, 126-136. DOI: 10.1177/09567976231217416

Le Forestier, J. M., *Chan, E. W., *Shephard, R., Page-Gould, E., & Chasteen, A . L. (2024). Why is concealment associated with health and wellbeing? An investigation of potential mechanisms. Social Science & Medicine, 344. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116529

Walton, G. M., Murphy, M. C., Logel, C., Yeager, D. S., Parker Goyer, J., Brady, S. T., Emerson, K. T. U, Panesku, D., Fotuhi, O., Blodorn, A., Boucher, K. L., Carter, E., Gopalan, M., Henderson, A., Kroeper, K. M., Murdock-Perriera, L. A., Reeves, S. L., Ablorh, T. T., Ansari, S., Chen, S., Fisher, P., Galvan, M., Kawakami Gilbertson, M., Hulleman, C. S., Le Forestier, J. M., Lok, C., Mathias, K., Muragishi, G. A., Netter, M., Ozier, E., Smith, E. N., Thoman, D. B., Williams, H. E., Wilmot, M. O., Hartzog, C., Li, X. A., & Krol, N. (2023). Where and with whom does a brief social-belonging intervention promote progress in college? Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.ade4420

Le Forestier, J. M., Page-Gould, E., & Chasteen, A . L. (2022). Concealment stigma: The social costs of concealing. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 101, 1-13. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2022.104340

Ekstrom, P., Le Forestier, J. M., & Lai, C. K. (2022). Racial demographics explain the link between racial disparities in traffic stops and county-level racial attitudes. Psychological Science, 33, 497-509 DOI: 10.1177/09567976211053573

Le Forestier, J. M., Page-Gould, E., Lai, C. K., & Chasteen, A. L. (2022). Subjective identity concealability and the consequences of fearing identity-based judgment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 48, 445-462. DOI: 10.1177/01461672211010038

Chasteen, A. L., Schiralli, J. E., Le Forestier, J. M., & Erentzen, C. (2022). Age stereotypes and ageism as facets of subjective aging. In Y. Palgi, A. Shrira, & M, Diehl (Eds.), Subjective views of aging: Theory, research, and practice. New York, NY: Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031- 11073-3_13

Logel, C., Le Forestier, J. M., Witherspoon, E. B., & Fotuhi, O. (2021). A social-belonging intervention benefits higher-weight students' weight stability and academic achievement. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 12, 1048-1057. DOI: 10.1177/1948550620959236

Le Forestier, J. M., Page-Gould, E., Lai, C. K., & Chasteen, A. L. (2020). Concealability beliefs facilitate navigating intergroup contexts. European Journal of Social Psychology, 50, 1210-1226. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2681

Chasteen, A. L., Bergstrom, V. N. Z., Schiralli, J. E., & Le Forestier, J. M. (2019). Age stereotypes. In D. Gu & M. E. Dupre (Eds.), Encyclopedia of gerontology and population aging. New York, NY: Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_584-1

Under Review or Revision

*Khudiakova, V., Le Forestier, J. M., & Chasteen, A. L. (Revise and resubmit). To mask or not to mask: The role of concealability beliefs, concealment behaviors, and community connectedness in autistic people’s mental health. Neurodiversity.

Bartels, M., Le Forestier, J. M., Hug, A., Morgenroth, T., & Roselló-Peñaloza, M. (Revise and resubmit). The effects of essentialist and social constructionist notions on perceptions of “realness” and LGBTIQ+ experiences. Journal of Social Issues.

Lai, C. K. & Le Forestier, J. (Revise and resubmit). A comparative investigation of interventions to reduce anti-fat prejudice across five implicit measures. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

Lewis, N. A. & Le Forestier, J. M. (Under review; invited submission). A research pipeline for fostering and evaluating diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. In V. Esses, J. Dovidio, J. Jetten, D. Sekaquaptewa, & K. West (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Psychological Perspectives on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

In Preparation

Le Forestier, J. M., Page-Gould, E., & Chasteen, A . L. (In prep). Prejudice reduction through intergroup contact on social media.

Le Forestier, J. M., Page-Gould, E., & Chasteen, A . L. (In prep). Statistical power for a set of tests.

Le Forestier, J. M. & Page-Gould, E. (In prep). Multiple-group contact: Implications for prejudice reduction.

SCORE Collaboration (In prep). Investigating the replicability of the social and behavioral sciences.

Le Forestier, J. M., Lassetter, B., & Neel, R. (In prep). Ingroup relevance appraisals: Structure and correlates of perceiving threats and opportunities from ingroups.

People

Principal Investigator

Joel Le Forestier

Incoming Assistant Professor
he/him/his

Graduate Students

I will be recruiting a graduate student to start in Fall 2025! For information, visit the Join the Lab page and the University of Pittsburgh's Social Psychology Program website.

Collaborators & Friends of the Lab

• University of Pittsburgh Social Psychology Area
• Elizabeth Page-Gould, University of Toronto
• Alison Chasteen, University of Toronto
• Neil Lewis Jr., Cornell University
• Calvin Lai, Washington University in St. Louis
• Christine Logel, University of Waterloo
• Jacklyn Koyama, University of Toronto
• Sabrina Thai, Brock University
• Bethany Lassetter, New York University
• Paolo Palma, Toronto Metropolitan University
• Zi Ting (Louisa) You, University of Toronto
• Pierce Ekstrom, University of Nebraska
• Shernell Hines, University of Toronto
• Rebecca Neel, University of Toronto
• Shayna Skakoon-Sparling, University of Guelph
• Emma Green, University of Wisconsin-Stout

Join the Lab

Prospective Graduate Students

I will be accepting a graduate student to start in Fall 2025. To learn more about how to apply, visit the University of Pittsburgh's Social Psychology Program website.

Pitt Social Program

Applications are equally welcome from prospective students whose interests deepen or broaden the lab's existing scope, and from those whose interests are theoretical or applied in nature. For information about the lab's current research areas, visit our Research page, or read our past papers.

Research
Publications

In our lab, we have two ultimate goals. First, to learn about the basic, social-psychological processes that underlie people's intergroup experiences and the success and wellbeing outcomes that follow from those experiences. Second, to learn how to use those social-psychological insights to address important social problems. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are cornerstone values of our lab, as is developing a supportive and collaborative lab culture. If these things sound like they resonate with you, then you might be a great fit with our lab!For equity, I do not generally meet with potential applicants before they apply. However, if you have any questions, I will be more than happy to answer them!

Prospective Post-Baccalaureate Fellows

The University of Pittsburgh runs a funded, two-semester post-baccalaureate program for students from under-represented groups. For information about the program and how to apply, visit the Hot Metal Bridge Program website.