Becky Choma

becky.choma@psych.ryerson.ca
416-979-5000 ext. 3006
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Biography

Dr. Choma is the Director of the Social and Political Psychology (SPP) Lab at Ryerson University. Currently, she holds a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Research Grant (2015-2020). This research is investigating the relation between ideological beliefs, threat, and outcomes including collective action. She also holds a Ministry of Research and Innovation Early Researcher Award (MRI-ERA) grant (2016-2021). With this grant, Dr. Choma is investigating the roles of fear and humour in Islamophobia. Becky is currently an Associate Editor at the Journal of Theoretical Social Psychology.

Becky completed her SSHRC-funded PhD in social psychology from Brock University in 2008. From 2008 to 2010 she completed a SSHRC-funded postdoctoral fellowship at York University and Wilfrid Laurier University. Before joining Ryerson in 2013, she was an Assistant Professor in the School of Psychology at Plymouth University in the UK from 2010 to 2013.

Dr. Choma recently appeared on TVOs ‘The Agenda’ to discuss psychological differences between liberals and conservatives: https://www.tvo.org/video/why-conservatives-and-liberals-think-differently

Recent Publications

Choma, B. L., Sumantry, D.*, & Hanoch, Y. (July, 2019).  Right-wing ideology, numeracy, and cognitive reflection. JDM.

Choma, B. L., Hodson, G., & Jagayat, A.*, & Hoffarth, M.* (accepted, June 26 2019). Predicting collective action: The role of ideology in different political issue domains. Political Psychology.

Hodson, G., MacInnis, C., & Choma, B. L. (accepted Feb 20 2019). Left-right differences in perspective-taking across US states. Personality and Individual Differences, 144, 36-39.

Choma, B. L., & McKeown, S. (2019). Introduction to intergroup contact and collective action: Integrative perspective. Journal of Theoretical Social Psychology, 3, 3-10. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts5.42

Harper, K.*, & Choma, B. L. (May, 2019). Internalized White ideal, skin tone surveillance, and hair surveillance predict skin and hair dissatisfaction, and skin bleaching behavior among African American and Indian women. Sex Roles, 80(11), 735-744.

Ganzach, Y., Hanoch, Y., & Choma, B. L. (accepted August 22 2018). Attitudes toward presidential candidates in the 2012 and 2016 American elections: Cognitive ability and support for Trump. SPPS.

Prusaczyk, E.*, & Choma, B. L. (2018). Skin tone surveillance, depression, and life satisfaction in Indian women: Colour-blind racial ideology as a moderator. Body Image, 27, 179-186.

Choma, B. L., Braun, R. T.,* Barnes, A. J., & Hanoch, Y. (2018). Dissecting the politics of “Obamacare” from a fairness perspective. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 48 (11), 634-642.

Choma, B. L., & Prusaczyk, E.* (June, 2018). The effects of system justifying beliefs on skin-tone surveillance, skin-color dissatisfaction, and skin-bleaching behavior. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 42(2), 162-177. [impact factor 2.4] [2019 Babladelis Award for Best paper published in PWQ in 2018]

Currie, S.*, & Choma, B. L. (February 2018). Sociopolitical ideology and perception of green behaviours as moral. Environmental Politics, 27(2), 24-266.

Choma, B. L., & Jagayat, A.*, Hodson, G., & Turner, R. (2018). Intergroup and political attitudes in the wake of terrorism: Temporal distance, ideology, and intergroup emotions as predictors. Personality and Individual Differences, 123, 65-75.

Good, A.*, Choma, B. L., & Russo, F. A. (August, 2017). Movement synchrony influences intergroup relations in a minimal groups paradigm. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 39, 231-238.

Choma, B. L., & Hodson, G. (August, 2017). Right-wing ideology: Positive (and negative) relations to threat. Submitted for a special issue entitled “Threat, Uncertainty, and Political Ideology” in Social Cognition, 35 (4), 415-432.

Choma, B. L., & Hanoch. Y. (2017). Cognitive ability and authoritarianism: Understanding support for Trump and Clinton. Personality and Individual Differences, 106, 287-291.

Book Chapters

Hodson, G., Turner, R.N., & Choma, B.L. (in press). Individual differences in intergroup contact propensity and prejudice reduction.  In L. Vezzali & S. Stathi (Eds). Intergroup contact theory: Recent developments and future directions(Series: Current Issues in Social Psychology). New York, NY: Psychology Press.

Hafer, C. L., & Choma, B. L. (2009). The belief in a just world and justification of the status quo. In J. T. Jost, A. C. Kay, & H. Thorisdottir (Eds). Social and Psychological Bases of Ideology and System Justification. Oxford University Press.

Choma, B. L., & Hodson, G. (2008). And so the pendulum swings: A framework for conceptualizing the causes of prejudice. In T. G. Morrison & M. A. Morrison (Eds). The Psychology of Modern Prejudice. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.