Coordinator: Rashawn Ray | rjray [at] umd.edu

The University of Maryland's Department of Sociology offers a rich and varied program in Social Psychology that spans multiple levels of analysis and methodological approaches. Four faculty members identify social psychology as a principal area of interest. Eight courses in social psychology are offered at the graduate level. We also offer a strong program of training in the methodology and statistics of contemporary social psychology. 

The social psychology area at Maryland has achieved national distinction (ranked 16th in the U.S. in 2006, the last time the rankings went beyond the top 5) and has been very popular among graduate students. Our faculty is unified through strengths in micro approaches to stratification (e.g. gender, race, and socioeconomic status) and also thrives in covering all three major social psychology perspectives (symbolic interaction, group processes, and social structure and personality) and several methodological approaches. 

Associated Research Centers

Faculty in the social psychology area run an active group processes experimental laboratory. Also, ties between the social psychology program and the Joint Program in Survey Methodology, an interdisciplinary graduate training program, provide a unique resource for graduate student training in public opinion and survey methodology. And, the area is closely tied to LASSR, the Laboratory for Applied Social Science Research. 

Faculty Interests

Sociology faculty with major research interests in social psychology include: 

• Muna Adem
• Jennifer Ashlock
• Amelia Branigan
• Nicole De Loatch
• Long Doan
• Dawn Dow
• Kate Khanna
• Jeff Lucas
• Amy McLaughlin
• Jeff Parsells-Johnson
• Stanley Presser
• Rashawn Ray 
• Nicholas Smith

The social psychology faculty has diverse orientations and represents an array of theoretical perspectives.  Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies employed by social psychologists are represented in the faculty's empirical studies, including surveys, experiments, observational studies, content analysis, in-depth interviewing, and cross-cultural research designs.

Graduate Student Research Opportunities and Employment

In addition to working with individual faculty on research, graduate students can find employment as research assistants in a variety of projects within the department and in the Washington, DC area. Students are encouraged to present papers at regional and national professional meetings and to publish their work in professional journals. There are also many opportunities to develop teaching skills that will be helpful in future employment, as social psychology is perennially popular in the sociology undergraduate curriculum. Recent graduates have positions as faculty members in both research universities and liberal arts colleges, as well as in government and nonprofit research organizations.