Samuel Sommers
- Media Contact
- SPN Mentor
Dr. Sommers is a social psychologist interested in issues related to stereotyping, prejudice, and group diversity. His research focuses on two broad, often overlapping topic areas: (1) the influence of race-related norms and motivations on social cognition, judgment and decision-making, group dynamics, and interpersonal interaction; (2) the intersection of psychology and law. In 2008 he received the Saleem Shah Award for Early Career Excellence from the American Psychology-Law Society. In 2009 he was named Tufts University Professor of the Year by the Tufts Student Senate.
In addition to authoring over two dozen publications on issues related to race and diversity, he has served as an expert witness in multiple criminal cases, including capital trials in California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, and Texas. He has presented his research to a wide range of academic audiences at universities including Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Cornell, M.I.T., Claremont McKenna, Emory, Rutgers, UConn, UMass, and UTEP. He is the author of a general audience book on social psychology entitled *Situations Matter*; for more details, see www.samsommers.com.
Primary Interests:
- Applied Social Psychology
- Group Processes
- Intergroup Relations
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Law and Public Policy
- Person Perception
- Prejudice and Stereotyping
- Social Cognition
Research Group or Laboratory:
Note from the Network: The holder of this profile has certified having all necessary rights, licenses, and authorization to post the files listed below. Visitors are welcome to copy or use any files for noncommercial or journalistic purposes provided they credit the profile holder and cite this page as the source.
Image Gallery
Video Gallery
The Hidden Power of Context
Select video to watch
-
18:07 The Hidden Power of Context
Length: 18:07
-
1:09 Why Do We Stereotype?
Length: 1:09
-
39:27 Situations Matter: Social Psychology and Everyday Life
Length: 39:27
-
2:07:44 The Science of Unconscious Bias
Length: 2:07:44
-
42:26 The Science of Stereotyping and Implicit Bias
Length: 42:26
-
2:09:10 "The Context of White Supremacy" Interview
Length: 2:09:10
-
34:47 This Is Your Brain on Sports (The Stream)
Length: 34:47
A discussion about psychology, neuroscience, and human behavior through the lens of sports
Books:
- Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., Sommers, S. R., Gould, E. P., & Lewis, N., Jr. (2023). Social psychology (11th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Pearson.
- Sommers, S. R. (2011). Situations matter: Understanding how context transforms your world. New York: Riverhead Books (Penguin).
- Wade, C., Tavris, C., Sommores, S., & Shin, L. (2022). Invitation to psychology (8th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Pearson.
- Wertheim, L. J., & Sommers, S. R. (2016). This is your brain on sports: The science of underdogs, the value of rivalry, and what we can learn from the t-shirt cannon. New York: Three Rivers Press.
Journal Articles:
- Apfelbaum, E. P., Pauker, K., Ambady, N., Sommers, S. R., & Norton, M. I. (2008). Learning (not) to talk about race: When older children underperform on social categorization. Developmental Psychology, 44, 1513-1518.
- Apfelbaum, E. P., & Sommers, S. R. (2009). Liberating effects of losing control: When regulatory strategies turn maladaptive. Psychological Science, 20, 139-143.
- Apfelbaum, E. P., Sommers, S. R., & Norton, M. I. (2008). Seeing race and seeming racist? Evaluating strategic colorblindness in social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 918-932.
- Cooley, E., Hester, N., Cipolli, W., Rivera, L. I., Abrams, K., Pagan, J., Sommers, S. R., & Payne, B. K. (2019). Racial biases in officers' decisions to frisk are amplified for Black people stopped among groups leading to similar biases in searches, arrests, and use of force. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11(6), 761-769.
- Gaither, S. E., Apfelbaum, E. A., Birnbaum, H. J., Babbitt, L. G., & Sommers, S. R. (2017). Mere membership in racially diverse groups reduces conformity. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 9(4), 402-410.
- Gaither, S. E., Babbitt, L. G., & Sommers, S. R. (2018). Resolving racial ambiguity in social interactions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 76, 259-269.
- Norton, M. I., & Sommers, S. R. (2011). Whites see racism as a zero-sum game that they are now losing. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(3) 215-218.
- Norton, M. I., Sommers, S. R., Apfelbaum, E. P., Pura, N. & Ariely, D. (2006). Colorblindness and interracial interaction: Playing the "political correctness game." Psychological Science, 17, 949-953.
- Norton, M. I., Sommers, S. R., & Brauner, S. (2007). Bias in jury selection: Justifying prohibited peremptory challenges. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 20, 467-479.
- Rasmussen, R., Levari, D. E., Akhtar, M., Crittle, C. S., Gately, M., Pagan, J., Brennen, A., Cashman, D., Wulff, A., N., Norton, M. I., Sommers, S. R., & Urry, H. L. (2022). White (but not Black) Americans continue to see racism as a zero-sum game; White conservatives (but not liberals) see themselves as losing. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 17(6), 1800-1810.
- Shin, L. M., & Sommers, S. R. (2021). Trauma, media, and the brain. Nature Human Behavior, 5, 1471-1472.
- Sommers, S. R. (2008). Determinants and consequences of jury racial diversity: Empirical findings, implications, and directions for future research. Social Issues and Policy Review, 2, 65-102.
- Sommers, S. R. (2007). Race and the decision-making of juries. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 12, 171-187.
- Sommers, S. R. (2006). On racial diversity and group decision-making: Identifying multiple effects of racial composition on jury deliberations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 597-612.
- Sommers, S. R., & Douglass, A. B. (2007). Context matters: Alibi strength varies according evaluator perspective. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 12, 41-54.
- Sommers, S. R., & Norton, M. I. (2008). Race and jury selection: Psychological perspectives on the peremptory challenge debate. American Psychologist, 63, 527-539.
- Sommers, S. R., & Norton, M. I. (2007). Race-based judgments, race-neutral justifications: Experimental examination of peremptory use and the Batson challenge procedure. Law and Human Behavior, 31, 261-273.
- Sommers, S. R., & Norton, M. I. (2006). Lay theories about White racists: What constitutes racism (and what doesn't). Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 9, 117-138.
- Sommers, S. R., Shin, L. M., Greenebaum, S. L., Merker, J., & Sanders, A. S. (2019). Quasi-experimental and experimental assessment of electronic textbook experiences: Student perceptions and test performance. Scholarship of Learning and Teaching in Psychology, 5, 11-22.
- Sommers, S. R., Warp, L. S., & Mahoney, C. C. (2008). Cognitive effects of racial diversity: White individuals' information processing in heterogeneous groups. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 1129-1136.
Other Publications:
- Sommers. S. R. (2008). Beyond information exchange: New perspectives on the benefits of racial diversity for group performance. In E. A. Mannix, M. A. Neale, & K. W. Phillips (Eds.), Research on Managing Groups and Teams (Volume 11; pp. 195-220). Oxford: Elsevier Science Press.
Courses Taught:
- Experimental Psychology
- Introduction to Psychology
- Psychology and Law
- Research Methods in Social Psychology
- Seminar in Advanced Social Psychology
- Social Psychology
Samuel Sommers
Department of Psychology
Tufts University
490 Boston Avenue
Medford, Massachusetts 02155
United States of America
- Phone: (617) 627-5293
- Email: sam.sommers@tufts.edu