Prejudice Awareness & Reduction Lab
The Prejudice Awareness and Reduction (PAR) Lab is directed by Dr. Elvira Prusaczyk at St. Francis Xavier University. Our research explores how beliefs, social environments, and individual experiences shape attitudes toward others and contribute to prejudice, discrimination, and intergroup conflict. We are equally interested in understanding pathways toward repair, compassion, connection, and human flourishing.
Our work spans topics such as prejudice reduction, gender-based violence prevention, ideological beliefs and social attitudes, mindfulness and contemplative practices, child development, and the social processes that shape how people think, feel, and relate to one another. Through rigorous research, student mentorship, and community collaboration, the PAR Lab produces knowledge that promotes understanding and meaningful social change.
Our guiding question is simple:
“How can psychological science help us understand the roots of prejudice and create pathways toward greater compassion, equity, and human connection?”
Research Interests
Prejudice, discrimination, and intergroup relations
Examining the psychological processes underlying prejudice and exploring pathways for reducing bias and fostering more inclusive communities.
Ideological beliefs and social attitudes
Investigating how constructs such as right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, hostile sexism, and benevolent sexism shape social perceptions and behavior across development.
Gender-based violence prevention and bystander intervention
Evaluating psychological and educational approaches to sexual violence prevention, including bystander education programs, social norms, and barriers to intervention.
Development of social beliefs and bias in childhood
Exploring how children develop ideological beliefs and attitudes toward social groups, with a focus on early predictors of prejudice and opportunities for intervention.
Mindfulness, flourishing, and contemplative approaches to social change
Examining whether contemplative practices and mindfulness-based interventions can promote well-being, empathy, connection, and reductions in prejudice.
Media, digital environments, and social behavior
Investigating how media experiences, including pornography, objectifying media, and virtual environments, interact with individual beliefs and characteristics to shape social attitudes and behavior.
PAR LAB | Dr. Elvira Prusaczyk 