About:

Present-day injustices experienced by people of color have sparked outrage and a demand for change. Halim argues that we have gained a large body of psychological research that can inform us about the challenges human nature presents in facilitating prejudice and stereotyping and about possible solutions to reduce it.

Halim’s talk has three broad sections. In the first, Halim discusses how prejudice has been defined within the field of psychology and shares research showing how racial/ethnic discrimination can affect children’s health, academic achievement and motivation, and well-being. In the second, she talks about a number of human tendencies psychology has identified that facilitates us to form stereotypes about groups and show bias. Finally, Halim presents possible solutions to reduce prejudice based on psychological research. She focuses on how adults can monitor language use that inadvertently emphasizes race/ethnicity as an all-encompassing category, such as the use of generics, labels, and contrasts, discusses ways that parents and teachers can be proactive in their efforts to talk about race/ethnicity with their children and students, and highlights how encouraging friendships and cooperation among children from different racial/ethnic groups can be effective in reducing prejudice.

Dr. May Ling Halim is an Associate Professor of Psychology at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). Dr. Halim completed her MA and PhD in Social Psychology with a Developmental Focus and Quantitative Minor at New York University and her BA in Psychology at Stanford University. Dr. Halim has won numerous awards and grants, such as from the National Science Foundation and the American Psychological Foundation Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark Fund. She has been invited to speak at several events and universities, such as at the Society for Research on Child Development Biennial Meeting, and the Society of Experimental Social Psychology Meeting. Her research spans two broad areas. The first is gender and racial/ethnic identity development in children of different cultures. The second is the effects of group discrimination on health and well-being. Her research papers have been published in national academic journals such as Child Development, Developmental Psychology, and Health Psychology. Her work has also been featured in the popular media, such as on NBC Think, NPR and in Psychology Today.

The event is provided free of charge by the Northern Plains Ethics Institute, the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, the YWCA Cass Clay, Humanities ND, and the NDSU Department of Anthropology and Sociology to all NDSU stakeholders and the public.