Jennifer R Steele

Faculty & School/Dept.

Faculty of Health - Department of Psychology

Degrees

PhD -
Harvard University
Boston, MA

Biography

Dr. Steele received her B.A. in psychology as well as her B.Ed. from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. From there she moved to Boston, Massachusetts where she attended Harvard University's School of Education. She completed a M.Ed. and then proceeded into the doctoral program in Social Psychology. Dr. Steele completed her M.A. and her Ph.D. in Social Psychology through the Graduate School of Arts and Science at Harvard University. After completing a SSHRC post-doctoral position at the University of Waterloo she accepted a tenure-track assistant professorship at York University in Toronto. For the 2018-2019 academic year, Dr. Steele was awarded a York-Massey Fellowship, through Massey College at the University of Toronto.  She was a visiting professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Toronto during her sabbatical that year. Dr. Steele is currently an Associate Professor of Psychology.  

In addition to maintaining an active program of research, Dr. Steele has made numerous service contributions at York University. Leadership roles include serving as Area Coordinator for the Social/Personality graduate area in the Department of Psychology (2012-2015; 2020-present) and holding the inaugural position of Associate Undergraduate Program Director for three years (2015-2018) during a time of significant curricular restructuring. She has also served on the Academic Standards, Curriculum, and Pedagogy (ASCP) Senate Committee (2014-2017), the Department of Psychology Executive Committee (2007-2009; 2015-2018), Graduate Executive Committee (2012-2015; 2020-present), Undergraduate Studies Committee (2011-2012; 2013-2018), and Tenure and Promotion Committee (2015-2017), while contributing to numerous recruiting and hiring committees. Outside of the university, Dr. Steele has sat on the adjudication committee for tri-council grant applications (SSHRC Insight and Insight Development Grants), is an active member of the editorial board of PlosOne, is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board at Project Implicit (https://www.projectimplicit.net/), and is a member of the Engendering Success in STEM consortium (https://successinstem.ca/).

Selected Publications

These are selected publications.  Please access http://www.yorku.ca/steeleje/research/publications.php to obtain copies of these and other publications by Dr. Steele for personal use.

Steele, J. R., & Lipman, C. (accepted). Children’s implicit attitudes toward others who differ by gender and race. Developmental Psychology.

Steele, J. R., Lee, J. J., & Baron, A. S. (2021). Engendering success in politics: A pipeline problem requires a pipeline solution. Psychological Inquiry, 32(2), 131-136. https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2021.1930799

Lipman, C., Williams, A., Kawakami, K., & Steele, J. R.(2021). Children’s spontaneous associations with targets who differ by race and emotional expression. Developmental Psychology, 57(7), 1094–1110. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001199

Gonzalez, A.M., Steele, J.R., Chan, E., Lim, S., & Baron, A.S. (2021). Developmental differences in the malleability of implicit racial bias. Developmental Psychology, 57(1), 102-113. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dev0001128

Ng, A. H., Steele, J. R., Sasaki, J. Y., George, M. (2020). How robust is the own-group face recognition bias? Evidence from first- and second-generation East Asian Canadians. PLOS ONE 15 (5): e0233758. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0233758

Williams, A. & Steele, J.R.(2019). Examining children’s implicit racial attitudes using exemplar and category-based measures. Child Development, 90, e322–e338. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12991

Steele, J. R., George, M., Williams, A., & Tay, E. (2018). A cross-cultural investigation of minority and non-White majority children’s implicit attitudes towards racial outgroups. Developmental Science, 21(6), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12673

Aboud, F. & Steele, J.R. (2017). Theoretical perspectives on implicit and explicit prejudice development. In A. Rutland, D. Nesdale, & C. S. Brown (Eds), The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Group Process in Children and Adolescents (pp. 167-183). New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.

Rattan, A., Steele, J. R., & Ambady, N. (2017). Identical applicant but different outcomes: The impact of gender versus race salience in hiring. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 22(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430217722035

Williams, A., Steele, J. R., Lipman, C. (2016). Assessing children’s implicit attitudes using the Affect Misattribution Procedure. Journal of Cognition and Development, 17(3), 505-525. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2015.1061527

Ng, A. H, Steele, J. R., & Sasaki, J. (2016). Will you remember me? Cultural differences in own-group face recognition biases. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 64, 21-26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2016.01.003

Pauker, K., Williams, A., & Steele, J. R.(2016). Children’s racial categorization in context. Child Development Perspectives, 10 (1), 33–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12155

Williams, A. & Steele, J. R. (2016). The reliability of child-friendly race-attitude Implicit Association Tests. Frontiers: Quantitative Psychology and Measurement, 7, 1-11. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01576

Partnerships

Project Implicit
I am a member of the Scientific Advisor Board at Project Implicit.

Engendering Success in STEM
I am a member of the Engendering Success in STEM (ESS) consortium.

Service/Community Activities

Supervision

Currently available to supervise graduate students: Yes

Currently taking on work-study students, Graduate Assistants or Volunteers: Yes

Available to supervise undergraduate thesis projects: Yes

Current Research

Dr. Steele's research takes a social cognitive approach to understanding stereotyping, prejudice, and interpersonal expectancies. One overarching goal of our research is to better understand how we can challenge racial biases early in development. In another main line of research, we aim to understand the early development of academic stereotypes, including gender stereotypes in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). One aim of this research is to enhance traditionally underrepresented students' sense of belonging and ultimately their achievement and representation in various academic contexts. You can learn more about some of the research being conducted on this topic through the Engendering Success in STEM (ESS) website where Dr. Steele is part of the CLIMB and PRISM groups. Some of our research takes an intersectional approach, recognizing the unique experiences of discrimination that people can face based on their multiple identities.

As a lab, we recognize that systemic racism serves as a substantial and ongoing barrier to equity, diversity, and inclusion. We realize that this is particularly the case for Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC). We further recognize the importance and value of supporting students who face systemic barriers based on race, religion, gender or gender identity, SES, physical or mental disabilities, age, country of origin or immigration status, and including those from LGBTQ2+ communities.

Our research, which is conducted with adult and child participants, has been funded by various external and internal sources including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Faculty of Health, and York University.

If you would like to learn more about our research, please see:

http://www.yorku.ca/steeleje/research/

Research Projects

Engendering Success in STEM: A Research Consortium for Gender Equality in Science and Technology
Role: CoInvestigator
Year Funded: 2017
Duration: 5
Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

How Wealth Cues and Race Shape Children’s Intergroup Biases
Role: Principal Investigator
Year Funded: 2022
Duration: 5
Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

Understanding Children's Implicit Attitudes and Intergroup Biases
Role: Principal Investigator
Year Funded: 2014
Duration: 5
Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

Curriculum Vitae (C.V. file):

CV of Jennifer R Steele