What factors determine a college student's overall wellbeing? How does prejudice and stereotyping impact the way the human brain makes sense of the world? How does hookup culture impact students of different backgrounds and attachment styles? These are questions that motivate and intrigue many social psychologists, such as professor of psychology Monica Schneider.
Professor of psychology Dr. Monica Schneider (pictured above) conducts research about stereotyping and prejudice on college campuses. She hopes to implement her research to make Geneseo a safer place for students and more supportive of students’ well-being (Picture courtesy of Dr. Schneider).
"I love studying social psychology because of the breadth of important questions it helps me explore," Schneider said in an email interview. "The more I learn about these areas, the more my passions change."
As a social psychologist, Schneider researches and teaches a wide range of topics. "It all fascinates me," Schneider said. "However, my absolute favorite topics to teach are adult attachment and issues related to stereotyping and prejudice."
"What I love about teaching stereotyping is the ability to connect what we know about how our brain processes and makes sense of the world to understanding the implications that it has for our reactions to others," Schneider said. "I believe that acknowledging that these mechanisms exist and function in all of us, and understanding how these processes operate can significantly contribute to meaningful and comprehensive change, not only in our personal growth but in the larger systems that perpetuate negative and inequitable outcomes for certain groups."
Not only does Schneider research factors that impact the understanding of inequalities on the wide scale of systemic oppression, but also the factors that impact inequalities as close to Geneseo's campus.
As a member and chair of the Equity Scorecard Committee on campus, Schneider worked to identify structural patterns that impacted inequitable retention rates among minority students. Through her work on the committee, she helped to develop intervention strategies to address these differences.
"Student retention among underrepresented students improved. The progress and continued commitment to focus on these retention goals are now integrated with the work from the Provost's office on their Wildly Important Goals (WIG)," Schneider said.
Through her research, Schneider identified a significant factor in student adjustment on campus: support.
"All students reported that what contributes most to their feelings of support from faculty members is when they have a friendly, welcoming and open personality, when they convey confidence in students' potential, and when they make students feel like they matter by taking time outside of class to meet with them," Schneider said. "Interacting with faculty and staff who demonstrate cultural competency and appreciation/understanding of diversity benefits college outcomes for ALL of our students."
Schneider believes that these findings offer a great deal of hope for the faculty and staff of Geneseo, in that it shows that they can deeply impact student adjustment.
"This research demonstrates that we all potentially play a role in each other's well-being, sense of belonging and success," Schneider said. "Now we need to continue working on translating our knowledge and understanding to action."
Another research interest of Schneider's is attachment and relationships among college students. "Dr. Jennifer Katz and I have collaborated on several studies examining the role of adult attachment in students' relationships, including hookups, romantic relationships and friendships at SUNY Geneseo," Schneider said.
The results of Schneider's research endeavors have led her to a more liberal mindset in these areas. "We believe that colleges and universities should incorporate honest, frank [and] nonjudgmental discussions about casual sex that avoid stigmatizing casual sex encounters and instead emphasize responsible, healthy [and] empowered sexual decision making," Schneider said.
"We think these results can be used to educate and empower students by helping them develop the role that attachment plays in their relationships, and by helping them develop strategies for addressing their emotions that may reduce the interpersonal problems they face across relationships."
Because of the engaging and diverse nature of the topics that Schneider researches and teaches, Schneider said that "when it comes to teaching, the connections with students and the opportunity to watch students grow, develop and thrive is super rewarding to me."
"If I had to choose, I would probably pick the Psychology of Adult Attachment course that I taught, where we spent a whole semester reading and discussing how attachment works in all aspects of our lives," Schneider said when asked what her favorite subject to teach. "The topics and conversations unfolded in exciting ways, and the students' questions were so meaningful."
Schneider's many research and teaching endeavors have all led her to one conclusion: "the goal is to understand and find ways to support students' well-being, to assess programs on this campus designed to affect change and/or to understand processes underlying prejudice and reactions to being the targets of prejudice."