Overview
Broadly, I am intersted in examining how people's self‐understanding and behaviour is intertwined with the social groups to which they belong. In particular, how people experience and respond to social disadvantage, social stigma, or status differences. I employ both quantitative and qualitative methods and work with different sources of data. This includes thematic or discourse analysis of archival data, speeches, interviews, testimonials, focus group interviews as well as surveys and experiments.
Current Research
There are two major focus of my current research -
i) Examining when, where, and why humiliation occurs and what its consequences are, not only for individuals, but also for groups, organizations, and societies at large.
ii) Examining psychological underpinnings of critical social/political/developmental issues in Indian society:
Indian context is highly diverse and far more complex than what most research in Psychology imagines. I believe that Indian context can provide deeper insights to many questions in social psychology; and social psychology, in turn, can help address many critical issues in the Indian context. In collaboration with colleagues and students, I am working on several important issues in the Indian context. These include caste relations, Hindu-Muslim relations, Hindu nationalism, The experiences of Northeast migrants, Ganges pollution, traffic behaviour, sanitation, and water crisis.
Research Group @ IITD
We have a vibrant research group (the Social Identity Group) at IIT Delhi comprising PhD students, undergraduate students (B.Tech. & M.Sc.), research assistants and interns working on various aspects of group processes and intergroup relations. We meet every week to share ideas, discuss papers, and help each other improve research skills and navigate academia. We value societally relevant, theoretically grounded, interdisciplinarily informed, methodologically rigorous, and ethically responsible research. Students in our research group learn to work with multiple methods and data sources. Ongoing undergraduate projects address the impact of coronavirus pandemic on learning outcomes and student health behaviors and anti-CAA activism. Propspective students interested in research and internship opportunities and supervision, contact me via email for further discussion.
PhD Supervision
Completed
Dr. Suryodaya Sharma (Assistant Professor, Krea University, India)
Topic: “Persistence of caste in Contemporary India: A Social Psychological Analysis of Victimhood, Legitimation and Prejudice in Caste Relations” (2024)
Ongoing
Damini Singh Brar (IIT Delhi Fellowship)
Topic: Caste-based Trauma, Occupational Stigma, and Resistance : A study among sanitation workers
Sajal Chaudhary (UQIDAR: co-supervisor: Prof Fiona Barlow, University of Queensland)
Topic: Beliefs and Attitudes regarding Intercaste Marriages in India
Rejoyson Thangal (Self-funded)
Assistant Professor, Applied Psychology, Pondicherry University
Topic: Social Identity and Everyday Citizenship: The Case of Northeast Indians
Sumayya T. (IIT Delhi Fellowship)
Topic: Gender based Humiliation: Experience of Indian Muslim Women
Preeti Sharma (IIT Delhi Fellowship; co-supervisor: Dr Sammyh Khan, Orebro University, Sweden)
Topic: Does skin color matter in India? Beliefs about skin colour and their implication for well-being
Maria Zafar (UGC-JRF)
Lecturer, Social Psychology, Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat
Topic: Beyond Conflict: A Social Psychological Analysis of Hindu-Muslim Solidarity
Iram Fatima(UGC-JRF)
Topic: Caste, Digital Activism, and Online Collective Action in India: A Social Psychological Study
MSc Students
Completed
Harshit Singh (MSc Cognitive Science 2021-23)
Topic: A Qualitative Study of Resistance Art and Artists in the Age of New Media
Annalisa Rapthap (MSc Cognitive Science 2021-23)
Topic: Social identity and Metastereotypes among Northeastern Indians
Undergraduate Supervision (NDN356: Minor Design Projects)
- Sangye Choden (Exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student health behaviors)
- Smipra Prashant Jambhulkar (Campus Nostalgia and online learning during COVID-19 pandemic)
- Khushee (Discourse analysis of mental health guidelines during COVID-19 pandemic)
Summer Internship in Cognitive Science (2021)
- Ashwini Vatsa, (BSc Biotechnology, Amity University, Noida)
- Uzma Sarwat (MSc Cognitive Science, Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar)
- Mahima Samraik (Dual degree, IISER, Mohali, Punjab)
- Jubair Qureshi (MSc Cognitive Science, IIT Delhi)
- Manushka Sondhi (MSc Cognitive Science, IIT Delhi)
- Kumari Vishakha Sharma (MSc Cognitive Science, IIT Delhi)
Research Funding
Scientific High Level Visiting Fellowship 2024 (The French Institute in India (IFI), the Embassy of France in India)
Scientific High Level Visiting Fellowship (SSHN) 2024 by the French Institute in India (IFI), the Embassy of France in India to visit INSERM, Sorbonne University, Paris.
Development Research Grant (Swedish Research Council)
Divine Ganges, Profane Development: Sacred Geographies and the Governing of Pollution. Swedish Research Council – Research Project Grant (Development Research) Partners: Lund University, Sweden and Keele University, UK, IIT Delhi, India 2020-2022. Amount: Swedish Krona 4446332
UK India Education & Research Initiative (UKIERI) Grant (2017-2020)
"Social Identity, Well-Being and Civic Participation among Social and Ethnic Groups in India"
(Co-PI with Sammyh Khan, Arvind Kumar Mishra, and Ghazi Shahnawaz)
Amount: £198,668
Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) grant by MHRD, Government of India (2018)
"The Psychology of Groups, Influence and Power” (with Stephen Reicher, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom). Amount: $8000
Major Project Grant (2020-2021) Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR)
Group based humiliation, social identification and justice processes. Major Project Grant. Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). 2020-2021. Amount: Rs. 4,30,000.00