Research

Is privilege real? How is advantage maintained? Who has privilege?

I study social hierarchies – how they are built, maintained, experienced, and changed. I am especially interested in the psychology of advantage or privilege. How does elite or privileged position in a social hierarchy influence beliefs, motivations, and behavior? I examine people’s motivations and beliefs about inequality, race, and diversity, and how these beliefs influence intergroup behavior and social inequality.

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Publications

Foster-Gimbel, O.A. & Phillips, L.T. (2025). Evidence for a Curvilinear Effect of Psychological Discomfort on Dominant Group Members’ Engagement in Allyship, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1-19. Download

Phillips, L.T., Kreps, T.A., & Chugh, D. (2024). Different ally motivations lead to different outcomes: How self-transcendence and self-enhancement values predict effectiveness of self-identified allies. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. Download

Jun, S., Phillips, L.T., & Foster-Gimbel, O.A. (2023). The missing middle: Asian employees’ experience of workplace discrimination and pro-Black allyship. Journal of Applied Psychology, 105, 225-248. Download

Craig, M.A. & Phillips, L.T. (2023). Group-based hierarchies of power and status. In L. Huddy, D. O. Sears, J. S. Levy, & J. Jerit (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology (3rd Edition).

Phillips, L.T., Jun, S., & Shakeri, A. (2022). Barriers and boosts: Using inequity frames theory to expand understanding of race and gender inequity. Academy of Management Annals, 16, 547-587. Download

Tomova Shakur, T.K. & Phillips, L.T. (2022). What counts as discrimination? How principles of merit shape fairness of demographic decisions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Download

Phillips, L.T. & Jun, S. (2022). Why benefiting from discrimination is less recognized as discrimination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 122, 825-852. Download

Alt, N. & Phillips, L.T. (2022). Person perception, meet people perception: Exploring the social vision of groups. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 17, 768-787. (shared first-authorship). Download

Jachimowicz, J.M., Davidai, S., Goya-Tocchetto, D., Szaszi, B., Day, M.V., Tepper, S.J., Phillips, L.T., Usman Mizra, U., Ordabayeva, N., & Hauser, O.P. (2022). Inequality in researcher’s minds: Four guiding questions for studying subjective perceptions of economic inequality. Journal of Economic Surveys. Download

Anicich, E. M., Jachimowicz, J. M., Osborne, M. R., & Phillips, L.T. (2021). Structuring local environments to avoid racial diversity: Anxiety drives Whites’ geographical and institutional self-segregation preferences. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 95, 104-117. Download

Phillips, L.T. & Lowery, B.S. (2020). I ain’t no fortunate one: On the motivated denial of class privilege. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 119, 1403-1422. Download

Phillips, L.T., Martin, S. R., & Belmi, P. (2020). Social class transitions: Three guiding questions for moving the study of class to a dynamic perspective. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 14, e12560. Download

Phillips, L.T., Stephens, N.M, Townsend, S.S.M., & Goudeau, S. (2020). Access is not enough: Cultural mismatch persists to limit first-generation students’ opportunities for achievement throughout college. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 119, 1112-1131. Download

Zitek, E. M. & Phillips, L. T. (2020). Ease and control: The cognitive benefits of hierarchy. Current Opinion in Psychology, 33, 131-135. Download

Phillips, L.T. & Lowery, B.S. (2018). Herd invisibility: The psychology of racial privilege. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27, 156-162. Download

Phillips, L.T., Slepian, M.L, Hughes, B.L. (2018). Perceiving groups: The people perception of diversity and hierarchy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114, 766-785. Download

Phillips, L.T. & Lowery, B.S. (2015). The hard-knock life? Whites claim hardships in response to race inequity. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 61, 12-18. Download

Halevy, N. & Phillips, L.T. (2015). Conflict templates in negotiations, disputes, joint decisions, and tournaments. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6, 13-22. Download

Phillips, L.T., Weisbuch, M., & Ambady, N. (2014). People perception: Social vision of groups and consequences for organizing and interacting. Research in Organizational Behavior, 34, 101-127. Download

Stephens, N.M., Markus, H.R., & Phillips, L.T. (2014). Social class culture cycles: How three gateway contexts shape selves and fuel inequality. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 611-634. Download

Phillips, L.T., Conner, A.L., Cohen, G., Eberhardt, J.L., & Maitreyi, A. (2014). Identity activation to improve donor recruitment, retention, and conversion. SPARQ Solutions Catalog, Case Analysis.

Stephens, N.M., Townsend, S.S.M., Markus, H.R., & Phillips, L.T. (2012). A cultural mismatch: Independent cultural norms produce greater increases in cortisol and more negative emotions among first-generation college students. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 1389-1393. Download