Michael W. Kraus

@mwkraus

Not the German handball player or the historian. The other one. Berkeley Psych alum and social psychologist. | he/him www.csinequality.org

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Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· 5d

I'm tired, but also energized by all the growth of both mentors and trainees! This year some of the interns hope to bring this research to our disciplinary conferences, and their training and brainpower into PhD programs in the future (maybe yours!).

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· 5d

The interns, with the help of our team of trainees, studied perceptions of labor exploitation, how racial threat crosses group boundaries, living wage estimates, Asian American perceptions of affirmative action and diversity on campus, and the impact of critical messages about AI.

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· 5d

This week was the end of our summer psychology internship (www.summerpsych.com) program. We held a capstone conference to celebrate all the amazing work completed by the interns with poster presentations and a mini conference.

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· 22d

Three years ago today we announced the decision II. It included breaking news from Shams Charania (PhD) and a video reveal. It was a different time on the internet!

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Jun 19

👀

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· May 28

Our new pub is out! We argue that any future scholarship on the politics of inequality should center the people. We call this the PUBLIC framework (Pluralistic methods, UnBiased perspectives, Local dynamics, Intersectional understanding, & Critical of power). journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Psychological approaches to the study of the politics of inequality are welcome and warranted because psychology
is foundational to understanding inequality, including ways to rectify it. Whereas some approaches narrow political
psychology’s focus through a lens of a particular discipline and definition of inequality (Connolly et al., 2026), our
focus is to center the public. That is, psychology is best situated to study the politics of inequality if it approaches the
problem of inequality from a broader perspective: that of people—a perspective that goes well beyond a small handful
of academic disciplines or socioeconomic strata. To accomplish this goal, we propose a pluralistic, unbiased, local,
intersectional, and critical (PUBLIC) approach to the political psychology of inequality. A PUBLIC approach should be
pluralistic in its application of evidence and ways of knowing; unbiased in the perspectives that it centers; local in its
focus on psychology, politics, and impact; intersectional in its understanding of inequality and solidarity; and critical
in its analysis of power and advantage. Implications for policy and collective action are highlighted.

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· May 27

Here is a new preprint by Chyei Vinluan and Megan Burns that examines Asian American discrimination experiences during the first year of the pandemic and solidarity perceptions and behaviors: osf.io/preprints/ps...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-Asian sentiment rose dramatically, and Asian Americans experienced increased levels of discrimination. Simultaneously, many Asian Americans attendedBlack Lives Matter rallies alongside Black Americans. Our present research examines the relationship between Asian Americans’ discrimination experiences and solidarity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across three studies, we find evidence that Asian Americans who reportedmore (versus less) discrimination experiences during the height of the pandemic were more likely to report greater linked fate perceptions with Black Americans and participated in more activities advocating for racial equity for all racially minoritized groups. Discrimination experiences also predicted Asian Americans’ engagement in their communities. These findings support an understanding of solidarity between Asian and Black Americans through shared stigma experiences.

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· May 19

Incredible talk today by @scottkurashige.bsky.social at Asian Am Studies about his new book American Peril--which drew connections to colonial violence, counterrevolution, and the importance of coalitional solidarity (among many other things). Lots to think about and connect to work in psychology!

A picture of Scott Kurashige's new book American Peril

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· May 8

New preprint, Asian American mythology and pathways to solidarity by Chyei Vinluan, Iseul Cha-ju, and Daniel Sanji It's about how model minority mythology acts as a barrier to solidarity within Asian ethnic groups and btwn Asian and other marginalized groups. osf.io/preprints/ps...

Conceptual model, where model minority mythology creates barriers to inter ethnic and inter minority solidarity and how confronting that mythology is central to solidarity

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Apr 22

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this is a meme where one guy holds a knife and the other guy is like "no, don't knife me." Over the knife guy is the text "me agreeing to review a bunch of papers a month ago" and over the other guy is the text "me today"

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Mar 10

My views on activism and politics in science haven't changed much. You can get a pretty good sense of them in the spsp 2024 plenary I gave in San Diego (59:00 min there is this slide): youtu.be/pybPQBLvQeo?...

Slide reading "On politics inscience: who is politicizing science?"

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Mar 4

These studies found that the intervention increased support for inclusive anti-discrimination policies, and the study of those policies. Anyway, check out the paper here: online.ucpress.edu/collabra/art... ...and congratulations to A. Chyei Vinluan for bringing it into the world!

This is the impact of the intervention on inclusive equitable policy on our Asian Am samples. Reminders of Asian racism during the pandemic and information about how remote work protected some people tended to boost support for inclusive equitable policy relative to a control. Interestingly, simply reminding about the pandemic racism also tended to increase support for equitable policy.

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Mar 4

Our second study found that, of those working hybrid, Asian and Black workers who experienced racial discrimination at work felt more agency, less negative affect, less conflict, and equal in motivation in remote v. in-person work contexts...

These are plots how hybrid workers who were Black and Asian that experienced racism during the pandemic felt about hybrid work environments. Workers in both groups felt more agency in general and around conflict, also more positive affect, in remote settings v. in - person.

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Mar 4

Our first study found that Asian folks working remotely experienced less discrimination than those who had to work in person during early COVID-19.

This is a table showing some differences in proportion of racist experiences for Asian Ams working remotely or in-person during the pandemic.

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Jan 14

I'm currently reading 'Was that racist?' by Evelyn Carter and have really enjoyed both how relatable it is, as a fellow social psychologist in this space, and how insightful it is about some of the ways that people can begin to confront everyday racism. Pictures of me enjoying the book! 😅 ☕

picture of me reading the book, enjoying!

me pictured again reading the book, enjoying!

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Jan 12

The experimental condition of exposure to work mistreatment and information about third party procedure also increased positive attitudes toward unions more broadly!

Union Attitudes Across Conditions in Study 2.

Note: Positive attitudes toward labor unions as a function of experimental condition assignment for Study 2. Individual colored dots represent unique responses whereas single black dots indicate means and bands represent 95% confidence intervals. Higher scores indicate more positive union attitudes.

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Jan 12

In the paper, workers are exposed to common workplace conflicts (e.g., mistreatment by a boss), and then asked to consider involving HR or a third party (e.g., like a union) in mediating the conflict. Across studies, the third party was perceived as more aligned with worker goals than HR.

Graph showing perceived worker alignment with HR or a third party union procedure. Perceived alignment with the union and HR grievance procedures by experimental condition assignment for Study 3 (top) and Study 4 (bottom). Individual colored dots represent unique responses, whereas single black dots indicate means and bands represent 95% confidence intervals. Condition assignment is represented by color. Higher scores indicate greater perceived alignment. The graph shows greater preference for the third party union vs. HR in the exposure to conflict plus information about the third party procedure condition versus the information only condition.

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Nov 28

Me at dinner today.

Scene from pride and prejudice where the priest (Mr. Collins) compliments the Bennett family on their boiled potatoes.

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Nov 11

A detailed report on the pilot experiment is here: drive.google.com/file/d/1IEG6... The majority of our sample comes from marginalized backgrounds, where the cost of prepping, taking, and sending GRE scores would have the most impact in terms of time and cost. Here is a Likert scale result:

This is a chart showing school preferences for PhD programs. Participants answered whether "I would apply to this school" describes them with higher scores indicating it describes them better. In this chart, all non-GRE schools score higher than the GRE required schools on this item. GRE schools had significantly lower preferences than non-GRE schools matched on all other characteristics.

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Nov 11

I'm back! In this experiment we had 39 participants choose between 8 different PhD programs which varied in terms of region, application materials, prestige, and fees. Importantly, two of the programs had a GRE requirement and two were equivalent but did not:

This is a graph showing which PhD programs people decided to apply to in terms of frequency counts. Participants chose to apply to four schools of the eight in total and overwhelmingly chose the non-GRE required schools even when they were equivalent on all other descriptive characteristics to the GRE schools. Picture shows a graph with frequency of reported intention to apply to schools.

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Oct 30

Listen to @ryanlinnbrown.bsky.social and I chat about inequality. We talked about: -the ways social class impacts our psychology -the importance of scientists speaking clear and true to the public about what is happening in the world Listen here: www.stressmeasurement.org/podcast/epis...

picture of the stress puzzle podcast for episode 16 about inequality and how class shapes our lives. It's a picture of the podcast guest (me) Michael Kraus

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Oct 20

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Ongoing outage for CANVAS due to AWS incident, shows image of robots fixing a ship

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Aug 21

We argue for four practical shifts: (1) surface and question implicitly favored deficit models; (2) study, theorize about, and model domination/resistance (v. intent, motives); (3) embrace more complex designs with less control and more circumspect conclusions; and (4) apply cross-level analysis.

Historically, psychology has used measures and methods focused
on within-person psychological processes. As such, these methods are not particularly well suited to the complexity of how psychology relates to, causes or results from structures of inequality. For instance, analytic techniques that focus on the underlying psychology of a pattern of behaviour (such as mediation) do not easily lend themselves to understanding how that behaviour influences structures. Moreover, experimental methods that prioritize experimenter control between
conditions tend to shy away from the complexity of context by, for
instance, using vignettes about imagined societies87. Indeed, psychologists often conduct research with a ‘view from nowhere’ where one tiny subsection of human experience is meant to represent the full complexity and diversity of all of psychology13.
However, a functional account of the psychology of inequality
that seriously contends with the structures of inequality must embrace complexity; that is, how psychology is related to domination and resistance, shaped by the multiple identities of actors within that context88,89, related to macro-trends in societal organization, and influenced by current political and social movements90. Importantly, scales and experimental conditions designed and developed outside this rich complexity will be less able to elucidate structures of inequality than those developed within a context that accounts for how relationships to structures of inequality shape people’s experiences.

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Aug 21

We propose a functional focus as an alternative approach. This means our psych either results in consequences that (re)produce inequality or dismantles it. The key focus of analysis is result (v. intention, motive). This perspective is informed by social functional accounts of emotion and culture.

An example of a functional model of inequality as domination and resistance. Psychological processes that arise from the structural context promote actions that either support and reproduce structures of inequality or dismantle those structures.

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Aug 21

The paper de-centers two things within our discipline: (1) Deficit models that assume meritocracy and theorize inequality as a result of people and groups having more/less valued behavior (v. structures); and (2) Psych's tendency to focus on isolating specific internal explanatory mental processes.

Throughout its history, psychology has tended to examine the minds of individuals to better understand the mental states, cognitive processes and motivations that produce behaviour16. Such within-person approaches to psychology are important and useful. They help establish how people think and reason about information in the social world, learn, contend with and regulate affective states and differ on various behavioural dimensions. Perhaps owing to the utility of this
approach, psychology research on inequality has also attempted to
understand the unequal distribution of resources and opportunities
from a within-person perspective.

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Aug 20

Found a signed copy of the Latinos of Asia at the local used books shop! 🥳 @anthonyocampo.bsky.social

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Aug 8

A few years back we ran a summer internship at Yale, and one of the saddest things was ending that program. We're back! Special thanks to our lab community who worked together to make this opportunity special.

Student interns presenting their summer poster project

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Aug 1

Man alone at party meme where he says they don't know the progressive left has no opinion on men getting laid

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Jul 28

One thing we did as a class that I think you should do if you come to CHI is a tour of the street art. Some of the incredible scenes from our tour (and shouts to Brian who fit right in with our nerdy group): www.offbeatstreetarttour.com

Michael W. Kraus@mwkraus· Jun 27

My inbox continues to receive these glowing updates about NSF funding as NSF is kicked out of its own building.