HARDIN, CURTIS D. Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Biography

Research

My research focuses on the interpersonal foundations of cognition, including the self-concept, social identification, and prejudice. Most of my work in recent years has been animated by shared reality theory, which was developed in collaboration with Tory Higgins (Hardin & Conley, 2000; Hardin & Higgins, 1996; Sinclair, Hardin, & Lowery, in press). From this perspective, individual cognition and interpersonal relationships are mutually constructed and regulated through the achievement of "shared reality," which is a kind of working intersubjectivity, analogous to common ground in face-to-face communication. At heart, the theory postulates that particular cognitions are founded on and regulated by particular interpersonal relationships, and that particular cognitions in turn regulate interpersonal relationship dynamics. As such, shared reality theory complements lower level theories of cognitive representation on the one hand and higher level theories of social structure on the other hand. Though simple, shared reality theory is rich with implications. Here are a few discoveries we attribute to implications of the theory:

Automatic and unconscious racial prejudice is not only malleable but regulated by interpersonal relationship dynamics. Automatic and unconscious gender prejudice is not only malleable but regulated by interpersonal relationship dynamics. Self-conceptions about gender are implicitly regulated by interpersonal relationship dynamics. Self-conceptions regulate identification with significant others. Self-conceptions involving gender, ethnicity, and sexuality reflect a dynamic tension among different attitudes shared in different relationships. Interpersonal cooperation and perception is affected by tacit group-based assumptions attitude congruence.

Self-concepts are defended to the degree that they are founded in relationships with significant others.

Taken together, this research demonstrates the utility of understanding basic information processing in the context of interpersonal dynamics. Specific interpersonal relationships appear to be proximal foundations by which individual attitudes are established and maintained, and attitudes in turn appear to have consequences on subsequent interpersonal relationship trajectory.

---

Selected Publications

Gross, E, F., & Hardin, C. D. (2007). Implicit and explicit stereotyping of adolescents. Social Justice Research, 20, 140-160. PDF

Henry, P. J., & Hardin, C. D. (2006). The contact hypothesis revisited: Status bias in the reduction of implicit prejudice in the United States and Lebanon. Psychological Science, 17, 862-868. PDF

Sinclair, S., Hardin, C. D., & Lowery, B.S. (2006). Implicit self-stereotyping in the context of multiple social identities. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 529-542. PDF

Sinclair, S., Lowery, B.S., Hardin, C.D., & Colangelo, A. (2005). Social tuning of automatic racial attitudes: The role of affiliative orientation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 583-592. PDF

Sinclair, S., Huntsinger, J., Skorinko, J., & Hardin, C.D. (2005). Social tuning of the self: Consequences for the self-evaluations of stereotype targets. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 160-175. PDF

Pelham, B.W., Koole, S., Hardin, C.D., Hetts, J.J., Seah, E., & DeHart, T. (2005). Gender moderates the relation between implicit and explicit self-esteem. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 41, 84-89. PDF

Hardin, C. D. (2004). (Self-)conceptions as social actions. In J. T. Jost, D. Prentice, & M. R. Banaji (Eds.), The Yin and Yang of Social Cognition: Perspectives on the social psychology of thought systems. PDF

Lowery, B.S., Hardin, C. D., & Sinclair, S. (2001). Social influence on automatic racial prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 842-855. PDF

Hardin, C. D., & Conley, T. D. (2000). A relational approach to cognition: Shared experience and relationship affirmation in social cognition. In G. B. Moskowitz (Ed.), Future directions in social cognition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. PDF

Spalding, L. R., & Hardin, C. D. (1999). Unconscious unease and self-handicapping: Behavioral consequences of individual differences in implicit and explicit self-esteem. Psychological Science, 10, 535-539. PDF

Hardin, C. D., & Higgins, E. T. (1996). Shared reality: How social verification makes the subjective objective. In E. T. Higgins & R. M. Sorrentino (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition: The interpersonal context (Vol. 3). New York: Guilford. PDF

Banaji, M. R., Hardin, C., & Rothman, A. J. (1993). Implicit stereotyping in person judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 272-281. PDF

Hardin, C., & Banaji, M. R. (1993). The influence of language on thought. Social Cognition, 11, 277-308. PDF

Betancourt, H., Hardin, C., & Manzi, J. (1992). Beliefs, value orientation, and culture in attribution processes and helping behavior. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 23, 179-195.