Ph.D., Boston University
A.B., Wheaton College

Faye Crosby is a social psychologist specializing in social justice. She is interested in the relation between objective (i.e., consensual) and subjective reality; she has looked at individual attitudes in the context of social change and stability.

While testing the theory of relative deprivation, Professor Crosby discovered a phenomenon entitled "the denial of personal disadvantage." Crosby found that people typically imagine themselves to be exempt from the injustices that they can recognize as affecting their membership or reference groups. One line of her research documents the cognitive and motivational bases of the denial of personal disadvantage.

Given how widespread is the denial of personal disadvantage, organizations need to avert unrest through monitoring and other proactive systems like affirmative action. Yet affirmative action is very controversial. Professor Crosby's current work investigates the bases of people's reactions to affirmative action. She is now using her affirmative action work to launch a new series of studies on how people can undertake non-revolutionary changes in rules that come to be revealed as unfair. She is also examining other ways, such as mentoring, of enhancing the peaceful evolution of work organizations.

Note: Professor Crosby is not accepting new graduate students at this time.

Gender, social identity, and social justice, especially affirmative action.

Crosby, F.J. and Sabattini, L. Family and work balance. In J. Worell and Carol Goodheart (Eds.), Handbook of Girls’ and Women’s Psychological Health. New York: Oxford University Press. In press.

Iyer, A., Franco, J. L., and Crosby, F. J. Justice theory. In J. M. Burns, G. R. Goethals, and G. Sorensen (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Leadership. Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing Group. In press.

Elizondo, E. and Crosby, F.J. Attitudes toward affirmative action as a function of the strength of ethnic identity among Latino college students. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. In press.

Crosby, F.J., Biernat, M., and Williams, J. The maternal wall: Introduction. Journal of Social Issues. In press.

Affirmative action is dead: Long live affirmative action. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.

Stockdale, M.S. and Crosby, F.J. (Eds.) The Psychology and Management of Workplace Diversity. Boston: Blackwell, 2004.

Lubensky, M.E., Holland, S.L., Wiethoff, C.M. and Crosby, F.J. Diversity and sexual orientation: Including and valuing sexual minorities in the workplace. In M.S. Stockdale and F.J. Crosby (Eds.), The Psychology and Management of Workplace Diversity (pp. 206-223). Boston: Blackwell, 2004.

Crosby, F.J. and Blake-Beard, S. Affirmative action: Diversity, merit, and the benefit of white people. In M. Fine, L. Weis, L.C. Powell & L. M. Wong (Eds.), Off White: Readings on Race, Power, and Society. 2nd edition (pp. 146-160). New York: Routledge, 2004.

Crosby, F.J., Iyer, A., Clayton, S., and Downing, R. Affirmative action: Psychological data and the policy debates. American Psychologis, 2003, 58, 93-115

Iyer, A, Leach, C.W., and Crosby, F.J. White guilt and racial compensation: The benefits and limits of self focus. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2003. 29, 117-129.

Sabattini, L. and Crosby, F.J. Problematizing problems. Feminism and Psychology, 2003, 13, 265-273.