I am a social psychologist interested in how people’s identities and lived experience predict whether they use ideological beliefs to justify, resist, or qualify different systems in society. I teach Statistics I and II, Research Methods II, Social Psychology, and Adolescent Psychology. I am passionate about teaching, and my goal is to help students become critical independent thinkers, effective problem solvers, strong writers, supportive team members, and lifelong learners. My students participate actively in their education by exploring topics of their own interest, thinking deeply about issues and how class material relates to current events and their own lives, and sharing what they have learned through their own research. As the faculty advisor of DePaul’s chapter of Psi Chi (The International Honor Society in Psychology), I help student officers plan and coordinate monthly meetings and events to encourage student scholarship and prepare undergraduates for graduate school and/or their future career.
Education
PhD, Experimental Psychology, DePaul University, 2010
MA, Experimental Psychology, DePaul University, 2006
BA, Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2004
Major Areas of Interest
- Ideological beliefs
- System justification and resistance
- Legitimacy
- Status differences
- Social Justice
- Meaning
Representative Sample of Publications
Reyna, C., & Zimmerman, J. L. (2017). Issues of status and power in interracial problems and solutions. In A. Blume (Ed.), Social Issues in Living Color: Challenges and Solutions from the Perspective of Ethnic Minority Psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 231-260). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
Zimmerman, J., & Reyna, C. (2013). The meaning and role of ideology
in system justification and resistance for high and low status people. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105, 1-23.