Science Student Spotlight: Donald Brown

CSP doctoral candidate Donald Brown maintains research interests in sociology of knowledge production and scientific practice(s), social identity development and maintenance over the lifespan, and critical theory development/application to the discipline of social psychology. Donald received an NSF doctoral dissertation research improvement grant to support him in completing his dissertation, which is currently entitled Social Identity, Scientific Practice, and the Production of Social Knowledge: An Ethnographic Investigation of Experimental Social Psychology. This project explores the construction and usage of social identity categories in the lab-based and experimental practices of social psychologists. Through ethnographic, interview, and content analysis methods, Donald intends to investigate how experimental social psychologists (as essential producers of social knowledge used in courts, schools, and social movements) characterize and use social identity categories in their work to explain human behavior in light of social environments. Upon completion, this research could provide useful insights to aid psychologists in responding to the social complexities associated with the groups they study.

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