School of Liberal Arts

Faculty

Allison Seitchik

Academic Title

Associate Professor, Psychology

Research Interests

  • Group Dynamics
  • Motivation
  • Research Methods
  • Social Psychology
  • Sport Psychology
  • Stereotypes and Biases

Research Summary

My primary research interest is in motivation and performance. Motivation is our drive, our passion, our reason to exert effort and achieve something. Most of the things we do have an end goal, whether it is to get an “A” in the class, be a good person, take out the trash, etc. I am interested in what motivates us — what drives us to act one way versus another way in order to achieve a goal — and why and how certain aspects of a situation influence us while others do not. In an other line of research, I examine the effects of implicit biases and stereotypes. I am interested in group processes, especially how individuals influence each other’s behaviors. For instance, how might implicit biases influence a juror’s decision-making process and, thus, influence other jurors’ decision-making processes?

Education

  • Ph.D., Psychology, Northeastern University
  • M.A., Psychology, Northeastern University
  • B.A., Psychology, George Washington University

Areas of Expertise

  • Gender
  • Implicit Bias
  • Motivation
  • Performance
  • Race and Ethnicity

Recent Publications

Parent, J. D., Seitchik, A. E., Lovelace, K., & Hardway, C. (in press). Enhancing team learning experiences in the classroom. Journal of the Academy of Business Education.

Hill, K. M., & Seitchik, A. E. (2020). Female consumers’ complaints: The way perceived power affects female consumers’ post-failure compensation. Business Horizons, 63(5), 647-658.

**Kurdi, B., **Seitchik, A. E., Axt, J., Carroll, T. J., Karapetyan, A., *Kaushik, N., Tomezsko, D., Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (2019). Relationship between the Implicit Association Test and intergroup behavior: A meta-analysis. American Psychologist, 74(5), 569–586. (**co-first authors, equal contributors)

Seitchik, A. E., Brown, A., & Harkins, S. G. (2016). Threat-induced potentiation of prepotent response model. In S. G. Harkins, K. Williams, and J. Burger (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of social influence. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Honors and Awards

  • Faculty Development Grant, Merrimack College, 2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021
  • Student Research-based Experiential Learning Micro-Grant, Interdisciplinary Institute, Merrimack College, 2018
  • Zampell Family Faculty Fellow, Merrimack College (2021-2022, 2019-2020)
  • Provost Innovation Fund, Merrimack College (2018-2019)