Jennifer J. Ratcliff

Dr.. Jennifer J. Ratcliff , Ph.D

(She/Her/Hers)

Professor (Psychology), Committee Member (President’s Council on Diversity & Inclusion)
(585) 395-2685
jratclif@brockport.edu
Office: Holmes Hall 137

Bio

Dr. Ratcliff’s research centers on understanding the antecedents to prejudice, discrimination, and stigma, and the impact of such stigma on marginalized individuals. She has a focus on risk and protective factors for marginalized individuals who have experienced bullying. More recently, her research has examined effective methods for combating prejudice and discrimination.

Education

  • PhD, Experimental Social Psychology, Ohio University - 2007
    Concentration: Quantitative methods
  • M.S., Experimental Social Psychology, Ohio University - 2004
  • M.S., Community Counseling, University of Dayton - 2001
  • B.S., Psychology, Slippery Rock University - 1996

Areas of Specialty

Prejudice and Discrimination

Stigma

Bullying

Racial Biases in the Legal System

Courses Taught

  • Social Psychology
  • Research Methods
  • Prejudice and Discrimination
  • Advanced Social Psychology
  • Psychology and the Law
  • Advanced Research Experience in Psychology
  • Western Europe: The International Study of Culture and Customs
  • Understanding Intergroup Relations in New Zealand

Research Interests

  • The experience of stigma and marginalization
  • Posttraumatic growth following experiences with bullying
  • Factors that impact willingness to confront prejudice
  • Stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination
  • Social Perception
  • The role of race in juror decision making

Research Descriptions

  • Dr. Ratcliff’s primary program of research centers on understanding the antecedents to prejudice, discrimination, and stigma, as well as the impact of such stigma on marginalized individuals. Much of her work has focused on sexual orientation-based prejudice and stigma in particular. Her recent work has focused on understanding risk and protective factors for individuals who have been the targets of bullying. In a new line of research, Dr. Ratcliff is examining factors that impact the confrontation of prejudice.
  • In her second line of research, Dr. Ratcliff explores the influence of perceptual factors on social judgment. More precisely, she examines the impact of perceptual constraints such as the relative salience of one actor over another during an ongoing interaction on the way people interpret and ultimately evaluate videotaped criminal confessions. Her recent work in this area examined the role of suspect and detective race in exacerbating or attenuating a racial salience bias during police interrogations.