Brett Pelham is a Program Director in the Social Psychology Program at the National Science Foundation, where he also participates in working groups on topics such as climate change, public understanding of science, and technology and education.

Prior to joining the National Science Foundation, Dr. Pelham was an associate professor of psychology at UCLA and then at the University at Buffalo. His past research focused on the self, social judgment, close relationships, stereotypes, and well-being, with a special emphasis on implicit processes such as implicit egotism. Just prior to joining NSF, Brett was a senior research analyst at Gallup.

His most recent work on implicit egotism focuses on moderators and mediators of preferences for people places and things that resemble the self (e.g., implicit self-esteem, culture, intuitive judgment styles). Other recent recent research, led by Mitsuru Shimizu, has focused on the role of culture in social support and health in 148 countries. He is also working on a project, led by Mauricio Carvallo, on the role of close relationships in perceived consensus for social beliefs (aka, the interpersonal false consensus effect). With Curtis Hardin and Steve Crabtree, he is working on a project that documents U.S. regional moderators of the contact effect in intergroup relations. Finally, he is working on a worldwide study of the connection between women's social status and women's life expectancy.

Primary Interests:

Applied Social Psychology
Causal Attribution
Culture and Ethnicity
Gender Psychology
Health Psychology
Intergroup Relations
Interpersonal Processes
Judgment and Decision Making
Person Perception
Prejudice and Stereotyping
Self and Identity
Social Cognition

Applied Social Psychology
Causal Attribution
Culture and Ethnicity
Gender Psychology
Health Psychology
Intergroup Relations
Interpersonal Processes

Judgment and Decision Making
Person Perception
Prejudice and Stereotyping
Self and Identity
Social Cognition

Books:

Pelham, B. W., & Blanton, H. (2007). Conducting research in psychology: Measuring the weight of smoke (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning.

Journal Articles:

Blanton. H., Pelham, B. W., DeHart, T., & Carvallo, M. (2001). Overconfidence as dissonance reduction. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 37, 373-385.
DeHart, T., Pelham, B. W., & Tennen, H. (2006). What lies beneath: Parenting style and implicit self-esteem. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 1-17.
Hetts, J. J., Sakuma, M., & Pelham, B. W. (1999). Two-roads to positive regard: Implicit and explicit self-evaluation and culture. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35, 512-559.
Jones, J. T., Pelham, B. W., Carvallo, M., & Mirenberg, M. C. (2004). How do I love thee? Let me count the Js: Implicit egotism and interpersonal attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87(5), 665-683.
Jones, J. T., Pelham, B. W., Mirenberg, M. C., & Hetts, J. J. (2002). Name letter preferences are not merely mere exposure: Implicit egotism as self-regulation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 170-177.
Pelham, B. W. (1995). Self-investment and self-esteem: Evidence for a Jamesian model of self-worth. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 1141-1150.
Pelham, B. W., & Hetts, J. J. (2002). Underworked and overpaid: Elevated entitlement in men's self-pay. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
Pelham, B. W., Mirenberg, M. C., & Jones, J. K. (2002). Why Susie sells seashells by the seashore: Implicit egotism and major life decisions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 469-487.
Pelham, B. W., & Neter, E. (1995). The effect of motivation on judgment depends on the difficulty of the judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 581-594.
Pelham, B. W., Sumarta, T. T., & Myaskovsky, L. (1994). The easy path from many to much: The numerosity heuristic. Cognitive Psychology, 26, 103-133.
Pelham, B. W., & Wachsmuth, J. O. (1995). The waxing and waning of the social self: Assimilation and contrast in social comparison. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 825-838.

Other Publications:

Hetts, J. J., & Pelham, B. W. (2002). Non-conscious aspects of the self-concept. In G. Moscowitz (Ed.), Cognitive social psychology: The Princeton symposium. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Koole, S. L., & Pelham, B. W. (in press). On the nature of implicit self-esteem: The case of the name letter effect. To appear in S. Spencer, S. Fein, & M. Zanna (Eds.), Motivated Social Perception: The Ninth Ontario Symposium.

Courses Taught:

Experimental Research Methods
Introductory Social Psychology
Person Perception and Stereotypes
Psychological Statistics
Research Methods in Social Psychology
Social Cognition
Social Cognition (Graduate)
Social Psychology (Graduate)
Social Psychology in Film
The Self-Concept

Experimental Research Methods
Introductory Social Psychology
Person Perception and Stereotypes
Psychological Statistics
Research Methods in Social Psychology
Social Cognition

Social Cognition (Graduate)
Social Psychology (Graduate)
Social Psychology in Film
The Self-Concept

Brett Pelham
Social Psychology Program
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230
United States

Phone: (703) 292-7304
Fax: (703) 292-9068