Jacob Appleby is an assistant professor of Psychology in Â鶹ÊÓƵAPK’s College of Liberal Arts. Dr. Appleby’s research straddles social and political psychology with an emphasis on how stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination undermine social and societal functioning. For example, some of his work involves how liberals and conservatives view themselves and each other and how those perceptions affect civility and political engagement. He also has several projects dealing with how racial attitudes influence social behavior, political attitudes, and legal judgments. Dr. Appleby’s projects often involve varied methodologies and data, including laboratory experiments, nationally-representative surveys, social media and search engine data, linguistic analysis, geographic data, and congressional records.
Dr. Appleby earned his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Minnesota in 2018. He received a minor in Political Psychology and was an active member of the UMN’s Center for the Study of Political Psychology. Dr. Appleby received his B.A. from the University of Iowa with a minor in sociology. His appreciation of interdisciplinary work started at Iowa as he earned a certificate in the Philosophies and Ethics of Politics, Law, and Economics. Prior to joining the faculty at Â鶹ÊÓƵAPK, Dr. Appleby spent two years as a visiting assistant professor in the Psychology Department of Tulane University in New Orleans.
Dr. Appleby’s students learn how psychological science informs their everyday experiences from their perceptions, attitudes, and emotions to their relationships, identities, and group memberships. He does his best to make the concepts and findings accessible and memorable by helping students make personal connections to the material through examples and interactive activities. Of equal importance, students in Dr. Appleby’s classes also bolster the ability to think critically and skeptically about sources of information inside and outside of the classroom. Understanding the biases and motivations in ourselves and others is key to becoming an effective communicator and an informed consumer of science and media.
“I want my students to learn to be skeptical without being cynical. Psychology provides ample opportunities to learn to separate claims backed by strong evidence from opinion and propaganda.â€
- Jacob Appleby
