Faculty/Staff Information

University of California, Santa Barbara                                              

Ph.D. in Social Psychology

Advisor: Brenda Major

Dissertation: “The Impact of Intergroup Suspicion on Ethnic Minorities’ Sense of Identity Compatibility and Belonging at University”

California State University, Northridge                                                    

M.A. in General Experimental Psychology with an emphasis in Social Psychology

Advisor: Debbie S. Ma

Master’s Thesis: “The Role of Prototypic Physical Features in Racial Identification”

California State University, Northridge                                                                

B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Chicano Studies

Cum Laude

Introductory Psychology

Social Psychology

Introduction to Research Methods

Cultural Psychology 

Psychology of Women and Gender

Our nation is becoming increasingly diverse. Recent projections estimate that racial/ethnic minorities will compose the majority of the U.S. population by 2050 (Colby & Ortman, 2015). The bulk of my work examines how the increasing level of diversity in the United States may influence cross-race interactions, the racial categorization of racially ambiguous group members, and the social perception of individuals who possess multiple social identities. 

Espino-Pérez, K. Major, B., & Malta, B. (2018). Was it race or merit?: The cognitive costs of observing the attributionally ambiguous hiring of a minority. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology.  (link)

Chen, J.M., Geerling, D.M., Norman, J.B., Espino-Pérez, K., & Gable, S.L. (under review). In good times and bad: Social support from faculty and peers predicts STEM Doctoral students’ outcomes.

Prather, A.A., Gordon, A.M., Dover, T., Espino-Pérez, K., Small, P. & Major, B. (under review). Impact of perceived and anticipated discrimination on global sleep quality among Latinx young adults.

Kiang, L., Espino-Pérez, K., & Stein, G. (under review). Discrimination, skin color satisfaction, and adjustment among Latinx American youth.

Kunstman, J.W., Fitzpatrick, C.B., Moreno, R., Bernstein, M.J., Hugenberg, K., Semko, S., Major, B., & Espino-Pérez, K. (under review). Suspicion in the classroom: Suspicion of instructor motives undermine classroom dynamics for Black college students.