Academic Research | David J. Lick

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My academic research focused on first impressions -- the split-second judgments we make when first encountering objects or people. Although fleeting, these judgments have important consequences, guiding everything from romantic partner selection to criminal sentencing and product purchase decisions. I studied two aspects of first impressions:

1) Perceptual Causes: What are the perceptual processes underlying first impressions? How do our brains translate basic sensory cues into evaluative judgments such as attractive/unattractive, friendly/hostile, or intelligent/unintelligent? What role does prior experience play in determining our preferences for some stimuli over others?

2) Downstream Consequences: What are consequences of negative first impressions? How do targets of prejudice cope with negative evaluations from others? In particular, how do negative social experiences contribute to psychological and physiological health outcomes for members of marginalized groups?

My research combined theories and methods from social psychology, cognition, vision science, and behavioral economics to address these questions. Dive deeper by checking out the publications below for a deeper look.

PUBLICATIONS

Alt, N. P., Lick, D. J., & Johnson, K. L. (In press). The straight categorization bias: A motivated and altruistic reasoning account. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Alt, N. P., Lick, D. J., Hunger, J., & Johnson, K. L. (2019). Evaluative implications of intersecting body weight and other social categories: The role of typicality. Body Image, 31, 19-23.

Alt, N. P., Goodale, B., Lick, D. J., & Johnson, K. L. (2019). Threat in the company of men: Ensemble perception and threat evaluations of groups varying in sex ratio. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10, 152-159.

Goodale, B. M., Alt, N. P., Lick, D. J., & Johnson, K. L. (2018). Groups at a glance: Perceivers infer social belonging in a group based on perceptual summaries of sex ratio. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 147, 1660-1676.

Lick, D. J., & Johnson, K. L. (2018). Facial cues to race and gender interactively guide age judgments. SocialCognition, 36, 497-516.

Pauker, K., Carpinella, C. M., Lick, D. J., Sanchez, D. T., & Johnson, K. L. (2018). Malleability in biracial categorizations: The impact of geographic context and targets’ racial heritage. Social Cognition, 36, 461-480.

Lick, D. J., Alter, A. L., & Freeman, J. B. (2018). Superior pattern detectors efficiently learn, activate, apply, and update social stereotypes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 147, 209-227.

Lick, D. J., & Johnson, K. L. (2016). Perceptually mediated preferences and prejudices. Psychological Inquiry, 27, 335-340.

Pachankis, J. E., & Lick, D. J. (In press). Sexual minority stigma and health. In B. Major, J. F. Dovidio, & G. Link (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Stigma, Discrimination, and Health (pp. 477-498). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Lick, D. J., & Johnson, K. L. (2016). Straight until proven gay: A systematic bias toward straight categorizations in sexual orientation perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 110, 801-817.

Lick, D. J., Cortland, C. I., & Johnson, K. L. (2016). The pupils are the windows to sexuality: Pupil dilation as a visual cue to others’ sexual interest. Evolution and Human Behavior, 37, 117-124.

Lick, D. J., Johnson, K. L., & Rule, N. O. (2015). Disfluent processing helps to explain anti-bisexual prejudice. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 39, 257-288.

Lick, D. J., & Johnson, K. L. (2015). Intersecting race and gender cues are associated with perceptions of gay men’s preferred sexual roles. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 44, 1471-1481.

Lick, D. J., & Johnson, K. L. (2015). The interpersonal consequences of processing ease: Fluency as a metacognitive foundation for prejudice. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24, 143-148.

Lick, D. J., Johnson, K. L., & Riskind, R. G. (2015). “Haven’t I seen you before?” Straight men are vigilant to gender-atypical faces, especially when their masculinity is threatened. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 18, 131-152.

Johnson, K. L., Lick, D. J., & Carpinella, C. M. (2015). Emergent research in social vision: An integrated approach to the determinants and consequences of social categorization. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 9, 15-30.

Lick, D. J., & Johnson, K. L. (2014). “You can’t tell just by looking!” Beliefs in the diagnosticity of visual cues predict response biases in social categorization. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 1494-1506.

Lick, D. J., Johnson, K. L., & Gill, S. V. (2014). Why do they have to flaunt it? Perceptions of communicative intent explain antigay prejudice based upon brief exposure to nonverbal cues. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5, 927-935.

Lick, D. J., & Johnson, K. L. (2014). Perceptual roots of antigay prejudice: Negative evaluations of sexual minority targets arise early in person perception on the basis of visibly gendered features. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 1178-1192.

Lick, D. J., & Johnson, K. L. (2014). Recalibrating gender perception: Face aftereffects and the perceptual underpinnings of gender-related biases in social perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143, 1259-1276.

Lick, D. J., & Johnson, K. L. (2013). Fluency of visual processing explains prejudiced evaluations following categorization of concealable identities. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 419-425.

Lick, D. J., Johnson, K. L., & Gill, S. V. (2013). Deliberate changes to gendered body motion influence basic social perceptions. Social Cognition, 31, 657-672.

Lick, D. J., Carpinella, C. M., Preciado, M. A., Spunt, R. P., & Johnson, K. L. (2013). Reverse-correlating mental representations of sex-typed bodies: The impact of number of trials on image quality. Frontiers in Perception Science, 4, 476.

Lick, D. J., Durso, L. E., & Johnson, K. L. (2013). Minority stress and physical health among sexual minorities. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8, 521-548.

Lick, D. J., Patterson, C. J., & Schmidt, K. M. (2013). Recalled social experiences and current psychological adjustment among adults reared by gay and lesbian parents. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 9, 230-253.

Lick, D. J., Tornello, S. L., Riskind, R. G., Schmidt, K. M., & Patterson, C. J. (2012). Social climate for sexual minorities predicts well-being among heterosexual offspring of lesbian and gay parents. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 9, 99-112.

Lick, D. J., Schmidt, K. M., & Patterson, C. J. (2011). The Rainbow Families Scale (RFS): A measure of social experiences among individuals with lesbian and gay parents. Journal of Applied Measurement, 12, 222-241.

FUNDING