Racial code-switching (i.e., adjusting one’s speech, appearance, and behavior to mirror specific norms or social groups) places a major burden on ethnic minority populations who must actively manage their social identities in academic and professional settings to avoid facing bias or exclusion. This presentation will examine racial code-switching among several large studies to highlight the important psychological and professional implications that are experienced by Americans from several distinct ethnic backgrounds.

Dr. Myles Durkee (he/him) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Pomona College and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology: Applied Developmental Science from the University of Virginia. He also completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan. Dr. Durkee is a psychologist who examines the dynamics of racial code-switching, cultural invalidations, and racial discrimination to understand how these racial experiences influence important psychosocial outcomes (such as mental health, identity development & academic achievement). Broadly, his program of research examines how people of color navigate racial contexts, modify their racial behavior to fit into certain contexts, and internalize messages about their cultural identity from individuals inside and outside of their racial group.

The RCGD Seminar Series on the Social Psychology of Systemic Racism meets Mondays from 3:30 to 5 at ISR Thompson 1430. When speaker permission is given, events will be recorded and posted within a few weeks to YouTube.

The Social Psychology of Systemic Racism
What are the points of connection between structures and individuals when we think about bias? In the Fall 2024 RCGD Seminar Series “The Social Psychology of Systemic Racism,” an all-star lineup of behavioral and political psychologists will define what, in their words, makes systemic racism systemic, and how extra-individual levels of analysis could be incorporated in social psychological theories and methods.

Group Dynamics Seminar Series
The Group Dynamics Seminar series is considered one of the longest running seminar series in the social sciences. It has been running uninterruptedly since it was founded by Kurt Lewin in the 1920’s in Berlin. The seminar series runs every semester on a theme chosen by faculty organizer/s who are affiliated with the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Institute for Social Research. A very important feature of this seminar today is its interdisciplinary nature. Recent themes have included political polarization, evolution and human behavior, and cultural psychology