Mary Kite

Curriculum Vita

Breaking the Prejudice Habit: Virginia Ball Center Symposium

Measures of Attitudes Toward Homosexuality

I received my Ph.D. in social psychology from Purdue University in 1987. I am currently Professor of Psychological Science at Ball State University.

I am currently Past-President of the Midwestern Psychological Association (www.midwesternpsych.org)

My colleague Bernie Whitley and I have published two textbooks:

The Psychology of Prejudice and Discrimination is available from Cengage Learning (Wadsworth).

Principles of Behavioral Science Research is forthcoming from Taylor and Francis.

My research focuses on gender and how our beliefs about gender intersect with our beliefs about other groups. For example, much of my work has focused on attitudes toward and beliefs about gay men and lesbians and how these are linked to our attitudes and beliefs about men and women more generally. I am also interested in how our gender associated beliefs influence our beliefs about the elderly.

My meta-analysis comparing attitudes toward younger and older adults (co-authored with Gary Stockdale, Bernie Whitley, and Blair Johnson) is available here. This paper appeared in Journal of Social Issues, 61, 241-266.

Another area of interest is women's achievement and the factors that promote and hinder women's success, particularly in academics. I am particulary interested in what has been labeled the "chilly climate" for women (Sander & Hall, 1982) and how that influences women's academic achievement.

Some of my work has focused on measuring attitudes toward homosexuality. The measures I have developed are here.