Anita Kim

Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology
Ph.D. Candidate, University of Minnesota

Department of Psychology
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-4235

Office: 268 Psychology Building
email: anitakim@tamu.edu
Phone: (979) 845-2581
Fax: (979) 845-4727

The focus of my research is on the respective roles of people’s self-interested concerns versus their value systems as they evaluate social policies. Although most people consider self-interest to be one of the most important motivators of human behavior, some evidence indicates that people rely heavily on their values when evaluating social policies. Using multiple methods and diverse samples, I have explored the factors and conditions that bear on the question of whether self-interest or values are more useful in predicting people’s policy evaluations.

I am also interested in how social science has been used as evidence in the courtroom, especially with respect to discrimination cases. Since Brown v. Board of Education (1954), social scientists have presented research evidence to affect legal outcomes. However, social science evidence is often met with criticism in the courtroom, with many decrying it as "junk science." I am interested in the practical use of social science as evidence, arguing that if it meets the rules of evidence, it should be permitted to inform fact-finders about the context of the case.

Kim, A., Borgida, E., Stark, E., & Pickens, B. (in press). The role of symbolic beliefs and self-interest in attitudes toward the regulation of tobacco products. Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

Hunt, C.V., Kim, A., Borgida, E., & Chaiken, S. (revised and resubmitted). The effect of temporal perspective on policy preference and attitude structure. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

Stark, E., Borgida, E., Kim, A., & Pickens, B. (2008). Understanding public attitudes toward tobacco harm reduction: The role of attitude structure. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38, 2615-2635.

Borgida, E., Deason, G., Kim, A., & Fiske, S. (2009). Stereotyping research and employment discrimination: Time to see the forest for the trees. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice.

Stark E., Kim., A., Miller, C., & Borgida, E. (2008). Effects of including a graphic warning label in advertisements for tobacco products: Implications for persuasion and policy. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38, 281-293.

Borgida, E., & Kim, A. (2007). Reflections on being an expert witness in class action sex discrimination litigation. In F.J. Crosby, M.S. Stockdale, & S.A.Ropp (Eds.), Sex discrimination in the workplace (pp. 117-129). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Borgida, E., Kim, A., Stark, E., & Miller, C. (2007). Consumers and the allure of "safer" tobacco products: Scientific and policy issues. In C. Haugtvedt, F. Kardes, & P. Herr (Eds.), Handbook of Consumer Psychology (pp. 915-932). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates.

Borgida, E., Hunt, C., & Kim, A. (2005). On the use of gender stereotyping research in sex discrimination litigation. Journal of Law and Policy, 8(3), 613-628.

Link to Vita