Reeder to deliver Distinguished Professorship lecture

Psychology Professor Glenn D. Reeder will present his Distinguished Professorship Lecture, “Judging People Who Disagree with Us: Biased Mindreading?” on Wednesday, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m. in the Bone Student Center Prairie Room. A reception will immediately follow the program.

Reeder’s talk will focus on how people attribute motives and mental states to others, and the cognitive and motivational factors that underlie and lead to “seeing” motives in others.

Reeder has a specific interest in person perception, about which he co-authored a new theory in 1979. The research revealed a stark contrast between impressions of ability and morality. Impressions of a person’s ability are based primarily on the person’s most impressive behavior while impressions of morality are based on the person’s worst behavior. As an extension of his interest in person perception, Reeder has worked with Illinois State Professor John Pryor on issues of stigma and prejudice surrounding HIV/AIDS and mental illness.

Reeder received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Barbara. His work has been published in leading journals, including the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and he has presented at major universities in the U.S., Europe and New Zealand. Reeder has secured more than $2 million in grants from organizations such as the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and he is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, The Society of Experimental Social Psychology, the American Psychological Association and the Midwestern Psychological Association.

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