Our Lab

Pia Dietze (PI)

I received my BA in Psychology from UC Berkeley and my PhD in Social Psychology at NYU. I am currently an Assistant Professor of Psychological Science at UC Irvine. Broadly, my research focuses on the consequences and antecedents of societal inequality.

Click here for my CV.

Graduate students

Ishita Singhal

I am a fourth year Ph.D. student here in the Department of Psychological Science. I study how individuals conceptualise and respond to social inequalities and privilege, and the real-world implications this may have for outcomes like policy support and admission/hiring decisions. I hope to contribute to the diversification of psych science and improving science communication to drive greater societal impact. Email: singhali@uci.edu

Christian Beltran

I'm a 3nd year Ph.D. student in the Psychological Science Department (Social/Personality area) here at UC Irvine. My primary research interests focus on the role of morality, social identity, and social cognition in intergroup conflicts (e.g., politics). Through my research, I aim to expand upon methods for bridging social divides, encouraging civility in political discourse, and sharing research with non-academic audiences. Email: ctbeltra@uci.edu

Justin Mikell

I’m a second-year doctoral student in the Psychological Science Department here at UC Irvine. I’m primarily interested in how people conceptualize different biases (racial, gender, etc.), and how that conceptualization may influence how they view societal issues and/or solutions to those issues. Email: jmikell@uci.edu

Brittany Kester

 I am a first-year Ph.D. student in Psychology at the University of California, Irvine. My research centers on understanding and addressing structural inequality and privilege, with a particular focus on how policy reform can create more equitable systems. I’m interested in examining how social, political, and institutional structures perpetuate disparities—and how interdisciplinary collaboration can be used to promote fairness and inclusion. Grounded in both personal experience and academic inquiry, my work seeks to bridge theory and practice by understanding how people perceive inequality and privilege in order to inform policies and systems that drive meaningful, sustainable social change.