Gandalf Nicolas

Gandalf Nicolas studies how people make sense of the social world. His research is at the intersection of social cognition and interdisciplinary quantitative methods (e.g., machine learning and natural language processing). Specific topics include spontaneous stereotyping, perceptions of individuals who belong to multiple social groups (e.g., Multiracial, and intersectional identities), first impressions based on facial appearance, and social biases in Artificial Intelligence. Gandalf received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Princeton University. 

Publications:

• Nicolas, G., & Fiske, S. T. (2023). Valence biases and emergence in the stereotype content of intersecting social categories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. https://doi.org/ 10.1037/xge0001416

• Nicolas, G., Bai, X., & Fiske, S. T. (2022). A spontaneous stereotype content model: Taxonomy, properties, and prediction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 123(6), 1243–1263. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000312

• Nicolas, G., Skinner, A. L., & Dickter, C. L. (2019). Other than the sum: Hispanic and Middle Eastern categorizations of Black-White mixed-race faces. Social and Personality Psychological Science, 10(4), 532-541. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550618769591

Media Appearances/Speaking Engagements:

• Nicolas, G. (2023, August). Social categorization and stereotypes in humans and generative AI. Adobe’s Equitable Tech Talks.

• Nicolas, G. (2023, August). Intergroup bias at the intersection of social psychology and artificial intelligence language models. American Psychological Association 2023 Convention (Division 8) invited address, Washington, DC.

• Nicolas, G., Bai, X., & Fiske, S. (2023, February). The Spontaneous Stereotype Content Model: understanding stereotyping using free responses and natural language processing. 2023 Annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.

Accomplishments:

• Publication: Nicolas, G., & Fiske, S. T. (2023). Valence biases and emergence in the stereotype content of intersecting social categories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. https://doi.org/ 10.1037/xge0001416

• Publication: Nicolas, G., Bai, X., & Fiske, S. T. (2022). A spontaneous stereotype content model: Taxonomy, properties, and prediction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 123(6), 1243–1263. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000312

• Publication: Nicolas, G., Skinner, A. L., & Dickter, C. L. (2019). Other than the sum: Hispanic and Middle Eastern categorizations of Black-White mixed-race faces. Social and Personality Psychological Science, 10(4), 532-541. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550618769591

Upcoming Projects:

• Publications on bias in AI, including examining a taxonomy of stereotypes and exploring intersectional biases

• Publications on perceptions of economic inequality at the intersection of race and gender

• Publications on the relationship between stigma and concealable stigmatized identities

My work deals with issues of social and racial justice in multiple ways. First, I study stereotypes associated with salient social groups (including those defined along racial lines). I examine the content of these stereotypes (e.g., are they about warmth, competence?) and how they are reproduced in AI technologies. I also study face perception, including how people use facial cues to categorized "racially ambiguous" faces into specific racial categories (e.g., "multiracial" or "Hispanic"). Other research also touches on these issues, including perceptions of intersecting social categories and stigma.