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  Social Change Lab
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Identities in Action: 
Working through conflict for the collective good

​Humans working together for good and evil achieve amazing and terrifying feats, reach heights and depths of indescribable emotion, and believe the strangest things.  Our lab is interested in all the complexities of intergroup relations and group processes.  We study stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination as well as allyship and coalitions - cooperation and respect as well as collective harm-doing. 
 
How do people become motivated to confront or ignore injustice? And how do they learn to act out or to challenge social norms? How do political, religious, or cultural identities form and change? How can we strengthen or weaken a democracy? These are topics we engage in our research. 
 
In general, our lab focuses on the changing social context rather than personality variables. And Winnifred has a mad passion for understanding the role of social norms (groups’ standards or rules for behaviour).  The dominant questions running through our research are: how does who we are influence what we think is right; and how do people act out, resist, and change social rules?

Current Research Projects

Solidarity & Allyship

Tulsi Achia investigates when and how helping disadvantaged groups can go wrong.

Identities & Norms in Action

Winnifred Louis explores how identities and norms influence individuals' attitudes and actions.

Religious Collective Action

Susilo Wibisono asks how social identities influence collective action within religious movements.

Sustained Group-based Efforts and Social Change

Hema Selvanathan asks how social change and the maintenance of the status quo are achieved through sustained group-based efforts. 

Global Pro-inclusion Norms and Social Change

Michael Sweigart explores the psychological characteristics of individuals and groups who resist global pro-inclusion norms. 

Norm Perception and Social Change

Léïla Eisner investigates how people perceive societal norms about disadvantaged groups.

Group Aggressiveness and Mass Crime

Eunike M. Himawan asks how an individual’s moral choices can be compromised due to their membership in a certain group.

Terrorism, Radicalization and Deradicalization

Mukhamay Surya studies the psychology of terrorism, radicalization and deradicalization.

Terrorism Studies and Social identity

Muhammad Syafiq asks how former terrorists transform their identities and reintegrate into society

Historical Research Projects

Identity Change

Norms that Romanticise Abuse

Identities & Inequality

Gi Chonu is seeking to understand why people change their political or religious identities and what impact changes have.
Kiara Minto researches how norms influence responses to violent behaviour in intimate relationships.
Zahra Mirnajafi examines how identities shape and are informed by experiences of inequality & discrimination.

Our Collaborators

At the University of Queensland:

Elsewhere:

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​Social Change Lab supports crowdfunding of the research and support for the team! To donate to the lab, please click the button below! (Tax deductible receipts are provided via UQ’s secure donation website.)  If you’d like to fund a specific project or student internship, you can also reach out directly!
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Location

Social Change Lab
School of Psychology
McElwain Building
​The University of Queensland
St Lucia, QLD 4072
Australia
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We acknowledge the Jagera people and Turrbal people as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of Meanjin (Brisbane), the lands on which the Social Change Lab is physically located and where we meet, work and live. We celebrate the culture and traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders of all communities who also work and live on this land. We pay our respects to their Ancestors and their descendants, who continue cultural and spiritual connections to Country. We recognise their valuable contributions to Australian and global society.
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  • Home
  • Democracy
    • Australian Democracy and Human Rights Festival 2025 (#AFDHR25)
  • Research
    • Identities in Action
    • Doing Good
    • Publications
  • People
  • Resources
    • For Change Agents
    • For Students
    • COVID19
    • PEPSS
    • Leapfrog
    • Forward
    • JAMOVI for Psychology Scholars
    • Voices for Reconciliation through the Generations in Psychology: A project of the Reconciliation Working Group in the School of Psychology at the University of Queensland
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Videos
  • Privacy Policy