Nicole M. Stephens is an Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations at Kellogg School of Management. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Stanford University and her B.A. from Williams College. As a social and cultural psychologist, her research explores the ways in which the social world systematically influences how people understand themselves and their actions. Her specific focus is on how social class, race, ethnicity, and gender shape people’s everyday life experiences, as well as important life outcomes such as educational attainment and health.

One line of Professor Stephens’s research examines how experiences in different social class environments affect the ways in which people understand the choices that they make in their daily lives. Another line of research investigates how first-generation college students, from diverse cultural backgrounds, adjust in response to the mainstream culture of higher education. Together her research illuminates how seemingly neutral assumptions about what it means to be a “good,” “normal,” or “educated” person reflect the culturally-specific perspectives of majority groups in society, and thereby contribute to social inequality. The underlying goal of this research is to develop more diverse and effective schools, workplaces, and communities.

Professor Stephens’s work is published in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Psychological Science and has been featured in media outlets such as the New York Times Magazine, the Miller-McCune Magazine, and the Stanford Social Innovation Review.