Clara Wilkins, Dr.
Associate Professor and Earl R. Carlson Professor
Guthrie 225
Advising:
Not accepting new graduate students in 2025-2026.
Areas:
Social and Personality
Interests: social inequality and social hierarchy maintenance
Links:
Research
My research examines the causes of dominant groups’ perceptions of victimization and the consequences of those perceptions for intergroup relations. I also study how variation in racial and ethnic minorities’ physical appearance shapes the perceptions and experiences of disadvantaged group members. The goal of my work is to understand social inequity in order to minimize its negative effects on individuals, groups and society.
- April 25, 2024 UW News featured new research from Marah Al-Kire and Clara Wilkins on how claims of anti-Christian bias can serve as racial dog whistles
- May 10, 2023 Clara Wilkins awarded Fellow Status in the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI)
- April 18, 2022 Clara Wilkins is featured in a Harvard University Women in Psychology newsletter
- June 8, 2010 The Department of Psychology has announced its annual awards for 2010
- June 30, 2009 Winter 2009 accomplishments
- April 7, 2008 Jennifer Wang, Clara Wilkins, and Lori Wu Malahy each received National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships.
- January 17, 2008 Clara Wilkins received a Clara Mayo Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues to support her research on ethnic minorities' reactions to positive feedback from Whites.
- December 11, 2007 Clara Wilkins was awarded a Diversity Fund Graduate Travel Award for the Personality and Social Psychology 2008 conference.
- April 23, 2007 Clara Wilkins, first year graduate student in Social/Personality Psychology, received a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship.
- Wilkins, C. L., Wellman, J. D., Toosi, N., Miller, C*, Lisnek, J. A.* & Martin, L. A. (2021). Is LGBT progress seen as an attack on Christians?: Examining religion/sexual orientation zero sum beliefs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes. DOI: 10.1037/pspi0000363
- Wilkins, C. L., Wellman, J. D., & Schad, K. D.* (2017). Reactions to anti-male sexism claims: the moderating roles of status legitimizing belief endorsement and group identification. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 20, 173-185. DOI: 10.1177/1368430215595109
- Wilkins, C. L., Wellman, J. D., Flavin, E. L.*, & Manrique, J.* (2017). When men perceive anti-male bias: Status-legitimizing beliefs increase discrimination against women. Psychology of Men and Masculinity, 19, 282-290. DOI: 10.1037/men0000097
- Wilkins, C. L., Hirsch, A. A.*, Kaiser, C. R., & Inkles, M. P.* (2016). The threat of racial progress and the self-protective nature of perceiving anti-White bias. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 20, 1-12. DOI: 10.1177/1368430216631030
- Wilkins, C. L., Wellman, J.D., Babbitt, L., Toosi, N., & Schad, K. D.* (2015). You can win but I can't lose: Bias against high-status groups increases their zero-sum beliefs. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 57, 1-15. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2014.10.008
- Wilkins, C. L. & Kaiser, C. R. (2014). Racial progress as threat to the status hierarchy: Implications for perceptions of anti-White bias. Psychological Science, 25, 439-446. DOI: 10.1177/0956797613508412
- Wilkins, C.L., Chan, J.*, & Kaiser, C. R. (2011). Racial stereotypes and interracial attraction: Phenotypic prototypicality and perceived attractiveness of Asians. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17, 427-431. DOI: 10.1037/a0024733
- Wilkins, C. L., Kaiser, C. R., & Rieck, H. M. * (2010). Detecting racial identity: The role of phenotypic prototypicality. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 1029-1034. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2010.05.017