ABOUT ME

My name is Hannah Tran and I am a PhD candidate in Social and Personality Psychology at York University in Toronto, Canada. Concurrently, I am pursuing a Diploma in Quantitative Methods. My work is currently funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) doctoral fellowship.My research is supervised by Dr. Kerry Kawakami in the Social Cognition Lab, where we examine a variety of social categorization processes using diverse methods. Some of the main issues we examine include how we perceive people from different social groups, how we react to intergroup bias, and strategies to reduce prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination.

Education

Master of Arts in Social and Personality Psychology — York University, Toronto, ONBachelor of Arts in Psychology (Honours) — University of Saskatchewan, SKBachelor of Arts in English — University of Saskatchewan, SK
Minor in Women's and Gender Studies

EXPERIENCE & SKILLS

Research

➤ Graduate Researcher (2022–) | Social Cognition Lab
➤ Graduate Research Assistant (2023–) | The MAR Lab
➤ Undergraduate Research Assistant (2021–2022) | Cognitive Science Lab
➤ Undergraduate Research Assistant (2020–2021) | Elias Neuropsychology Lab

Teaching and Service

➤ Undergraduate Research Participant Pool Coordinator (2023–)
➤ Social and Personality Area Colloquium Student Coordinator (2023–)
➤ Teaching Assistant (2022–) | Courses: Writing in Psychology, Statistical Methods, Introduction to Psychology
➤ Undergraduate Student Research Project Co-Mentor | Social Cognition Lab (2023–)
➤ Undergraduate Student Mentor (2023–) | Psychology Undergraduate Mentorship Program
➤ Writing Tutor (2019–2022) | USask Writing Help Centre
➤ Associate Editor for the Social Sciences (2021–2022) | University of Saskatchewan Undergrduate Research Journal

Statistics Courses

➤ Multilevel Modeling
➤ Structural Equation Modeling
➤ Psychology of Data Visualization
➤ Regression
➤ Analysis of Variance

MY RESEARCH

Broadly, my research focuses on person perception and how it relates to processes of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination.I am interested in how the interaction between both target and perceiver characteristics (e.g., race, gender, etc.) can inform these processes. Notably, my work emphasizes the importance of prioritizing marginalized group members’ perspectives (e.g., racial minorities), positioning them as both targets and perceivers of person perception.Using diverse social-cognitive methodologies including reverse correlation, machine-learning, mouse-tracking, implicit association tasks, trait ratings, and behavioural choice tasks, I examine how people form impressions of others, which impressions they form, and what inferences they make from those impressions.

Current Research

My current line of work focuses on: Black and White perceptions of trustworthiness on Black and White faces.

☆ View my SPSP 2025 poster here: Where Trust Begins: White and Black Thresholds of Trustworthiness on Black and White Faces

+ Select Poems about Inequality, Injustice, and Resistance

➤ A Small Needful Fact by Ross Gay
➤ summer, somewhere by Danez Smith
➤ To Bless the Memory of Tamir Rice by Tsitsi Ella Jaji
➤ Helen Betty Osborne by Marilyn Dumont
➤ Who Said It Was Simple by Audre Lorde
➤ Poem For the State of the World by Ella Middleton
➤ The Mortician in San Francisco by Randall Mann
➤ Praise Song for the Day by Elizabeth Alexander