Department of Psychology, Tufts University

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Nalini Ambady
Professor of Psychology
Ph.D., Harvard University, 1991
nalini.ambady@tufts.edu
http://ase.tufts.edu/psychology/ambady/

Nalini Ambady received her Ph.D. in social psychology from Harvard University in 1991. After teaching at Holy Cross College, she spent ten years on the faculty at Harvard until coming to Tufts in 2004. Her research interests include examining the accuracy of social, emotional, and perceptual judgments, how personal and social identities affect cognition and performance, dyadic interactions especially those involving status differentiated dyads, and nonverbal communication. She is particularly interested in applying innovative and integrative methods to examine these phenomena from multiple perspectives ranging from the biological to the sociocultural.

Representative Publications

(* current or former student)

Ambady, N., Bernieri, F.J., & Richeson, J.A. (2000). Toward a histology of social behavior: Judgmental accuracy from thin slices of the behavioral stream. In M.P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 32, 201-271.

Elfenbein, H. A., & Ambady, N. (2002). On the universality and cultural specificity of emotion recognition: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 203-235.

Adams, R. B., Gordon, H. L., Baird, A. A., Ambady, N., & Kleck, R. E. (2003). Gaze differentially modulates sensitivity to anger and fear faces. Science, 300, 1536.

Elfenbein, H. A.*, & Ambady, N. (2003). When familiarity breeds accuracy: Cultural exposure and facial emotion recognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 276-290.

Marsh, A. A.*, Elfenbein, H. A.*, & Ambady, N. (2003). Nonverbal “Accents”: Cultural differences in judging nonverbal behavior. Psychological Science, 14, 373-376.

Ambady, N., Paik, S.*, Steele, J.*, Owen-Smith, A.*, & Mitchell, J. P.* (2004). Deflecting negative self-relevant stereotypes: The effects of individuation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 401-408.

Chiu, P.*, Ambady, N., & Deldin, P. (2004). CNV in response to emotional in- and out-group stimuli differentiates high- and low-prejudiced individuals. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16, 1830-1839.

Chiao, J. Y.*, Bordeaux, A. R.*, & Ambady, N. (2004). Mental representation of social status. Cognition, 93, 49-57.

Mandal, M. K., & Ambady, N. (2004). Laterality and universality of facial expressions of emotion: the interface. Behavioural Neurology,
15, 23-34.

Marsh, A. A., Ambady, N., & Kleck, R. E. (2005). The effects of fear and anger facial expressions on approach- and avoidance-related behaviors. Emotion, 5, 119-124.

Ambady, N., Chiao, J., Chiu, P., & Deldin, P. (2005). Race and emotion recognition: Insights from a social neuroscience perspective. In J. Cacioppo (Ed)., Social Neuroscience: People thinking about people, MIT Press.

Molinsky, A.*, Krabbenhoft. M.*, Ambady, N., & Choi, Y. S.* (2005) Cracking the Nonverbal Code: Intercultural competence and the diagnosis of gestures across cultures. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, 36, 380-395.

Ambady, N., Krabbenhoft., M. A.*, & Hogan, D. (2006). The 30-sec. sale: Using thin slices to evaluate sales effectiveness. Journal of
Consumer Psychology, 16, 4-13.

Chiao, J.Y.*, Heck, H.E.*, Nakayama, K., Ambady, N. (2006). Priming racial identity in biracial observers affects visual search for different race faces. Psychological Science, 17, 388-393.

Steele, J.*, & Ambady, N. (2006). “Math is hard”: The effect of gender activation on women’s attitudes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 428-436.

Adams, R. B. Jr., Ambady, N., Macrae, C.N., & Kleck R.E. (in press). Emotional expressions forecast behavioral intent. Motivation and Emotion.

Marsh, A. A.*, & Ambady, N. (in press). The influence of the fear facial expression on prosocial responding. Cognition and Emotion.

Marsh, A. A.*, Kozak, M. N.*, & Ambady, N. (in press). Accurate identification of fear facial expressions predicts prosocial behavior. Emotion.

Marsh, A. A.*, Elfenbein, H. A*., & Ambady, N. (in press). Separated by a common language: Nonverbal accents and cultural stereotypes about
Americans and Australians. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology.

Rule, N.*, Ambady, N., Adams, R. B., Jr., & Macrae, C. N. (in press), Us and them: Memory advantages in perceptually ambiguous groups. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review.