Professor
PhD (in Social Psychology), University of California, Santa Cruz
MSc, University of St. Andrews
BA, Wellesley College
Heather J. Smith is a psychology professor with research interests in organizational justice, social comparisons and intergroup relations. Over the past 20 years, she and her colleagues (including SSU undergraduates) have employed experiments, surveys, “daily experience diaries” and meta-analyses to explore people’s definitions of fairness and their reactions to disadvantage or conflict. She has co-authored 39 peer reviewed journal articles, 14 chapters and one book. She also co-edited a 2002 book and a 2015 Social Justice Research special issue on relative deprivation theory and research (where she is now an associate editor).
Smith, H. J., Ryan, D. A., Jaurique, A., & Duffau, E. (2020). Personal relative deprivation and mental health among university students: Cross‐sectional and longitudinal evidence. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (ASAP).
Jolly, M., Smith, H.J. & Nygen, A. (2019). “No one wants to repeat their freshman year:” The Sophomore Year Experience at Sonoma State University. In Skipper, T.L. (Editor), Aligning institutional support for student success: case studies of sophomore year initiatives. University of South Carolina, National Resource Center, First Year Students and Students in Transition.
Smith, H. J., Ryan, D. A., Jaurique, A., Pettigrew, T. F., Jetten, J., Ariyanto, A., Autin, F., Ayub, N., Badea, C., Besta, T., Butera, F., Costa-Lopes, R., Cui, L., Fantini, C., Finchilescu, G., Gaertner, L., Gollwitzer, M., Gómez, Á., González, R., … Wohl, M. (2018). Cultural values moderate the impact of relative deprivation. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 49(8), 1183–1218.
Jaurique, A., Ryan, D. A., Smith, H. J., & Paolucci, C. M. (2019). Observing Discrimination: Implications for Group-Based Respect and Organizational Morality. Social Issues & Policy Review, 13(1), 125–153.
Smith, H. J., Jaurique, A., & Ryan, D. (2016). The mistreatment of others: Discrimination can undermine university identification, student health, and engagement. Social Justice Research, 29(4), 355-374.
Smith, H. J., Pettigrew, T. F., Pippin, G. M., & Bialosiewicz, S. (2012). Relative deprivation: A theoretical and meta-analytic review. Personality And Social Psychology Review, 16(3), 203-232.