Janet B. Ruscher
My research focuses primarily on stereotyping and prejudice in communication, a topic covered at length in my book "Prejudiced communication: A social psychological perspective." I also recently published a book entitled "Hate Speech" as part of the Cambridge University Press series "Elements in Applied Social Psychology."
My current interests are divided between: (1) the transmission of discriminatory performance feedback in intergroup settings, and (2) the communication of social support (or lack thereof) to members of stigmatized groups.
Primary Interests:
- Communication, Language
- Culture and Ethnicity
- Interpersonal Processes
- Prejudice and Stereotyping
- Self and Identity
- Social Cognition
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Four Award-Winning Teachers Are Quizzed About Teaching
Description
Each year, Tulane University designates four members of the faculty for its highest teaching honors, to be awarded at its Unified Commencement Ceremony. In 2012, Janet Ruscher, Professor and Chair of the Psychology Department, was a recipient of the Suzanne and Stephen Weiss Presidential Fellowships in recognition of excellence in undergraduate teaching.
Additional Videos
Books:
- Ruscher, J. B. (2025). Hate speech. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Ruscher, J. B. (2001). Prejudiced communication: A social psychological perspective. New York: Guilford Press.
- Ruscher, J. B., & Hammer, E. Y. (Eds.). (2009). Current directions in social psychology (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Journal Articles:
- Boasso, A., Overstreet, S., & Ruscher, J. B. (2015). Community disasters and shared trauma: Potential implications of listening to a co-survivor narrative. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 20, 397-409.
- Cralley, E. L., & Ruscher, J. B. (2005). Lady, girl, female, or woman: Sexism and cognitive busyness predict use of gender-biased nouns. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 24, 300-314
- Duval, L. L., Ruscher, J. B., Welsh, K., & Catanese, S. P. (2000). Bolstering and undercutting use of the elderly stereotype through communication of exemplars: The role of speaker age and exemplar stereotypicality. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 22, 137-146.
- Kaplan, S. A., Bradley, J. C., & Ruscher, J. B. (2004). The inhibitory role of cynical disposition in the provision and receipt of social support: The case of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 1221-1232.
- Kaplan, S. A., Santuzzi, A. M., & Ruscher, J. B. (2009). Elaborative metaperceptions in outcome-dependent situations: The diluted relationship between default self-perceptions and metaperceptions. Social Cognition, 27, 602-615.
- Ruscher, J. B. (2017). Adult attachment predicts advice, exemplar sharing, and questions to acquaintances recently diagnosed with cancer. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 36, 484-493.
- Ruscher, J. B. (2012). Describing grief under cyclical versus linear conceptions of time. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 31, 533-546
- Ruscher, J. B. (2011). Moving forward: The effect of spatial metaphors on perceptions about grief . Social Psychology, 42, 225-230. [Special issue: Spatial Constraints on Social Cognition]
- Ruscher, J. B. (2006). Stranded by Katrina: Past and present. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 6, 1-6.
- Ruscher, J. B. (1998). Prejudice and stereotyping in everyday communication. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 30, pp. 241-307). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
- Ruscher, J. B., Cralley, E. L., & O'Farrell, K. J. (2005). How newly acquainted dyads develop shared stereotypic impressions through conversation. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 8, 259-270.
- Ruscher, J. B., Fiske, S. T., & Schnake, S. B. (2000). The motivated tactician's juggling act: Compatible versus incompatible impression goals. British Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 241-256.
- Ruscher, J. B., & Hammer, E. D. (2006). The development of shared stereotypic impressions in conversation: An emerging model, methods, and extensions to cross-group settings. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 25, 221-243.
- Ruscher, J. B., & Hurley, M. M. (2000). Off-target verbosity evokes negative stereotypes of older adults. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 19, 141-149.
- Ruscher, J. B., Santuzzi, A. M., & Hammer, E. Y. (2003). Shared impression formation in the cognitively interdependent dyad. British Journal of Social Psychology, 42, 411-425.
- Ruscher, J. B., & Tipler, C. N. (2018). Linguistic intergroup bias about the 2016 U.S. presidential candidates as a function of political ideology. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 18, 61-80.
- Ruscher, J. B., Wallace, D., Walker, K. M., & Bell, L. H. (2010). Constructive feedback in cross-race interaction. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 13, 603-619.
- Santuzzi, A. M., & Ruscher, J. B. (2002). Stigma salience and paranoid social cognition: Understanding variability in metaperceptions among individuals with recently-acquired stigma. Social Cognition, 20, 171-197.
- Tipler, C. N., & Ruscher, J. B. (2014). Agency’s role in dehumanization: Non-human metaphors of outgroups. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 8, 214-228.
- Woods, F. A., & Ruscher, J. B. (2024). What’s in a name… and for whom? How public spaces named for prejudiced individuals impact targets of prejudice. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 27, 663-688.
Courses Taught:
- Applied Social Psychology
- Attitudes and Persuasion (Graduate)
- Experimental Social Psychology
- Professional Issues in Psychology (Graduate)
- Psychology of Disaster
- Research in Prejudiced Communication
- Research Methods in Social Cognition (Honors)
- Social Cognition (Graduate)
- Social Psychology (Graduate)
- Social Psychology (Honors)
- Univariate Statistics I (Graduate and Undergraduate)
- Univariate Statistics II (Graduate)
Janet B. Ruscher
Department of Psychology
Percival Stern Hall
Tulane University
New Orleans, Louisiana 70118
United States of America
- Phone: (504) 862-3309
- Fax: (504) 862-8744
