Dr. Alex Borgella

Dr. Alex Borgella
Assistant Professor of Psychology

Expertise

  • Social Psychology
  • Stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination
  • Disparagement humor
  • Stereotype threat
  • Diversity in higher education

Education

  • Ph.D., Social Psychology, Tufts University, 2017
  • M.A., Psychological Sciences, James Madison University, 2012
  • B.A., Psychology, University of West Florida, 2010

Contact:

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Media Contact

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About Dr. Alex Borgella

Dr. Alex Borgella joined Fort Lewis College in Fall 2019 as an assistant professor of psychology. He was trained in social psychology at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, with a concentration in cognitive underpinnings of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. Before joining Fort Lewis, he was a visiting assistant professor of psychology at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.

Dr. Borgella’s research interests involve the following topics:

  • Disparagement humor and its effects on members of stigmatized social groups (e.g., racial minority groups, sexual/gender minority groups, people with obesity).
  • How implicit racial biases affect decision-making.
  • How members of the same racial group experience stereotyping and prejudice differently depending on their phenotypicality (e.g., how variations in skin tone impact prejudice toward Black and Hispanic Americans).
  • How awareness of stereotypes about one’s social group can impact performance in educational and athletic domains (called stereotype threat).

His research has been published in outlets such as The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, The Journal of Social Psychology, The Psychology of Sport and Exercise, and Humor: International Journal of Humor Research. His work has also been covered in popular media outlets like National Public Radio (NPR), Gizmodo, VICE, Quartz, and Fast Company Magazine.

Find more information on Dr. Borgella’s publications, presentations, and media coverage on his Social Psychological Experimentation (SPEx) Lab page.

Dr. Borgella regularly teaches the following courses at FLC:

  • PSYC 157 - Introduction to Psychology
  • PSYC 301 - Psychological Research Methods
  • PSYC 425 - Social Psychology
  • PSYC 496 - Senior Research Experience in Psychology
  • PSYC 498 - Stereotyping and Prejudice

Find more information about Dr. Borgella on his faculty homepage