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Greg Walton received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Yale University and an A.B. in Philosophy from Stanford. From 2005-2006, he served as a legislative fellow in the Office of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY). Dr. Walton's research investigates how students' sense of belonging in academic environments and their perceptions of their relationships with others in school settings affects their motivation, achievement, and well-being. Conducting both laboratory and field-experimental research, Dr. Walton and his colleagues have developed brief social-psychological interventions designed to protect students' sense of social belonging in school. In one study, a 1-hour social-belonging intervention raised the GPA of African American students over the subsequent 3 years, halving the racial-achievement gap, and improved African American students’ sense of belonging and reported health and well-being at the end of college (Walton & Cohen, 2011). In addition, Dr. Walton is broadly interested in how psychological interventions can improve other socially-important outcomes, and has developed and tested interventions to improve outcomes in other contexts, such as political behaviors, environmental behaviors, and intergroup relations.
For his fellowship, Walton’s research will investigate how subtle cues in interpersonal interactions affect women's achievement in math and science. In particular, this research tests how interpersonal cues that create a sense of working with others rather than against others can allay concerns about negative stereotypes and thus improve women's performance in otherwise psychologically threatening conditions. Further information about Professor Walton is available from his website.
