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Katherine Starzyk
She/Her
Professor
Katherine Starzyk, Ph.D., is a Full Professor in the Social and Personality Area of the Department of Psychology at the University of Manitoba. She was also a Founding Member of the Centre for Human Rights Research as well as the Centre for Social Science Research & Policy, both at the University of Manitoba. In her research, teaching, and service, Prof. Starzyk focuses on understanding how to shift attitudes toward past and present human rights issues as well as how various frames of such issues or histories affect intergroup relations, focusing primarily (but not exclusively) on the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada. In collaboration with students in the Social Justice Laboratory (https://www.katherinestarzyk.com/) and others across disciplines and sectors, Katherine’s work is multidisciplinary and involves diverse methodologies, including interviews, focus groups, public polling, survey, correlational, and experimental methods as well as quantitative, qualitative, and archival analysis. Through such work, Prof. Starzyk aims to make both scholarly contributions and have real-world impact.
Publications/Papers
Efimoff, I. H., & Starzyk, K. B. (2025). A mixed methods investigation of Indigenous university students’ experiences with and strategies to challenge racism. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000734
Efimoff, I. H., & Starzyk, K. B. (2024). An example of embedding Indigenous research approaches into social psychology: A mixed methods program of research to reduce anti-Indigenous prejudice. SAGE Research Methods Cases: Diversifying and Decolonizing Research Case Studies. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529683400
Starzyk, K. B.1, Neufeld, K. H. S.1, Efimoff, I. H., Fontaine, A. S. M., White, E. E.-L., Moran, R., Peachey, D., Sekwan Fontaine, L., & Welch, M.-A. (2024). The Canadian Reconciliation Barometer: A rigorous tool for tracking reconciliation in Canada. R. P. Eibach, S. Eidelman, & J. Friesen (Eds.). (2024). The Political Psychology of Social Change [Special issue]. Social Justice and Political Psychology Section, Frontiers in Social Psychology, 2. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsps.2024.1369816 1 = shared first author.
Starzyk, K. B.1, Efimoff, I. H.1, Neufeld, K. H. S., Woolford, A., Fontaine, A. S. M., Young, J., Bunt, A., Trickey, J., Sinclair, S., & Muller, A. (2024). The influence of Survivor stories and a virtual reality representation of a residential school on reconciliation in Canada. In R. P. Eibach, S. Eidelman, & J. Friesen (Eds.), The political psychology of social change [Special issue]. Social Justice and Political Psychology Section, Frontiers in Social Psychology, 2, Article 1346101. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsps.2024.1346101 1 = shared first author.
Efimoff, I. H., & Starzyk, K. B. (2023). The impact of learning about historical and current injustices, individual racism, and systemic racism on anti-Indigenous racism. European Journal of Social Psychology, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2987
Woolford, A., Starzyk, K. B., Sinclair, S., Muller, A., & MacDonald, D. (2022). “I definitely felt like I was there”: Enacting empathy and negotiating a virtual reality Indian residential school. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 18(3). https://doi.org/10.1177%2F11771801221117561 (open access)
Neufeld, K. H. S., Starzyk. K. B., Boese, G. D., Efimoff, I. H., & Wright, S. (2021). “The more you know”: Critical historical knowledge about Indian Residential Schools increases non-Indigenous Canadians’ empathy for Indigenous peoples. Political Psychology, 43(4), 617–633. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12783
Starzyk, K. B., Neufeld, K. H. S., Gaucher, D., Quesnel, M., Fontaine, A. S. M., Vorauer, J. D., & Yakubovich, A. (2021). “Is water a human right?”: Priming water as a human right increases support for government action. International Indigenous Policy Journal, 12(3), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.18584/iipj.2021.12.3.9342 (open access)
Starzyk, K. B., Fontaine, A. S. M., Strand, L. K., & Neufeld, K. H. S. (2021). Attitudes toward reconciliation in Canada: Relationships with connectedness to nature, animal-human continuity, and moral expansiveness. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 53(4), 381-390. https://doi.org/10.1037/cbs0000248
Neufeld, K. H. S., Starzyk, K. B., & Boese, G. D. B. (2020). The effects of potential benefit on support for reparations for intergroup harm. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 27(4), 694–699. http://doi.org/10.1037/pac0000464
Neufeld, K. H. S., Funk, L. M., Starzyk, K. B., Gorea, M. I., & Dansereau, L. (2019). Barriers to and strategies for engaging non-Indigenous Canadians in fulfilling First Nations water rights: A qualitative inquiry. The International Indigenous Policy Journal, 10(3), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.18584/iipj.2019.10.3.8291 (open access)
Neufeld, K. H. S., Starzyk, K. B., & Gaucher, D. (2019). Political solidarity: A theory and a measure. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 7(2), 726–765. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v7i2.1058 (open access)
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