Jonathan Kunstman

Education

PhD, Florida State University

MS, Florida State University

BA, University of Minnesota–Twin Cities

About Me

Jonathan Kunstman received his BA in psychology from the University of Minnesota in 2005 and his MS and PhD in social psychology from Florida State University. Kunstman then served as a post-doctoral researcher at UC Santa Barbara before joining the faculty of Miami University where he was an assistant and associate professor. He joined the faculty at Auburn University in 2021. His work primarily focuses on how motives, stereotypes, and social identity threats shape health and professional outcomes in inter-group settings. His work also explores how the psychological experience of power can influence social cognition and behavior.

DEI Activities

• Current Chair of the Auburn University Department of Psychological Sciences EAGLEs Committee.
• Previously chaired the DEI Subcommittee on DEI Education and Professional Development from 2021 to 2023.
• Co-facilitator of the Auburn University Bridges into Excellence (AUBiE) program, aimed at bringing early career researchers to Auburn and increasing faculty diversity.
• Research activities engage social psychological approaches to stereotyping, prejudice, and stigma’s effects on health and the workplace.

Publications

Johnson, B. N.*, Hunger, J. M., Sawhney, G., & Kunstman, J. W. (2024). Weight in the workplace: Weight discrimination impacts professional outcomes as a function of social pain minimization. Occupational Health Science, 1-26.

Johnson, B. N.*, & Kunstman, J. W. (2024). Organizational research on weight stigma must center targets’ perspectives. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 17(1), 115-120.

Kunstman, J. W., Ogungbadero, T.**, Deska, J. C., Bernstein, M. J., Smith, A. R., & Hugenberg, K. (2023). Race-based biases in psychological distress and treatment judgments. Plos one, 18(10), e0293078.

Benbow, K. L.*, Smith, B. L.**, Tolbert, K. J.**, Deska, J. C., & Kunstman, J. W. (2022). Race, social pain minimization, and mental health. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 25(7), 1861-1879.

Kunstman, J.W., Deska, J.*, Lloyd, E. P.*, Almaraz, S. M.*, Bernstein, M. J., Gonzales, J. P.*, & Hugenberg, K. (2020). Race-based biases in judgments of social pain. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 88.

Kunstman, J. W., Fitzpatrick, C. B.*, Moreno, R.*, Bernstein, M. J., Hugenberg, K., Semko, S.**, ... & Major, B. (2022). Motives matter: White instructors’ external race-based motives undermine trust and belonging for Black college students. Cultural diversity and ethnic minority psychology, 28(1), 112.

*denotes graduate student mentee
**denotes undergraduate mentee