Staff profile
Dr Chuma Owuamalam
Assistant Professor
Affiliation | Telephone |
---|---|
Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology | +44 (0) 191 33 40983 |
Biography
Chuma Owuamalam is a social psychologist with professional experience across several countries, including Nigeria, the UK, Malaysia, and the US. He completed his MSc in Group Processes and Intergroup Relations from the University of Kent in 2003, followed by a PhD at Keele University in 2009, where he focused on meta-stereotyping among stigmatized groups. Chuma completed postdoctoral positions at the University of Manchester in 2010 and at Royal Holloway University of London in 2011. In 2012, he became an Assistant Professor at the University of Nottingham's Malaysia campus, rising to Associate Professor in 2021. In 2022, Chuma completed a year at Reed College, Portland (OR, USA) as a visiting Associate Professor, before joining Durham University the following year. Chuma is mostly known for his research on system justification and intergroup relations and currently serves as an Associate Editor for the British Journal of Social Psychology.
Research Interests
Chuma's research focuses on social identities and the inequalities tied to group membership, examining how these disparities influence thoughts, emotions, and behaviours across social, educational, and workplace contexts. Chuma employs a range of methods—including surveys, behavioural studies, and psychophysiological experiments—to explore issues like stereotype threat, political ideology, microaggression, hate crime and attitudes toward societal systems, often through the lens of the social identity approach. Current projects in Chuma's lab also investigate biases and their effects on attitudes toward disadvantaged groups in areas like law enforcement (e.g., gun ownership/control), healthcare (e.g., bias in pain diagnosis), and workplace dynamics (e.g., inclusive hiring practices). Chuma's goal is to translate these insights into actionable strategies for promoting social and behavioural change.
Selected Grants
- ESRC postdoctoral fellowship (RCUK): The consequences of meta-stereotyping for members of disadvantaged groups (£75,023). PI
- FRGS grant (Malaysia Ministry of Higher Education): Responding to terror emergencies: Does compassion bias influence the provision of aid to victims? (RM 75,200). PI
- RKTS grant (European Association of Social Psychology): A training workshop on multi-level modelling and social justice research methods. (€3,500). PI
- The John and Daphne Keats Endowment Research Fund (University of Newcastle, Australia): When and why do disadvantaged groups support societal systems that disadvantage them? A cross-cultural test of system justification predictions. ($7,700). Co-PI
Past Doctoral Students
As a primary advisor, Chuma has mentored the following ex-PhD students:
- Dr. Misha'ari Weerabangsa
- Dr. Andrea Soledad Matos
- Dr. Jaya Kumar Karunagharan
- Dr. Rachel Mei Ming Wong
PhD and Masters by Research Opportunities
Chuma is happy to discuss supervision on any of the following topics:
- Racial inequality and disparities in the justice system
- The impact of political ideology and bias on workplace outcomes for minoritized groups
- Microaggressions, the hunchback heuristic, and their effects on the well-being of disadvantaged groups
- Enhancing intergroup relations and fostering social cohesion
- System justification and its role in driving or hindering social change
- Stereotype threat and its influence on academic outcomes and career aspirations
Publications
Journal Article
- Caricati, L., Owuamalam, C. K., Bonetti, C., Moscato, G., & Monacelli, N. (2024). Positive temporal comparison facilitates a hope-induced system justification amongst women. Current Psychology, 43, 24252-24266. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-06077-3
- Owuamalam, C. K., Caricati, L., & Bonetti, C. (2024). A Large-Scale Test of the Reality Constraint and Ingroup Bias Accounts of Women's Support for Male Privilege. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 48(1), 38-55. https://doi.org/10.1177/03616843231176222
- Tan, C. M., Owuamalam, C., Sarma, V. J., & Ng, P. K. (2023). Confidence in COVID‐19 vaccines moderates the association between vaccination status and mental distress. Stress and Health, 39(4), 744-752. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.3216
- Wong, R. M. M., Owuamalam, C. K., & Stewart-Williams, S. (2023). Right-leaning egalitarians are just as susceptible to social justice-induced product patronage! Evidence from the US and Malaysia. Acta Psychologica, 237, Article 103935. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.103935
- Rubin, M., Owuamalam, C. K., Spears, R., & Caricati, L. (2023). A social identity model of system attitudes (SIMSA): Multiple explanations of system justification by the disadvantaged that do not depend on a separate system justification motive. European Review of Social Psychology, 34(2), 203-243. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2022.2046422
- Owuamalam, C. K., Tan, C. M., Caricati, L., Rubin, M., & Spears, R. (2023). Cultural group norms for harmony explain the puzzling negative association between objective status and system justification in Asia. European Journal of Social Psychology, 53(2), 245-267. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2901
- Owuamalam, C. K., Caricati, L., Spears, R., Rubin, M., Marinucci, M., & Ferrari, A. (2023). Further evidence that system justification amongst the disadvantaged is positively related to superordinate group identification. Acta Psychologica, 232, Article 103813. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103813
- Caricati, L., Owuamalam, C. K., Casini, A., Passini, S., & Moscato, G. (2023). Editorial: Exploring system justification phenomenon among disadvantaged individuals. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 1100440. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1104400
- Rubin, M., Owuamalam, C. K., Spears, R., & Caricati, L. (2023). Social identity explanations of system justification: Misconceptions, criticisms, and clarifications. European Review of Social Psychology, 34(2), 268-297. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2023.2184578
- Caricati, L., Ferrari, A., & Owuamalam, C. (2022). Strongly identifying Italian women support their gender system because they accept their Italian way of doing things. Psicologia sociale, 3, 427-439. https://doi.org/10.1482/105496
- Tan, C. M., Owuamalam, C. K., & Sarma, V. (2022). Improving vaccination intent among skeptics through confidence in governments' handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Acta Psychologica, 225, Article 103556. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103556
- Owuamalam, C. K., & Matos, A. S. (2022). Heterosexual men in Trump's America downplay compassion more for masculine (than for feminine) gay victims of hate crime: Why?. European Journal of Social Psychology, 52(2), 280-304. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2787
- Owuamalam, C. K., Rubin, M., & Spears, R. (2022). Brexit and Trump: Which Theory of Social Stasis and Social Change Copes Best With the New Populism?. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 797139. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.797139
- Caricati, L., Owuamalam, C. K., & Bonetti, C. (2021). Do Superordinate Identification and Temporal/Social Comparisons Independently Predict Citizens’ System Trust? Evidence From a 40-Nation Survey. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 745168. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.745168
- Tan, C. M., Owuamalam, C. K., & Ng, P. K. (2021). Stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives! Confidence in government moderates the negative effects of staying at home on mental health. Personality and Individual Differences, 179, Article 110948. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.110948
- Owuamalam, C., Caricati, L., Rubin, M., Matos, A., & Spears, R. (2021). Why do women support socio-economic systems that favour men more? A registered test of system justification- and social identity-inspired hope explanations. European Journal of Social Psychology, 51(7), 1073-1095. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2754
- Owuamalam, C. K., & Matos, A. S. (2020). When Might Heterosexual Men Be Passive or Compassionate Toward Gay Victims of Hate Crime? Integrating the Bystander and Social Loafing Explanations. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(5), 1693-1709. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01592-y
- Caricati, L., & Owuamalam, C. K. (2020). System Justification Among the Disadvantaged: A Triadic Social Stratification Perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, Article 40. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00040
- Brandt, M., Kuppens, T., Spears, R., Andrighetto, L., Autin, F., Babincak, P., Badea, C., Bae, J., Batruch, A., Becker, J., Bocian, K., Bodroža, B., Bourguignon, D., Bukowski, M., Butera, F., Butler, S., Chryssochoou, X., Conway, P., Crawford, J., Croizet, J.-C., …Zimmerman, J. (2020). Subjective status and perceived legitimacy across countries. European Journal of Social Psychology, 50(5), 921-942. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2694
- Owuamalam, C. K., & Spears, R. (2020). Do humans possess an autonomous system justification motivation? A Pupillometric test of the strong system justification thesis. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 86, Article 103897. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2019.103897
- Owuamalam, C. K., & Matos, A. S. (2019). Do egalitarians always help the disadvantaged more than the advantaged? Testing a value‐norm conflict hypothesis in Malaysia. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 22(2), 151-162. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajsp.12351
- Owuamalam, C., Rubin, M., & Spears, R. (2019). Revisiting 25 years of system motivation explanation for system justification from the perspective of social identity model of system attitudes. British Journal of Social Psychology, 58(2), 362-381. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12285
- Owuamalam, C., Rubin, M., & Spears, R. (2019). Is a system motive really necessary to explain the system justification effect? A response to Jost (2019) and Jost, Badaan, Goudarzi, Hoffarth, and Mogami (2019). British Journal of Social Psychology, 58(2), 393-409. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12323
- Owuamalam, C., Rubin, M., & Spears, R. (2018). A critical review of the (un)conscious basis for system-supporting attitudes of the disadvantaged. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 12(11), https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12419
- Owuamalam, C., Rubin, M., & Spears, R. (2018). Addressing Evidential and Theoretical Inconsistencies in System-Justification Theory with a Social Identity Model of System Attitudes. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(2), 91-96. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721417737136
- Owuamalam, C., Paolini, S., & Rubin, M. (2017). Socially creative appraisals of rejection bolster ethnic migrants' subjective well-being. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 47(7), 366-376. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12444
- Owuamalam, C., Rubin, M., Spears, R., & Weerabangsa, M. (2017). Why Do People from Low-Status Groups Support Class Systems that Disadvantage Them? A Test of Two Mainstream Explanations in Malaysia and Australia. Journal of Social Issues, 73(1), 80-98. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12205
- Owuamalam, C., & Rubin, M. (2017). Fuming with rage! Do members of low status groups signal anger more than members of high status groups?. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 58(5), 458-467. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12388
- Owuamalam, C., Rubin, M., & Spears, R. (2016). The system justification conundrum: Re-examining the cognitive dissonance basis for system justification. Frontiers in Psychology, 7(NOV), https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01889
- Owuamalam, C., Wong, K., & Rubin, M. (2016). Chubby but cheerful? Investigating the compensatory judgments of high, medium, and low status weight groups in Malaysia. Cogent Psychology, 3(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2016.1188441
- Owuamalam, C., Rubin, M., & Issmer, C. (2016). Reactions to group devaluation and social inequality: A comparison of social identity and system justification predictions. Cogent Psychology, 3(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2016.1188442
- Owuamalam, C., Weerabangsa, M., Karunagharan, J., & Rubin, M. (2016). Chip on the shoulder? The hunchback heuristic predicts the attribution of anger to low status groups and calm to high status groups. Cogent Psychology, 3(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2016.1210998
- Owuamalam, C. K., & Zagefka, H. (2014). On the psychological barriers to the workplace: When and why metastereotyping undermines employability beliefs of women and ethnic minorities. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 20(4), 521-528. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037645
- Owuamalam, C., Issmer, C., Zagefka, H., Klaßen, M., & Wagner, U. (2014). Why Do Members of Disadvantaged Groups Strike Back at Perceived Negativity Towards the In‐group?. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 24(3), 249-264. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2165
- Owuamalam, C., & Rubin, M. (2014). When do low status groups help high status groups? The moderating effects of ingroup identification, audience group membership, and perceived reputational benefit. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2(1), 289-312. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v2i1.33
- Owuamalam, C., & Zagefka, H. (2013). We'll never get past the glass ceiling! Meta‐stereotyping, world‐views and perceived relative group‐worth. British Journal of Psychology, 104(4), 543-562. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12006
- Owuamalam, C. K., Tarrant, M., Farrow, C. V., & Zagefka, H. (2013). The effect of metastereotyping on judgements of higher-status outgroups when reciprocity and social image improvement motives collide. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 45(1), 12-23. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030012
- Owuamalam, C. K., & Zagefka, H. (2011). Downplaying a compromised social image: The effect of metastereotype valence on social identification. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41(4), 528-537. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.805
Presentation
Working Paper