Mikaela Spruill is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the School of Interdisciplinary Forensics (SIF) and the director of the Justice, Mind & Society Lab.
Her research examines the mutual constitutive relationship between the law and the mind. Specifically, through experimental psychology she tests how individually expressed factors – like stereotypes and prior beliefs – and structurally imposed factors – like social stratification– inform the judgments and decisions that people come to in the legal system. This research reveals how the racialized experiences that people have in stratified societies translates to decision making, and demonstrates that those decisions can define and reinforce societal inequality.
Prior to joining SIF, she earned a doctorate in social and personality psychology from Cornell University, a masters in experimental psychology from Wake Forest University, and a bachelors in neuroscience from The College of William and Mary. Additionally, she completed three years of postdoctoral training at Stanford University with Stanford SPARQ.