Our lab prioritizes inclusive excellence in achieving and sustaining excellence in our research, training, and outreach. We are committed to an intellectual climate that is welcoming, nurturing, and challenging. We respect and value the full spectrum of human diversity in race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, body type, neurotype, socio-economic background, age, disability, and national origin. Members of the lab work together to create an environment of inclusion, mutual respect, reciprocity, safety, and support (for example, we all worked together to craft this statement). We take an active stand against discrimination and bias.
To learn more about how to join our lab, read on.
As an undergraduate scholar (our version of a research assistant):
Our lab takes a team science approach to research, which means we work collaboratively on year-long empirical research projects designed to ensure that everyone can both contribute and learn from each other. If this sounds like the kind of reciprocal and collaborative environment that you're looking for, please consider joining us! UC Davis students receive course credit for their time through PSC 190 in the fall and PSC 182 in the winter (descriptions below). No prior research experience is required. You should be interested in psychological research, able to attend our weekly lab meetings on Fridays 12-1:30pm, able to devote 4 units of effort per quarter to the courses, interested in collaborative and inclusive team science, and 100% reliable. Undergraduate scholars have the opportunity to become involved in many phases of the research process by collaborating on team projects that involve literature reviews, experimental design, and data collection, and that culminate in research presentations at the annual Undergraduate Research Conference and/or Psychology Department Spring Conference. Our regular lab/class meetings give you a chance to interact with each other and Dr. Ledgerwood, grow your research skillset, contribute your perspectives and insights to help make our science stronger, and acquire new skills in programs like Qualtrics, Excel, Medialab, R, and SPSS.
These positions provide an excellent opportunity to acquire hands-on research experience, contribute to science, and earn a letter of recommendation from a professor.
PSC 190 (fall)
Learn about dominant and alternative approaches to conducting psychological research, as well as the benefits and challenges of team science. Gain experience developing a research question, conducting a literature review, and designing a study to test your question in a collaborative team context. Note: You must be available for lab meetings on Fridays 12-1:30pm and have time for an additional small team meeting during the week.
PSC 182 (winter)
Gain hands-on experience with collecting, organizing, and analyzing data in a collaborative team context. You’ll also have the opportunity to strengthen your science communication skills by creating and practicing a team research poster for the Undergraduate Research Center annual conference, held in the spring quarter! Note: You must be available for lab meetings on Fridays 12-1:30pm and have time for an additional small team meeting during the week.
Applications for the Fall 2025 - Spring 2026 academic year are now closed. We will open applications for the 2025-2026 academic year in May -- the link will appear then on this website.
Thank you for your interest in our lab!
These positions provide an excellent opportunity to acquire hands-on research experience, contribute to science, and earn a letter of recommendation from a professor.
PSC 190 (fall)
Learn about dominant and alternative approaches to conducting psychological research, as well as the benefits and challenges of team science. Gain experience developing a research question, conducting a literature review, and designing a study to test your question in a collaborative team context. Note: You must be available for lab meetings on Fridays 12-1:30pm and have time for an additional small team meeting during the week.
PSC 182 (winter)
Gain hands-on experience with collecting, organizing, and analyzing data in a collaborative team context. You’ll also have the opportunity to strengthen your science communication skills by creating and practicing a team research poster for the Undergraduate Research Center annual conference, held in the spring quarter! Note: You must be available for lab meetings on Fridays 12-1:30pm and have time for an additional small team meeting during the week.
Applications for the Fall 2025 - Spring 2026 academic year are now closed. We will open applications for the 2025-2026 academic year in May -- the link will appear then on this website.
Thank you for your interest in our lab!
As an undergraduate honors thesis student:
Students who conduct an honors thesis research project in our lab must join the lab first as a research assistant to get basic research experience and learn first-hand about the type of research we conduct. If you are a current RA interested in completing an honors thesis in our lab, please plan to meet with Professor Ledgerwood to start formulating a research question that is interesting to you and that relates to our lab’s key topic areas during the spring quarter before you will start work on your thesis.
As a PhD student:
UC Davis has one of the top-ranked social psychology PhD programs in the nation. To learn more about the PhD program as a whole, click here. Application information can be found here.
I will not be accepting new PhD students as primary mentees for Fall 2025, but our program has a strong culture of supporting students working in multiple labs and I'm happy to work with students on secondary projects. Some of my amazing colleagues are recruiting PhD students this year -- check out their labs and see if these might be a good fit for you: Ariel Mosley and Dulce Westberg.
As a graduate student in our lab, you can jump on board an ongoing research project and/or start a new line of research that combines your own particular interests with one of the major research areas of the lab. As you progress through the program, you’ll move gradually toward more independent projects, culminating in a dissertation. Our lab combines a collaborative and supportive atmosphere with a stimulating research environment; we intentionally create and actively maintain an inclusive and anti-racist culture as a "home base" from which we can understand and act to transform inequitable systems. We value diverse perspectives, questions that challenge prevailing assumptions, methodological rigor, and creating an environment where each of us can bring our whole selves to our research and conversations. Students are encouraged to develop their own unique research interests within the broader framework of the lab, and also to work in multiple labs while at Davis to get exposure to different research areas and methodological approaches.
I will not be accepting new PhD students as primary mentees for Fall 2025, but our program has a strong culture of supporting students working in multiple labs and I'm happy to work with students on secondary projects. Some of my amazing colleagues are recruiting PhD students this year -- check out their labs and see if these might be a good fit for you: Ariel Mosley and Dulce Westberg.
As a graduate student in our lab, you can jump on board an ongoing research project and/or start a new line of research that combines your own particular interests with one of the major research areas of the lab. As you progress through the program, you’ll move gradually toward more independent projects, culminating in a dissertation. Our lab combines a collaborative and supportive atmosphere with a stimulating research environment; we intentionally create and actively maintain an inclusive and anti-racist culture as a "home base" from which we can understand and act to transform inequitable systems. We value diverse perspectives, questions that challenge prevailing assumptions, methodological rigor, and creating an environment where each of us can bring our whole selves to our research and conversations. Students are encouraged to develop their own unique research interests within the broader framework of the lab, and also to work in multiple labs while at Davis to get exposure to different research areas and methodological approaches.
If you're interested in applying:
Prospective PhD students are sometimes advised to contact potential advisers by email to ask about current research interests and whether they're taking students. To make sure everyone has access to this information, I post it here (no need to email me separately -- if you are reading this, it counts as contacting me, because I literally copy and paste the below text in response to all email inquiries):
I will not be accepting new PhD students as primary mentees for Fall 2025, so you should not list me first on your application. However, our program has a strong culture of supporting students working in multiple labs and I'm happy to work with students on secondary projects. Some of my amazing colleagues are recruiting PhD students this year -- check out their labs and see if these might be a good fit for you: Ariel Mosley and Dulce Westberg.
These days, the collaborative work in our lab centers on two main lines of inquiry: (1) understanding how people think about social hierarchies (e.g., do people respond differently to counter-stereotypical behavior that supports vs. disrupts core assumptions of existing social hierarchies?) and (2) using participatory action research to develop and test actionable solutions in collaboration with communities to combat inequitable social systems. You may want to connect to one or more of these themes in your application, or otherwise discuss why you think our lab would fit with and support your research interests.
For equity reasons, I have a policy of not talking individually with applicants before reading applications, but I look forward to reading your materials if you decide to apply. You can learn more about our lab and ongoing research here on our lab website.
I will not be accepting new PhD students as primary mentees for Fall 2025, so you should not list me first on your application. However, our program has a strong culture of supporting students working in multiple labs and I'm happy to work with students on secondary projects. Some of my amazing colleagues are recruiting PhD students this year -- check out their labs and see if these might be a good fit for you: Ariel Mosley and Dulce Westberg.
These days, the collaborative work in our lab centers on two main lines of inquiry: (1) understanding how people think about social hierarchies (e.g., do people respond differently to counter-stereotypical behavior that supports vs. disrupts core assumptions of existing social hierarchies?) and (2) using participatory action research to develop and test actionable solutions in collaboration with communities to combat inequitable social systems. You may want to connect to one or more of these themes in your application, or otherwise discuss why you think our lab would fit with and support your research interests.
For equity reasons, I have a policy of not talking individually with applicants before reading applications, but I look forward to reading your materials if you decide to apply. You can learn more about our lab and ongoing research here on our lab website.