Ursula Moffitt

Assistant Professor of Psychology

Contact

Phone: 508-286-4343

Education

Postdoctoral Fellow, Northwestern University
PhD in Psychology, University of Potsdam, Germany
MA in German Turkish Social Sciences, Humboldt University, Germany
BA in Psychology, Reed College

About

My research is situated in developmental, cultural, and educational psychology. I take a social justice approach to the study of identity construction and content, examining the dynamic relationship between individuals and their environments from childhood to early adulthood. I am primarily interested in racial, national, and gender identity, as well as their intersections, investigating how individuals from across groups resist or reinforce norms and structures of power, privilege, and oppression.

Publications

Moffitt, U. & Rogers, L.O (2022). Studying ethnic-racial identity among white youth: White supremacy as a developmental context. Journal of Research on Adolescence. Advance online publication.

Moffitt, U., Rogers, L.O., & Dastrup, K.R.H. (2021). Beyond ethnicity: Applying Helms’s White Racial Identity Development model among white youth. Journal of Research on Adolescence, Advance online publication.

Rogers, L.O., Moffitt, U., & Foo, C. (2021). “Martin Luther King fixed it”: Children making sense of racial identity in a colorblind society. Child Development, 92: 1817-1835.

Moffitt, U. & Syed, M. (2021). Ethnic-racial identity in action: Structure and content of friends’ conversations about ethnicity and race. Identity, 21:1, 67-88. 

Juang, L.P., Moffitt, U., Scachner, M.K, & Pevec., S. (2021). Understanding ethnic-racial identity in a context where “race” is taboo. Identity, 21:3, 185-199. 

Moffitt, U., Juang, L.P., & Syed, M. (2020). Intersectionality and youth identity development research in Europe. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(78).

Moffitt, U., & Juang, L.P. (2019). Who is “German” and who is a “migrant?” Constructing belonging in education and psychology research. European Educational Research Journal, 18(6), 656–674.

Moffitt, U., Juang, L.P, & Syed, M. (2019). “We don’t do that in Germany!” A critical race theory examination of Turkish heritage young adults’ school experiences. Ethnicities. 19(5), 830–857.

Moffitt, U., Juang, L.P., & Syed, M. (2018). Being both German and Other: Narratives of contested national identity among white and Turkish German young adults. British Journal of Social Psychology, 57(4), 878-896.

Teaching Interests

Adolescent Development; Race, Society, and Psychology; Lifespan Development, Quantitative Research Methods

Research Interests

Developmental, cultural, and educational psychology, qualitative, critical, and mixed-methods research, identity development in adolescence and early adulthood

Department(s)

Psychology

Program(s)

Office

Discovery Center 3314

Hours

W 10:00-12:00, Th 1:30-3:30, or by appointment