Greg Walton

Biography

Greg Walton is Associate Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. Dr. Walton’s work is driven by his interest in how basic social-psychological processes contribute to major social problems and, thus, the opportunity to alter these processes to address such problems. Much of this work explores how psychological processes contribute to problems of inequality, such as how negative stereotypes and stigma change the social environment of school settings for minority-group members in ways that can undermine these students’ feelings of belonging and achievement. As part of this research, Dr. Walton develops novel psychological interventions for educational contexts, which target these processes in ways that increase student motivation, improve academic achievement, and reduce achievement gaps between minority and majority groups. His work has been featured in prestigious peer-reviewed journals such as Science, PNAS, Psychological Science, and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and popular publications such as the New York Times.

Research Interest

His research examines the nature of self and identity, often in the context of academic motivation and achievement.He is interested in social factors relevant to motivation, in stereotypes and group differences in school achievement, and in social-psychological interventions to raise achievement and narrow group differences.