Interest and areas of expertise
- Teaching Interests: Social Psychology, Life Span Development, Advanced Social Research, Psychology of the Self
- Research: Immigration attitudes, Intellectual Test Performance, Reconciliation
- Current Projects: Research on attitudes toward immigrants and immigration
Education
- Ph.D., University of Western Ontario, 2001
- M.A., Wilfrid Laurier University, 1996
- B.A., University of Ghana, 1992
Profile
A misconception I had about psychology led me to the field. There was an incident, during my secondary education, where the Headmaster (Principal) of our boarding school managed to calm down a displeased group of students who were fiercely protesting conditions in the school. Having watched the whole event from afar, I did not know exactly what the headmaster said but I learned that he did Psychology at the University. Wow! Enthralled by this, I resolved to take psychology when I got to college. I discovered from my Intro Psych class that the field of psychology was more diverse and exciting than “psychologizing” people (whatever that means). I like to provide intriguing interpretations and explanations for the things around me and the continual study of psychology gives me a deeper insight into human experiences. I particularly love the applied area of generating positive social change through psychological research.
Dr. Danso grew up in Ghana, where he participated in numerous SICE (Students in Church Evangelism) programs at the University of Ghana. For the SICE program, students spend six weeks with families in the rural areas of the country during the long vacations to undertake communal development work and evangelistic ministries. He also lived and studied in Canada for nearly a decade, and has spent some time in a few European countries.
Hobbies include spending time with family and friends, cars, electronics, and table tennis.
Recent Publications
- Wout, D., Danso, H., Jackson, J. & Spencer, S. (2008). The many faces of stereotype threat: Group- and self-Threat. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 792-799.
- Danso, H. A., Sedlovskaya, A., & Suanda H. Sumarga. (2007). Perceptions of immigrants: modifying the attitudes of individuals higher in social dominance orientation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 1113-1123.
- Jameson, M., Diehl, R. & Danso, H. (2007). Stereotype threat impacts college athletes’ academic performance. Current Research in Social Psychology, 12, 68-79.
- Danso, H. A. (2006). Immigrants. In N. J. Salkind (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Human Development (Vol. 2, pp. 675-678). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
- Ashton, M. C., Danso, H. A., Maio, G. R., Esses, V. M., Bond, M. H., & Keung, D K. Y. (2005). Two dimensions of political attitudes and their individual difference correlates: A cross-cultural perspective. In. R. M. Sorentino, D. Cohen, J. Olson, & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), Cultural and Social Behavior: The Ontario Symposium (Vol. 10, pp. 1-29). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
- Esses, V.M., Dovidio, J.F., Danso, H.A., Jackson, L.M. (2005). Historical and modern perspectives on group competition. In Crandall, C.S. & Schaller, M. (Eds.), The social psychology of prejudice: Historical and contemporary issues. (pp. 94-112). Seattle, WA: Lewinian Press.
Recent Consultations:
Editorial Board Member of the Social Issues and Policy Review, a scholarly journal of SPSSI