Dr Watt conducts research into several different topics in social psychology. Her main interests are in stereotypes and prejudice, and immigrants' adjustment.
In stereotypes and prejudice, she has studied how stereotypes form and how they can be changed, and am particularly interested in the underlying reasons for prejudiced attitudes. A practical application of this research is in interventions to reduce prejudice. She has recently focused on the false consensus effect in prejudice, where we have found that prejudiced people experience an exaggerated sense that others agree with their views. In migrant adjustment she is currently exploring the effects of acceptance or rejection in the host community on immigrants' adjustment. In particular, she is interested in how immigrants establish new social networks in their new community, and effects of this on their adjustment. She has also investigated group dynamics on the Internet, and maintain an interest in this field of research.
More recently, she has also developed research interests in the area of environmental psychology, where she is applying models of attitudes to understanding beliefs about climate change. Dr Watt hopes to conduct more research in this area in the coming years
