Dr. Michelle Twali is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Clark University, a Masters’ degree in Developmental Psychology from University of Utah, and a B.A (Hons) in Psychology and Political Science from University of Ghana.
Dr. Twali research program examines the factors that contribute to the persistence of intergroup conflict and violence, and the ways of reducing it. Her scholarship integrates theoretical perspectives from social, political and community psychology and uses multiple methods to understand:
- how historical and sociopolitical contexts shape the psychological needs that arise for members of groups targeted by collective violence and oppression and how these needs can be met;
- the meanings that victim groups construct about their experiences of historical and current collective violence;
- how social psychological theories can be leveraged to develop and evaluate context-relevant interventions among refugees and host community members.
Dr. Twali examines these questions in multiple contexts (e.g., USA, Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan). Her research has been supported by funding agencies such as Russell Sage Foundation, Spencer Foundation, and Innovation for Poverty Action. She has also consulted with non-governmental organizations to develop intervention programs that aim at reducing conflict and promoting intergroup relations (e.g., a mass media intervention in Juba, South Sudan and a micro-enterprise program among refugee and host communities in Nairobi, Kenya).
Prior to joining NYU, Michelle was a postdoctoral research fellow at Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA) and the Princeton University.
Selected Publications
See Google Scholar Profile for all publications.
Jeong, H.Y., Vollhardt, J.R., Twali, M. S., & Tawa, J. (2024). Different power perceptions based on socially situated needs: Findings from a qualitative study among Asian Americans. British Journal of Social Psychology.
Twali, M. S., Overstreet, N. M., Vollhardt, J. R., (2023). Lay theories about collective power in the context of racial oppression. European Journal of Social Psychology, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2951
Twali, M. S., Hameiri, B., Vollhardt, J. R., & Nadler, A. (2020). Experiencing acknowledgment versus denial of the ingroup’s collective victimization. In J. R. Vollhardt (Ed.), The social psychology of collective victimhood. New York: Oxford University Press.
Twali, M. S. (2019). The role of identity transformation in comparative victim beliefs: Evidence from South Sudanese Immigrants. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 7(2), 1021-1043.
Vollhardt, J. R., & Twali, M. S. (2019). The aftermath of genocide: Divergent social psychological processes among victim and perpetrator groups. In L. Newman (Ed.), “Why are they doing this to us?” The social psychology of genocide and extreme intergroup violence. New York: Oxford University Press.
Vollhardt, J. R., & Twali, M. S. (2016). Emotion-based reconciliation requires attention to power differences, critical consciousness, and structural change. Psychological Inquiry, 27, 136 – 143. https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2016.1160762