{"id":16,"date":"2015-09-01T18:36:43","date_gmt":"2015-09-02T00:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/rastlab\/?page_id=16"},"modified":"2026-03-25T11:51:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T17:51:04","slug":"members","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/rastlab\/members\/","title":{"rendered":"Members"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Principal Investigator<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

David Rast, III, Director<\/h3>\n\n\n
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David is an associate professor of social psychology and leadership at the University of Alberta. David has two primary lines of research drawing extensively on social identity and self-categorization theories, as well as related subtheories. First, he is interested in understanding how leaders elicit or incite social and organizational change by going against their group\u2019s norms. Second, he is interested in understanding how leaders can bridge profound intergroup divisions to build a unified no identity and achieve a joint goal. Other lines of research are related to these two themes, exploring the processes and implications of political identity, minority influence, deviance, intergroup cooperation\/conflict, leader rhetoric, and organizational behavior. David’s work is generously supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David completed his PhD and Master\u2019s at Claremont Graduate University (USA) during which time he was a Predoctoral Research Fellow for the U.S. Army Research Institute\u2019s Leader Development Research Unit at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas (USA). Prior to joining the Department of Psychology at the University of Alberta in 2015, he was an assistant professor at the University of Sheffield\u2019s Institute of Work Psychology (UK). David currently serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Applied Social Psychology<\/em>, Consulting Editor for Group Processes and Intergroup Relations<\/em>, and is appointed to the Editorial Boards of Self and Identity<\/em> and the Journal of Theoretical Social Psychology<\/em>. In 2018, David was elected as a Fellow of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download CV<\/a> (pdf)<\/p>\n\n\n<\/span>\n\n\n\n

Lab Manager <\/h2>\n\n\n
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Dhanika Purmanan<\/strong> is a fourth-year Honors Psychology student. She is interested in the domain of social psychology, specifically group dynamics, autocratic leadership and the impact of uncertainty on leadership support. After completing her degree, she plans to pursue a degree in counselling psychology then medical school.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/span>\n\n\n\n

Graduate Students<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Angela Ma<\/strong> is in the fourth year of her PhD program at the University of Alberta. She is interested in the ability of leaders to promote social identity change in their group. Her current research focuses on the impact of leader rhetoric on what followers perceive as normal within their groups. Angela completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Alberta, and she is continuing in the graduate program after successfully defending her Master\u2019s thesis, Divide and Conquer: Effects of Highlighting Sub-Group Divisions on Leader Support from the Majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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