My area of research is the psychology of attitudes. Currently, in the domain of communication and persuasion I am conducting research on overcoming resistance to change (e.g., narrative persuasion). In the domain of implicit attitudes I am conducting research on aversive racists (i.e., those low in explicit prejudice, but high in implicit prejudice) and on individuals with defensive self-esteem (i.e., those high in explicit self-esteem, but low in implicit self-esteem). Finally, in the domain of health I have recently tested a safer-sex intervention and evaluated the new cigarette warning labels in Canada. Currently, I am investigating the subtle effects of smoking in feature films on implicit cognition (e.g., implicit attitudes and implicit norms) and the development of negative implicit norms toward first-year, female engineering students.

Primary Interests:

Attitudes and Beliefs
Health Psychology
Persuasion, Social Influence
Prejudice and Stereotyping

Attitudes and Beliefs
Health Psychology

Persuasion, Social Influence
Prejudice and Stereotyping

Books:

Journal Articles:

Correll, J., Spencer, S. J., & Zanna, M. P. (2004). An affirmed self and an open mind: Self-affirmation and sensitivity to argument strength. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 350-356.
Dal Cin, S., Gibson, B., Zanna, M. P., Shumate, R., & Fong, G.T. (2007). Smoking in the movies, implicit associations of smoking with the self, and intentions to smoke. Psychological Science, 39, 559-563.
Dal Cin, S., MacDonald, T. K., Fong, G. T., Zanna, M. P., & Elton-Marshall, T. E. (2006). Remembering the message: Using a reminder cue to increase condom use following a safer sex intervention. Health Psychology, 25, 438-443.
Ebel-Lam, A. P., MacDonald, T. K., Zanna, M. P., & Fong, G. T. (2009). An experimental investigation of the interactive effects of alcohol and sexual arousal on intentions to have unprotected sex. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 31, 226-233.
Hoshino-Browne, E., Zanna, A. S., Spencer, S. J., Zanna, M. P., Kitayama, S., & Lackenbauer, S. (2005). On the cultural guises of cognitive dissonance: The case of Easterners and Westerners. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 294-310.
Jonas, E., Graupmann, V., Niesta Kayser, D., Zanna, M. P., Traut-Mattausch, E., & Fry, D. (2009). Culture, self-construal and the emergence of reactance: Is there a "universal" freedom? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 1068-1080.
Jordan, C. H., Spencer, S. J., & Zanna, M. P. (2005). Types of high self-esteem and prejudice: How implicit self-esteem relates to ethnic discrimination among high explicit self-esteem individuals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 693-702.
Kay, A. C.,Gaucher, D., Peach,J. M., Laurin, K., Friesen, J., Zanna, M. P., & Spencer, S. J. (2009). Inequality, discrimination, and the power of the status quo: Direct evidence for a motivation to see the way things are as the way they should be. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 421-434.
Peach, J. M., Yoshida, E., Spencer, S. J., Zanna, M. P., & Steele, J. (in press). Recognizing discrimination explicitly while denying it implicitly: Implicit social identity protection. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
Son Hing, L. S., Bobocel, D. R., Zanna, M. P. et al. (2007). Authoritarian dynamics and unethical decision making: High SDO leaders and high RWA followers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 67-81.
Son Hing, L. S., Chung-Yan, G. A., Hamilton, L. K., & Zanna, M. P. (2008). A two-dimensional model that employs explicit and implicit attitudes to characterize prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 971-987.
Spencer, S. J., Zanna, M. P., & Fong, G. T. (2005). Establishing a causal chain: Why experiments are often more effective than mediational analyses in examining psychological processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 845-851.
Stinson, D. B., Logel, C., Zanna, M. P. et al. (2008). The cost of lower self-esteem: Testing a self-and-social-bonds model of health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 412-428.
Strahan, E. J., Lafrance, A., Wilson, A. E., Ethier, N., Spencer, S. J.,& Zanna, M. P. (2008). Victoria's dirty secret: How sociocultural norms influence adolescent girls and women. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 288-301.
Strahan, E. J., Spencer, S. J., & Zanna, M. P. (2007). Don't take another bite: How sociocultural norms of appearance affect women's eating behavior. Body Image, 4, 331-342.
Zanna, M. P. (2011). While waiting for nature to take her course: There's nothing so practical as a good...design. Journal of Social Issues, 67(3), 651-662.
Zanna, M. P. (2004). The naive epistemology of a working social psychologist (or the working epistemology of a naive social psychologist): The value of taking "temporary givens" seriously. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8, 210-218.

Other Publications:

Jordan, C. H., & Zanna, M. P. (2007). Not all experiments are created equal: On conducting and reporting persuasive experiments. In R. J. Sternberg, D. Halpern, & H. L. Roediger (Eds.), Critical Thinking in Psychology (pp. 160-176). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Mark Zanna
Department of Psychology
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1
Canada

Phone: (519) 888-4567, x35799
Fax: (519) 746-8631