Visiting Professor of PsychologyAffiliation:Visiting Education: BA Eckerd College; MA University of California, Santa Barbara; PhD University of California, Santa Barbara
Research Areas: Social identity, culture, social cognition
Angela Maitner is a social psychologist with expertise in culture. Her research investigates the impact of culture and social identity on emotion, behavior, and cognition, and how emotion and cognition function differently in different social contexts. Her work looks within, between, and across national landscapes, thus she maintains research collaborations around the globe.
Maitner completed her PhD in the US and a postdoctoral fellowship in the U.K. before moving to the UAE in 2009. Thus, she has studied psychology in three different national contexts with different social and political systems, all of which ‘unite’ different identity groups. Maitner has worked at the American University of Sharjah since 2009, where she helped create a bachelor's degree in psychology and serves as Head of Department. She advocates strongly for increasing representation in the field.
Courses Taught
Knowledge acquired through scientific research is bounded by the conditions under which the research is carried out. Consequently, informed consumers of information must understand how scientific research is carried out in order to decide what is true. This course provides an introduction to scientific research methods in psychological science, experimental design, and data interpretation. Students develop an appreciation for the methods involved in carrying out research on issues in psychology and, hopefully, become critical - but not cynical - consumers of scientific results, learning to distinguish sound conclusions from those based on faulty reasoning or flawed studies. Students in this course gain real experience by designing and conducting an experiment of their own, and presenting and reporting their results.
Previously taught: Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024
Spring 2025;
14 Weeks Angela Maitner
-
MW 09:55 - 11:10
Taught in Abu Dhabi
Spring 2025;
14 Weeks Andrea Vial
-
MW 11:20 - 12:35
Taught in Abu Dhabi
Fall 2025;
14 Weeks MW 12:45 - 14:00
Taught in Abu Dhabi
Fall 2025;
14 Weeks MW 11:20 - 12:35
Taught in Abu Dhabi
This course appears in...
Core Curriculum > Experimental Inquiry
Core Curriculum > Quantitative Reasoning
Majors > Psychology
Minors > Behavioral Institutional Design
This course provides an overview of the role of culture in human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It explores how environmental pressures impact how cultures are formed and change, then focuses on how resulting cultural logics, attributes, values, and norms influence psychological processes, considering how humans are shaped by the people and information that occupies their living environment. It presents theories and research on topics such as human development, selfhood, motivation, cognition, emotion, social relationships, and multiculturalism.
Prerequisite: PSYCH-UH 1001
Previously taught: No
Spring 2025;
14 Weeks Angela Maitner
-
MW 11:20 - 12:35
Taught in Abu Dhabi
This course appears in...
Majors > Psychology > Psychology Electives: Social and Developmental Psychology