Ben Valen

Dr. Valen’s courses include Introduction to Social Psychology and Introduction to Data Science: Trends Over Time. His research on intergroup bias examines observers’ perceptions of workplace discrimination and how political ideology and religiosity influence prejudice. He also studies mental and physical health disparities between stigmatized and non-stigmatized communities, and the mechanisms that account for them.

Ben Valen

Ben Valen

Visiting Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Science

Curriculum Vitae

Program Affiliations

Education

  • Ph.D., Social Psychology, Syracuse University (2026) 
  • M.S., Psychology, Syracuse University (2023)
  • B.A., Psychology and Art History, New College of Florida (2021) 

Research and Mentorship

My research focuses on intergroup bias: stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, and the experience and consequences of being stigmatized. Much of my work examines what predicts prejudice (e.g., political ideology, social dominance, religiosity) against communities that have been overlooked in part because they are perceived to have identities that fall “in between” familiar categories (e.g., nonbinary people, bisexual people) or cut across political lines (e.g., LGBTQ+ Christians). More recently, I have studied how liberals and conservatives judge workplace discrimination: when observers learn that an employer discriminated against an employee, how do their moral evaluations shift depending on whether the bias was explicit or implicit, who the target was, and the employer’s political ideology?

I am especially passionate about working with undergraduate students on research that advances our understanding of theories on intergroup bias and ways to broadly address this bias. I am happy to mentor students broadly interested in social psychological research and discuss ideas for future collaboration. 

Teaching

  • Introduction to Social Psychology (CBSC 1140) 
  • Introduction to Data Science: Trends Over Time (CBSC 1850)

Selected Publications

  • Valen, B. M., & Burke, S. E. (in press). Perception of openly affirming church status moderates the relationship between Christian religiosity and prejudice against LGBTQ+ people. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000863 
  • Valen, B. M., Orantes, D., Burke, S. E., & Antshel, K. M. (in press). Health disparities among transgender, nonbinary, and cisgender undergraduate students. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000815
  • Valen, B. M., & Burke, S. E. (2026). Sexual minority and religious majority: Nonreligious gay/lesbian people’s and cisgender heterosexual Christians’ evaluations of gay and lesbian Christians. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 13(2), 406-418. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000726
  • Burke, S. E., Jaurique, A., Valen, B. M., Wittlin, N. M., McDonald, M., & LaFrance, M. (2026). Forms of psychological bias against transgender people and people with nonbinary gender identities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 30(2), 149-194. https://doi.org/10.1177/10888683251360469
  • Valen, B. M., & Burke, S. E. (2025). Going beyond a binary system of categorization? Social dominance orientation and conservatism predict negative evaluations of bisexual people and (especially) nonbinary and transgender people. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 28(8), 1554-1578. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302251341804
  • Valen, B. M., & Graham, S. M. (2025). LGBTQ+ and going to church? Feelings of acceptance and closeness in openly affirming churches. Journal of Sexual and Gender Diversity in Social Services, 37(1), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/29933021.2024.2339853