
Research Interests
Group processes and intergroup relations, social identity uncertainty, leadership rhetoric, intergroup communication, group polarization, group extinction and social identity loss
Dr. Sucharita Belavadi
Assistant Professor
B.A., M.A. (University of Mumbai);
M.A. (Ball State University, USA);
Ph.D. (Claremont Graduate University, USA)
Training Experience
Research Experience
Building on social identity processes, Sucharita’s research examines how individuals within groups manage identity-uncertainty produced by the possibility of group death or loss of social identity. She has examined how groups, especially high-status groups, use collective victimhood rhetoric to preserve status when uncertain about ingroup survival and continuity. She has examined identity-uncertainty associated with the perceived loss of language and religious identities and the related attractiveness of collective victimhood rhetoric in diverse contexts such as in India, the United States, and during the financial crisis in Greece. She has presented her research and chaired symposia at several international conference meetings such as the annual meetings of the International Communication Association, the International Society of Political Psychology, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology among others. Her research has been published in reputed, peer-reviewed journals and books such as the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Intergroup Communication, the Oxford Handbook of the Psychology of Competition, the Journal of Language and Social Psychology, and the Journal of Applied Social Psychology.
Teaching Experience
As a doctoral and Master’s student, Sucharita has taught and assisted on several undergraduate and postgraduate courses such as statistics, group processes and intergroup relations, attitudes and social influence, extremism in society, and prejudice and intergroup relations. As a teaching assistant and guest lecturer at CGU, Claremont McKenna College, and the University of Mumbai, she has delivered guest lectures on her research and topics of social psychology. She has received the Teaching Assistant of the year award at CGU.
Publications
Journal Publications
- Belavadi, S., & Hogg, M. A. (2019). Social categorization and identity processes in uncertainty management: The role of intragroup communication. Advances in Group Processes, 36, 61-77.
- Belavadi, S., & Hogg, M. A. (2018). We are victims! How observers evaluate a group’s claims of collective victimhood. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 48, 651-660.
- Belavadi, S., & Hogg, M. A. (2016). Conflict between ethnolinguistic groups: Language traitors, language loyalists, and the influence of uncertainty. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 35, 446-475.
- Wagoner, J., Belavadi, S., & Jung, J. (2016). Social identity uncertainty: Conceptualization, measurement, and construct validity. Self and Identity, 16, 505-530.
Book Chapters
- Belavadi, S., & Hogg, M. A. (in press). Social identity and intergroup competition. In S. M. Garcia, A. Tor, & A. Elliot (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of the psychology of competition. Oxford University Press.
- Belavadi, S., Rinella, M., & Hogg, M. A. (2020). When social identity-defining groups become violent: Collective responses to identity uncertainty, status erosion, and resource threat. In C. A. Ireland, M. Lewis, A. C Lopez, & J. L. Ireland (Eds.), The handbook of collective violence: Current developments and understanding (pp. 17-30). Routledge.
- Belavadi, S. (2017). Norm talk and intergroup communication. In H. Giles & J. Harwood (Eds.), Oxford research encyclopedia of intergroup communication (Vol. 2, pp. 193-203). Oxford University Press.
- Belavadi, S. (2017). Uncertainty and extremism. In H. Giles & J. Harwood (Eds.), Oxford research encyclopedia of intergroup communication (Vol. 2, pp. 434-447). Oxford University Press.
- Hogg, M. A., & Belavadi, S. (2017). Uncertainty management theories. In H. Giles & J. Harwood (Eds.), Oxford research encyclopedia of intergroup communication (Vol. 2, pp. 447-461). Oxford University Press.