Otten and Zito鈥檚 project uses a survey-based experiment to explore how a perpetrator鈥檚 gender and physical appearance shape the way people interpret heterosexual intimate partner violence (IPV). Using original data from a nationally representative sample of 935 U.S. adults, they examined how respondents assessed culpability, the harm experienced by victims, deserved punishment, offense severity and the extent to which violent behavior was viewed as 鈥渘ormal鈥� within relationships.

Their findings show that perpetrator gender influenced judgments across all of these areas. They also found evidence of an 鈥渁ttractiveness premium,鈥� in which physically attractive perpetrators were viewed as more justified in their actions or as engaging in behavior that was less troubling, but only when female. Drawing on a feminist criminological perspective, Otten and Zito suggest that cultural norms surrounding gender and violence can lead observers to minimize violence committed by women who fit conventional standards of femininity.

These patterns help explain why some male victims of female-perpetrated IPV struggle to identify their experiences as abuse and often hesitate to seek support. This research is part of Otten’s larger, ongoing research program on perceptions of IPV, supported by the Lumen Prize.

A recent study led by Associate Professor of Sociology Rena Zito, along with Stacy De Coster from North Carolina State University and Eden Ralph ’23, sheds light on how college students feel about admitting applicants with felony records and histories of incarceration. The article, titled “,” was published in “Sociological Focus.”

Using a survey-based experiment, the study examines how factors like race and the type of offense affect college students’ willingness to accept or reject applicants with criminal backgrounds. The research involved students from two universities (one public and one private) who were asked to respond to a vignette about a fictional college applicant with a felony record.

The findings reveal some important patterns:

• Students are more likely to support restrictive admissions policies for applicants with violent criminal records than for those with drug-related offenses, regardless of the applicant’s race.
• Political views, concerns about campus safety, and general skepticism about the justice system played a major role in shaping students鈥� opinions.
• Qualitative responses (open-ended answers) showed that students often wrestle with a tension between supporting second chances and prioritizing safety and fairness in admissions.
• Race shapes deliberations of admissions for applicants with drug records but not for those with violent records.

Overall, student support for the restrictive inclusion of students with violent and drug felony records mirrors broader public opinion on criminal justice policy reform, potentially hindering the full restoration of rights and opportunities, particularly among those deemed unworthy.

Eden Ralph ’23, who contributed to the research, went on to earn an M.S. in Criminology in2024 and is now working toward a Ph.D in Criminology, both at the University of Pennsylvania.

The episode digs into the details of the study: Its goals, its most striking findings and how its results provide insight into how individuals with the condition, advocacy organizations, and health care professionals can educate about Tourette Syndrome without perpetuating the stigma of coprolalia (obscene language tics).

The full episode is available on聽, the , or the聽.

Zito’s , published in the journal “Deviant Behavior,” explores how this narrow stereotype circulates in media and everyday interactions, and how adults with Tourette Syndrom (TS) push back against it, sometimes with unintended consequences for those whose tics confirm the stereotype.

Drawing on interviews with 30 adults diagnosed with TS, Zito found that widespread misconceptions about TS fuel social stigma, delay diagnosis and push people without obscene-language tics to distance themselves from the condition鈥檚 more sensationalized image. Many do so by stressing that coprolalia is rare and presenting themselves as examples of 鈥渘ormal鈥� TS. But this distancing perpetuates a tic hierarchy in which tics are stratified by how socially acceptable they are, both in the public eye and within the TS community itself. As a result, people with coprolalia often experience even well-intentioned stereotype-busting as marginalizing.

Zito concludes that correcting myths about TS is vital, but it shouldn鈥檛 come at the expense of people with coprolalia. Advocacy groups, individuals with TS, and medical professionals can foster inclusion by acknowledging the full range of TS experiences and framing coprolalia聽as one of many possible tic expressions rather than treating it as an unfortunate exception.

This research was supported by an 黑料不打烊 Summer Research Fellowship.

Mason Carter 鈥�25, a sociology major, presented 鈥淩acial Conceptualization and Classification: Understanding in Color鈥� in a session on Racial Appraisals, Conceptualization, and Attitudes. The presentation drew on survey data in which respondents were asked their race in an open-ended question and then asked to explain their answer鈥攖hat is, respondents shared the grounds for how they define their racial identity. The presentation examined variation by factors like education, race, and gender in how Americans think about the basis of race. Raj Ghoshal, associate professor of sociology, mentored Mason’s research.

Sol Addison ’25, a sociology and applied math double major, presented a cross-cultural study on how individuals use brands to express their authentic selves, comparing people in the U.S. and China. Using survey data from nationally representative samples, the research explored how cultural orientations鈥攕pecifically individualism and collectivism鈥攕hape brand-related identity expression. Surprisingly, Chinese respondents reported higher levels of individualism than expected, and both orientations positively predicted brand authentication. Chinese participants were also more likely than Americans to use brands to reflect both personal and social identities. By introducing the concept of “brand authentication,” Sol’s work highlights how global brands can act as cultural connectors, shaping identity and community across borders. Alexis Franzese and Rena Zito, associate professors of sociology, mentored Sol’s research.

Trinity Barnett ’25, a psychology and media Analytics double major, gave a presentation that explored the intersection of gender, labor and leisure by examining who takes on the work of planning family vacations to Walt Disney World. Drawing on survey data from over 200 respondents recruited through Disney trip planning forums, the study found that women鈥攚ho made up the vast majority of respondents鈥攚ere significantly more likely than men to experience trip planning as laborious. The findings reveal that while trip planning can serve as both a source of stress and satisfaction, it also highlights the often invisible labor that women disproportionately shoulder, even in contexts meant for relaxation and enjoyment. Alexis Franzese, associate professor of sociology, co-authored and mentored Trinity’s research.

Rena Zito, associate professor of sociology, presented “When You’re (Not) the Stereotype: Coprolalia Stigma in the Lives of People with Tourette Syndrome.” Zito鈥檚 presentation described the results of a qualitative study of 30 adults with Tourette Syndrome, including those with and without the experience of swearing tics, called coprolalia. The study demonstrated how many people with Tourette Syndrome experience frustration with others’ misperceptions of their condition, which they feel pressure to correct through revealing strategies of acknowledgement, education, and selective normalization. These efforts inadvertently position those who experience the most stigmatized aspects of Tourette Syndrome as the undesirable other and聽function as “ideological repair work” by legitimizing the condition within socially acceptable boundaries.

Raj聽Ghoshal, associate professor of sociology, organized two sessions on racial appraisals, conceptualization and attitudes. He presented 鈥淲ho is Black? Black Americans鈥� Appraisals鈥� in the first of these sessions. The presentation drew on survey data to examine how Black Americans think about Black identity and to map links between open-ended racial identity, closed-ended racial self-classification, and self-identification as multiracial or not. In another session, Ghoshal also presented 鈥淭eaching about Colorblindness and Equity,鈥� which addressed varied meanings of these terms in changing cultural contexts.

Kerem Morg眉l, assistant professor of sociology, presented his latest research on how native-born citizens in Turkey evaluate different types of Syrian refugees. In his presentation, Morg眉l drew on data from two original vignette experiments embedded in a representative survey of over 2,200 adult residents in Istanbul. His findings challenge assumptions based on prior studies conducted in Europe and the United States, which suggest that citizens tend to favor refugees who are highly skilled, culturally proximate, or particularly vulnerable. In contrast, Morg眉l found that Turkish citizens exhibit relatively little differentiation among individual refugee profiles. Instead, their attitudes appear to be driven primarily by generalized perceptions of Syrian refugees as a group.

Zito鈥檚 research applies sociologist Erving Goffman鈥檚 theories on identity and stigma management to explore how people with Tourette Syndrome (TS) navigate the widespread stereotype of TS as 鈥渢he swearing disease.鈥� Specifically, she examines how individuals with TS work to distance themselves and their condition from this stigma, as well as the unintended consequences for those who experience coprolalia, the involuntary use of obscene or socially inappropriate language.

The presented research addressed two central questions: (1) How do people with Tourette Syndrome respond to the 鈥渟wearing disease鈥� stereotype? and (2) What are the consequences of that response for people with coprolalia?

The research included a thematic content analysis of qualitative data sourced from the subreddit r/Tourettes using the Python Reddit application programming interface wrapper (PRAW 7.7.1). Zito found that people with Tourette Syndrome construct the 鈥渙ther鈥� by using statistical folk facts to minimize coprolalia鈥檚 prevalence and by engaging in rhetorical distancing and relabeling. In turn, people with coprolalia perceive that distancing is motivated by courtesy stigma: Coprolalia must be minimized and those with it othered because their very existence is the source of Tourette鈥檚 stigma. Even well-intentioned attempts to counter courtesy stigma inadvertently legitimize the idea that those whose tics are profane or socially inappropriate 鈥� group that already experiences heightened social rejection 鈥� constitute the undesirable 鈥渙ther.鈥�

Rena Zito, associate professor of sociology at 黑料不打烊, presented on the effects of offense type and applicant race on college students鈥� attitudes towards college applicants with felony records. Zito co-authored the research with Stacy De Coster, professor of sociology at North Carolina State University.

Zito鈥檚 presentation focused on respondents鈥� qualitative responses to open-ended questions about why universities should or should not restrict access to applicants with felony histories. While the quantitative results from the survey-based experiment indicated that offense type, but not applicant race, influenced attitudes towards the social exclusion of applicants with criminal records, the qualitative results evidenced nuanced racialized language in how respondents responded to the applicants. For example, respondents were more likely to emphasize academic merit and a holistic approach for white applicants than Black applicants. In addition, they cite possible harm to the reputation of the university when considering Black applicants with violent records, but not when considering a white applicant with the same record. The presentation was part of a session titled 鈥淩ecidivism and Barriers to Reentry鈥� for which Zito was the presider.

Associate Professor of Sociology Raj Ghoshal organized and presided over two sessions on Racial Conceptualization and Racial Attitudes. He also presented research that addresses how much importance Americans give to self-identification when thinking about what race other people 鈥渞eally鈥� are.

Ghoshal argued that theories of colorblind racism imply that white Americans would be especially likely, and Black Americans especially unlikely, to think that race is 鈥渦p to each person,鈥� while theories of old-fashioned racism imply the opposite. Ghoshal tested these theories using an original nationally representative survey of over 1,000 Americans and found that neither holds. Instead, results showed that multiracial people, racially ambiguous people, Hispanic Americans, and 鈥渃ontested whites鈥� are more supportive of racial voluntarism than either white-only or Black-only Americans. He argued that findings support theories rooted in identity threat and contestation and call into question some popular claims about people of color鈥檚 views of racial identity.

Students visited and toured a local homeless shelter to develop a deeper understanding of what homelessness 鈥� and homelessness response 鈥� looks like in the local community. This event was made possible by a mini-grant from the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL) at 黑料不打烊.

Jai Baker, director of the homeless shelter operated by Allied Churches of Alamance County, welcomed the sociology students to the facility and led the event. Baker informed the students about local housing issues and the shelter鈥檚 approach to getting families and individuals back into housing. Students also toured the shelter and heard about the work being done to address food insecurity in Alamance County.

Students reported that the event was critical to their learning and that they now understand much more about how shelters operate.

鈥淚t was great to see how concepts we learned in class play out in reality, and I feel like I have a much better conception of what a homeless shelter might look like,鈥� Lina Ganguly ’26 said.

Another student, Jake Guertin ’27, said, 鈥淭his shelter changed my perspective of shelters as a whole. I felt the messages they teach were excellent.鈥�

Colleen Baker ’27 offered, 鈥淭he environment in NC is much different than where I am from and through high school I spent some time volunteering in homeless shelters鈥� being able to see the similarities and differences was interesting… I think it was also great because not only did we get an in-depth explanation of the shelter, it was also interesting to understand classmates’ interpretations of homeless shelters/people.鈥�

This year’s award goes to Jacob Hayward and Sarah Boggins, two members of the Class of 2020 who have exemplified the spirit of the award through their academic excellence, research contributions to the study of crime and criminal justice, and undertaking of independent study.

Jacob Hayward is majoring in policy studies and sociology with a minor in criminal justice studies. He is an 黑料不打烊 College Fellow whose independent research has addressed many issues in the function and study of criminal justice. His Fellows research was titled “The Effect of Partisanship on State Correctional Healthcare Spending.” In addition, he conducted original research on criminal justice studies students’ attitudes in his research titled “Shaping Sympathy? Courses on Crime and Student Attitudes towards Prisoners.” Hayward will attend the Northeastern University School of Law in the fall and after law school he hopes to work in prisoner right’s聽litigation.

Sarah Boggins is majoring in mathematics with minors in criminal justice studies and peace and conflict studies. She will be commissioning the U.S. Air Force as a second lieutenant upon her graduation. While at 黑料不打烊, Boggins has excelled academically and completed independent study on criminal justice topics that will prepare her for her military career. She will be acting as a Gold Bar Recruiter for her first year on active duty, after which she will be sent to her next duty location to begin working as a Force Support officer.

Reflecting on her time at 黑料不打烊, Boggins reports:

“My time at 黑料不打烊 has provided me with an array of experiences, ranging from an independent study with Dr. Duane McClearn regarding espionage and counterintelligence; research with Dr. Justin Clar in the chemistry department; numerous enriching leadership experiences in AFROTC; recruiting students for the Peace & Conflict Studies minor in my role as a student representative; and interacting with 黑料不打烊鈥檚 students as a Resident Assistant. These are just a few of the enlightening academic and leadership opportunities I鈥檝e had while at 黑料不打烊. I am so grateful for the guidance and knowledge I鈥檝e received from my professors and mentors 鈥� without them, I would not be the individual I am today.”