Mariah G. Schug, PhD
- Chair, Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies
- Associate Professor
- Gender & Sexuality
- Psychology & Mental Health
Affiliated Programs
Education
- Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Utah (2008)
- MS, Anthropology, University of Utah (2003)
- BA, Anthropology, University of Minnesota (1998)
About Me
I think the most valuable part of an undergraduate education is learning to challenge one’s preexisting beliefs based on exposure to new ideas. With this in mind, I offer my students differing perspectives and on current topics in psychology and gender studies and allow them to draw their own conclusions. I am always grateful to see their growth as they assess new information and reevaluate their own belief systems.
Research Interests
My research explores how culture and the environment influence cognition. Much of my work looks at how intergroup attitudes emerge in different contexts. For example, I’ve looked at the development of bias in childhood in the U.S. and the Faroe Islands. I’ve also studied Faroese attitudes about diversity (e.g., immigration, LGBTQ+ rights). My more recent studies consider how childhood experiences that promote exploration and interactions with nature, may lead to improvements in spatial skills, attention, and overall well-being.
Media Expertise
- Psychology
- Anthropology
- Gender
Publications
- Vlasceanu, M., et al., (2024). Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries. Science Advances, 10(6), eadj5778.
- Schug, M.G., Barhorst-Cates, E., Stefanucci, J., Creem-Regehr, S., Olsen, A.P.L., and Cashdan, E., (2022). Childhood experience reduces gender differences in spatial abilities: A cross-cultural study. Cognitive Science, 46, e13096.
- Barrett, H.C., Bolyanatz, A., Broesch, T., Cohen, E., Froerer, P., Kanovsky, M., Schug, M.G., & Laurence, S. (2021). Intuitive dualism and afterlife beliefs: A cross-cultural study. Cognitive Science, 45(6), e12992.
- Hayfield, E. A., & Schug, M. (2019). ‘It’s like they have a cognitive map of relations’: Feeling strange in a small island community. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 40(4), 383-398.
- Schug, M.G. (2017). Equal children play best: Raising independent Faroese children in the Danish welfare state. In J. DeLoache & A. Gottlieb (Eds.) A World of Babies: Imagined Childcare Guides for Eight Societies. Cambridge University Press.
- Schug, M.G. (2016). Factors in the development of spatial cognition in boys and girls: Assessing the impacts of biology and navigational experience. Boyhood Studies, 9(2), 44-55.
- Schug, M.G. (2016). Geographical cues and developmental exposure: Navigational style,wayfinding anxiety, and childhood experience in the Faroe Islands. Human Nature, 27(1), 68-81.
- Schug, M.G., Shusterman, A., Barth, H., & Patalano, A.L. (2015). Early group bias in the Faroe Islands: Cultural variation in children’s group-based reasoning. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 69(9), 1741-1751.
- Schug, M.G. & Striano, T. (2014). Social foundations of communicative development. In L. Rogers, P. Brooks, and V. Kempe (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Language Development. Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA.
- MacDonald, K., Schug, M.G., & Barth, H. (2013). My people, right or wrong: Preschoolers trust inaccurate ingroup members over accurate outgroup members. Cognitive Development, 28(3), 247-259.
- Schug, M.G., Shusterman, A., Barth, H. & Patalano, A.L. (2012). Cognition and the development of group bias: Minimal group membership influences children’s responses to novel experience with group members. Developmental Science, 16(1)47-55.
- Cleveland, A., Schug, M., & Striano, T. (2007). Joint attention and object learning in 5- and 7-month-old infants. Infant and Child Development, 16, 295-306.
Professional Affiliations & Memberships
Cognitive Development Society (CDS), Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)
In the Media
- Advocate
- The Washington Post
- Psychology Today
- Psychology Today
- Independent
Noteworthy
- Faculty Receives National Science Foundation Funding for Research into Children’s Development
Mariah Schug, chair of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies and associate professor of psychology, has received over $142,000 in funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for collaborative research into how interacting with nature impacts a child’s development.
This money will fund collaborative research with the University of Utah and Wesleyan University, who each received their own funding from the NSF for this research. The combined institutions have received over $220,00 for this project.
This case study will examine children’s exploratory behavior in two societies, the Faroe Islands and Denmark, where opportunities for independence and time spent in nature are cultural priorities in childhood. The goal is to help parents and educators develop a more beneficial balance between protecting children and structuring their experiences on the one hand, and promoting autonomy, exploration, and experience in natural environments on the other.