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Kevin Zabel
Associate Professor
Psychology
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Kevin Zabel
Associate Professor
Psychology
Specialty area(s)
Social Psychology
Social Cognition
Brief biography
Kevin Zabel earned his B.A. in Psychology and Economics & Management from Albion College in Albion, MI. He completed his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology (Social concentration) at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN.
Prior to joining the psychology faculty at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse in Fall 2019, Dr. Zabel served as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Western New England University in Springfield, MA for four years. In that position, he advised students, taught multiple courses (e.g., Introduction to Psychology, First-Year Seminar for Psychology Majors, Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, Research Methods, Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology, Multicultural Psychology). He also frequently involved students in his psychology research endeavors.
Dr. Zabel has research interests in social psychology and social cognition, and applies these approaches to attitude-behavior processes, interracial interactions, and diversity efforts. One line of research is focused on better understanding the contexts in which people's attitudes toward social groups predict their judgments and behaviors toward individuals of these groups, as well as the roles that motivation and opportunity (i.e., time, mental resources) play in these processes. A second line of research is focused on content strategies (i.e., what topics individuals prefer to discuss) in interracial interactions, as well as the psychological consequences that occur when these preferences are violated by interaction partners. Finally, Dr. Zabel has an interest in the scholarship of teaching and learning in psychology, conducting research with implications for pedagogical best practices. Dr. Zabel enjoys involving and mentoring students in his research endeavors.
Current courses at UWL
Social Psychology (PSY 241)
Research Methods (PSY 331)
Education
Ph.D., University of Tennessee (Experimental Psychology with a Social Concentration; 2015)
M.A., University of Tennessee (Experimental Psychology; 2012)
B. A., Albion College (Psychology and Economics & Management; 2009)
Career
Teaching history
General Psychology (PSY 100)
First Year Seminar (FYS 100)
Research Apprenticeship (PSY 308)
Research Methods for Psychology Minors (PSY 321)
Prejudice and Stigma (PSY 443)
Individual Projects in Psychology (PSY 481)
Honors Seminar in Psychology (PSY 489)
Senior Seminar (PSY 495)
Professional history
Western New England University: Assistant Professor of Psychology (2015-2019)
Research and publishing
Zabel, K. L., Bellisle, K., & Lor, J. (Under Review). First-generation college student status and motivation for a future advanced graduate degree. Journal of College Student Development.
Christopher, A. N., & Zabel, K. L. (2025). Writing as a tool for workplace readiness. In D. Dunn (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of psychology undergraduate education (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Kievit, D.L., LaCosse, J., Mallinas, S. R., March, D. S., Kunstman, J. W., Zabel, K. L., Olson, M. A., & Plant, E. A. (2023). Changes in nonprejudiced motivations track shifts in the US sociopolitical climate. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 26, 934-952.
Zabel, K. L., & Seacat, J. D. (2021). Self-protection and correction for automatically activated weight bias: Revisiting the applicability of the MODE model. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 53, 257-269.
Zabel, K. L., & Zabel, K. L. (2020). Who says what (and how) to whom: A multilevel approach to improving workplace bias training. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 13, 230-235.
Francis, A., Wieth, M., Zabel, K. L., & Carr, T. (2020). A classroom study on the role of prior knowledge and retrieval tool in the testing effect. Psychology Learning and Teaching, 19, 258-274.
Olson, M. A., Johnson, C. S., Zabel, K. L., & Phillips, J. E. (2018). Different sides of the same conversation: Black and White partners differ in perceptions of interaction content. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 48, 424-436.
Olson, M. A., & Zabel, K. L. (2016). Measures of prejudice. In T. Nelson (Ed.), Handbook of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination (pp. 175-212). Psychology Press.
Zabel, K. L., Zabel, K. L., Olson, M. A.., & Carlson, J. H. (2016). Theoretical applications of the MODE Model to law enforcement training and interventions. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 9, 604-611.
Christopher, A. N., Marek, P., & Zabel, K. L. (2015). Becoming a better writer about psychology. In D. Dunn (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of psychology undergraduate education (pp. 751-768). Oxford University Press.
Zabel, K. L., & Heger, A. (2015). Student engagement toward coursework: Measures, considerations, and future directions. In R. S. Jhangiani, J. D. Troisi, B. Fleck, A. Legg, & H. Hussey (Eds.), A compendium of scales for use in the scholarship of teaching and learning (pp. 86-101). Retrieved from Society for the Teaching of Psychology web site: (http://teachpsych.org/Resources/Documents/ebooks/compscalesstl.pdf).
Zabel, K. L., Olson, M. A., Johnson, C. J., & Phillips, J. E. (2015). What we talk about matters: Content moderates cognitive depletion in interracial interactions. Journal of Social Psychology, 155, 545-552.
Christopher, A. N., Zabel, K. L., & Miller, D. E. (2013). Personality, authoritarianism, social dominance, and ambivalent sexism: A mediational model. Individual Differences Research, 11, 70-80.
Zabel, K. L., Christopher, A. N., Marek, P., Wieth, M. B., & Carlson, J. J. (2009). Mediational effects of sensation seeking on the age and financial risk-taking relationship. Personality and Individual Differences, 47, 917-921.
Kudos
presented