Special Projects
Getting Americans Out of Poverty Requires More Than Money
In collaboration with the US Partnership on Mobility from Poverty and the Urban Institute, SPARQ has assembled social psychological scales that measure not only people's economic success, but also their sense of power and feeling valued in their community.
Bias in the Financial Services Industry
Stanford SPARQ: Social Psychological Answers to Real-world Questions and Illumen Capital are conducting original research to address the lack of gender and racial diversity in the financial services industry.
Barriers to Agency
Many economic development programs fall short because they don’t adequately account for cultural differences. SPARQ Graduate Affiliate Catherine Thomas is trying to improve economic development efforts by leveraging cultural psychology. Here are some cultural psychological insights for economic development.
Strategies for Change
In "Strategies for Change," we present the methods and findings of five research initiatives that examined race relations between the Oakland Police Department and the Oakland Community. We also present 50 evidence-based actions that agencies can take to change department cultures and strengthen police-community ties.
Data for Change
In this technical report, we present SPARQ's independent, detailed, and rigorous assessment of 13 months of the Oakland Police Department's stop data. Our analyses reveal that OPD officers disproportionately stop, search, handcuff, and arrest African Americans, relative to other racial groups. At the same time, we found little evidence that disparate treatment arose from explicit racism or purposeful discrimination. Instead, our research suggests...
Principled Policing Report
The relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve must be grounded in trust in order to ensure safety and protection for all. Recent events in California and across the nation have strained this relationship. As part of Attorney General Kamala D. Harris’ ongoing commitment to identify strategies to strengthen trust between law enforcement and communities, the Department of Justice offered California law enforcement executives a course...
YOLA's Impact
In an exciting new education project, SPARQ is partnering with Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) to examine the effects of rigorous orchestral training on children’s development. A program of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, YOLA gives some 700 children, ages 6 to 18, free instruments, intensive music training, and academic support.
Supporting Entrepreneurship in West Africa
For several years, the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Economic Development (SEED) has operated its Transformation Program in West Africa. SPARQ is working with SEED to research and develop ways to increase the impact of this program and amplify the successes of its participants.
Changing Mindsets to Build Cultures of Health
The United States ranks #1 in the world in per capita health care spending, but ranks in the bottom half of wealthy nations in life expectancy, infant mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality, obesity, and diabetes. Low-income and ethnic minority Americans bear a disproportionate amount of this disease burden. With a generous grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, SPARQ is exploring an under-examined source of health disparities...
Respectful Policing
In the wake of Ferguson and other high-profile cases, police departments all over the nation are struggling to improve their relationships with the communities they serve. Applying basic social psychological theory, SPARQ is partnering with the Oakland Police Department to research, develop, and implement better policing techniques.
Agency for Innovation in India
Many development projects fail because they impose the values and practices of western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (or WEIRD) cultures on non-Western, semi-literate, and poor people. A textile manufacturer in India, however, seems to bypass this problem by helping workers cultivate a more culturally appropriate form agency. Partnering with the manufacturer, SPARQ is...
Connect to Health
The rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or "Obamacare") revealed many and large cultural misunderstandings between the healthcare industry and low-income Americans, including misunderstandings about how low-income people want to purchase and use healthcare. To amplify the voices of low-income Americans, SPARQ is partnering with Great Nonprofits...
Peaceful in the Middle East
Intractable intergroup conflicts, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, represent the greatest threats we face as a species. These conflicts are inherently psychological, but social psychologists have only recently begun applying their methods to analyze and perhaps help heal these conflicts. In this Special Project, SPARQ Faculty Affiliates Carol Dweck and James Gross are collaborating with Eran Halperin of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel...
Be The Donor
Every few minutes, a person in need of new stem cells or a new liver, kidney, heart, or other organ is added to a waiting list. Many of these patients will die for want of a transplant. African Americans, Asian Americans, and other people of color are more likely to perish than are European Americans because fewer people of color register to become stem cell or organ donors. To tackle this problem, SPARQ has teamed up with several collaborators...
The Impact of PUP
The Prison University Project (PUP) is the only onsite education program in the state of California that offers prisoners the opportunity to earn a college degree. PUP serves the inmates at San Quentin State Prison, California’s oldest and most notorious correctional facility, and is one of the largest prison education programs in the nation. By all indications, PUP has been extremely successful. But to improve its performance, attract funding, and expand to other prisons, PUP must conduct a more systematic evaluation...