![](https://sites.northwestern.edu/destinlab/files/2023/09/Lab-2023-1.jpeg)
Our research investigates how social environments shape people’s identities and the consequences for motivation, behaviors, and trajectories in life. We place particular emphasis on understanding the ways that socioeconomic resources come to influence young people’s academic outcomes. Using social psychological methods, we conduct laboratory and school-based field experiments to examine the types of contexts, experiences, interactions, and information that support motivation and well-being for students from a variety of backgrounds.
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If you would like to help support our program developed to improve experiences and opportunities for Northwestern students from modest socioeconomic backgrounds, please follow this link: https://giving.northwestern.
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Dr. Destin works with doctoral students in both the Human Development & Social Policy program in the School of Education & Social Policy and the Social Psychology program in the Department of Psychology. Please visit each program website for more information and please read this recent article to learn more about current research priorities in our lab.
You can also find a profile of the work in our lab in the magazine of the American Psychological Association here.
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Generous support for our research is provided by the following funding agencies: