Evan Apfelbaum

Associate Professor, Management & Organizations
  • Phone 617-353-4288
  • Office 560

  • BOSTON UNIVERSITY
    Questrom School of Business
    Rafik B. Hariri Building
    595 Commonwealth Avenue
    Boston, MA 02215

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Evan Apfelbaum is an Associate Professor and Research Director of the HR Policy Institute at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University. Prior to joining BU, he was the W. Maurice Young (1961) Career Development Professor and an Associate Professor of Work and Organization Studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Team and Group Research Fellow at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He received his B.S. in Psychology and Music from Union College and Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Tufts University.

Evan’s research has been featured in leading academic journals including Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychological Science, Management Science, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He has been recognized by the Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize and is the recipient of the James H. Ferry Jr. Grant for Innovation in Research, an Early Researcher Award from the American Psychological Association, among other research and teaching awards. He was named one of the Top 40 Business Professors Under 40 by Poets & Quants.

For more information, please visit: www.evanapfelbaum.com.

    Publications
  • Apfelbaum, E., Suh, E. (2023). "Transparency about Lagging Diversity Numbers Signals Genuine Progress", Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
  • Apfelbaum, E., Pauker, K. (2022). "What Happens When Kids Learn That Racism Can't Be Overcome",
  • Pauker, K., Apfelbaum, E., Dweck, C., Eberhardt, J. (2022). "Believing that prejudice can change increases children's interest in interracial interactions", Developmental Science, 25 (4)
  • Meyers, C., Williams, A., Pauker, K., Apfelbaum, E. (2022). "The impact of social norms on navigating race in a racially diverse context", Group Processes and Intergroup Relations
  • Amengual, M., Apfelbaum, E. (2021). "True Motives: Prosocial and Instrumental Justifications for Behavioral Change in Organizations", Management Science
  • Brown, R., Craig, M., Apfelbaum, E. (2021). "European Americans' intentions to confront racial bias: Considering who, what (kind), and why", Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 95 104123-104123
  • Sullivan, J., Wilton, L., Apfelbaum, E. (2021). "Adults delay conversations about race because they underestimate children’s processing of race.", Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 150 (2), 395-400
  • Suh, Y., Apfelbaum, E., Norton, M. (2020). "The Perpetuation of Gender Inequality Through Costly Gender Congruent Choices", Academy of Management Proceedings, 2020 (1), 19403-19403
  • Amengual, M., Apfelbaum, E. (2020). "Feel-good messaging won’t always motivate your employees", Harvard Business Review
  • Cho, Y., Elias, A., Apfelbaum, E., Birnbaum, H., Castilla, E., Cobb, J., Keller, J., Meuris, J., Nurmohamed, S., Rho, H., Stephens, N., Wrzesniewski, A. (2019). "Labor Market Inequalities: Integrating the Demand-Side and the Supply-Side Perspectives", Academy of Management Proceedings, 2019 (1), 12282-12282
  • Wilton, L., Apfelbaum, E., Good, J. (2019). "Valuing Differences and Reinforcing Them: Multiculturalism Increases Race Essentialism", Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10 (5), 681-689
  • Gaither, S., Apfelbaum, E., Birnbaum, H., Babbitt, L., Sommers, S. (2018). "Mere Membership in Racially Diverse Groups Reduces Conformity", Social Psychological and Personality Science, 9 (4), 402-410
  • Apfelbaum, E. (2017). "The trouble with homogeneous teams", MIT Sloan Management Review: MIT's journal of management research and ideas
  • Duhaime, E., Apfelbaum, E. (2017). "Can Information Decrease Political Polarization? Evidence From the U.S. Taxpayer Receipt", Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8 (7), 736-745
  • Apfelbaum, E., Grunberg, R., Halevy, N., Kang, S. (2017). "From ignorance to intolerance: Perceived intentionality of racial discrimination shapes preferences for colorblindness versus multiculturalism", Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 69 (March), 86-101
  • Apfelbaum, E. (2016). "Why your diversity program may be helping women but not minorities (or vice versa)", Harvard Business Review
  • Apfelbaum, E., Stephens, N., Reagans, R. (2016). "Beyond one-size-fits-all: Tailoring diversity approaches to the representation of social groups.", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111 (4), 547-566
  • Pauker, K., Apfelbaum, E., Spitzer, B. (2015). "When Societal Norms and Social Identity Collide", Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6 (8), 887-895
  • Galinsky, A., Todd, A., Homan, A., Phillips, K., Apfelbaum, E., Sasaki, S., Richeson, J., Olayon, J., Maddux, W. (2015). "Maximizing the Gains and Minimizing the Pains of Diversity", Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10 (6), 742-748
  • Levine, S., Apfelbaum, E., Bernard, M., Bartelt, V., Zajac, E., Stark, D. (2014). "Ethnic diversity deflates price bubbles", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111 (52), 18524-18529
  • Apfelbaum, E., Phillips, K., Richeson, J. (2014). "Rethinking the Baseline in Diversity Research", Perspectives on Psychological Science, 9 (3), 235-244
  • Shteynberg, G., Hirsh, J., Apfelbaum, E., Larsen, J., Galinsky, A., Roese, N. (2014). "Feeling more together: Group attention intensifies emotion.", Emotion, 14 (6), 1102-1114
  • Apfelbaum, E., Sommers, S. (2013). "Law and diversity: The legal-behavioral science divide in how to define, assess, and counteract bias", Oxford Handbook of Diversity and Work
  • Shteynberg, G., Apfelbaum, E. (2013). "The Power of Shared Experience", Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4 (6), 738-744
  • Norton, M., Apfelbaum, E. (2013). "The costs of racial "colorblindness"", Harvard Business Review
  • Phillips, K., Apfelbaum, E. (2012). "Delusions of homogeneity? Reinterpreting the effects of group diversity", Research on Managing Groups and Teams
  • Apfelbaum, E., Norton, M., Sommers, S. (2012). "Racial Color Blindness: Emergence, Practice, and Implications", Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21 (3), 205-209
  • Apfelbaum, E., Krendl, A., Ambady, N. (2010). "Age-related decline in executive function predicts better advice-giving in uncomfortable social contexts", Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46 (6), 1074-1077
  • Pauker, K., Ambady, N., Apfelbaum, E. (2010). "Race Salience and Essentialist Thinking in Racial Stereotype Development", Child Development, 81 (6), 1799-1813
  • Apfelbaum, E., Pauker, K., Sommers, S., Ambady, N. (2010). "In Blind Pursuit of Racial Equality?", Psychological Science, 21 (11), 1587-1592
  • Freeman, J., Pauker, K., Apfelbaum, E., Ambady, N. (2010). "Continuous dynamics in the real-time perception of race", Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46 (1), 179-185
  • Apfelbaum, E., Sommers, S. (2009). "Liberating Effects of Losing Executive Control", Psychological Science, 20 (2), 139-143
  • Apfelbaum, E., Sommers, S., Norton, M. (2008). "Seeing race and seeming racist? Evaluating strategic colorblindness in social interaction.", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95 (4), 918-932
  • Apfelbaum, E., Pauker, K., Ambady, N., Sommers, S., Norton, M. (2008). "Learning (not) to talk about race: When older children underperform in social categorization.", Developmental Psychology, 44 (5), 1513-1518
  • Sommers, S., Apfelbaum, E., Dukes, K., Toosi, N., Wang, E. (2006). "Race and Media Coverage of Hurricane Katrina: Analysis, Implications, and Future Research Questions", Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 6 (1), 39-55
  • Norton, M., Sommers, S., Apfelbaum, E., Pura, N., Ariely, D. (2006). "Color Blindness and Interracial Interaction", Psychological Science, 17 (11), 949-953
  • Norton, M., Sommers, S., Apfelbaum, E., Pura, N., Ariely, D. (2006). "Colorblindness and interracial interaction: Playing the political correctness game.", Psychological Science, 17 (949953.)
    Awards and Honors
  • 2023, Best Symposium Award, Academy of Management, MED Division
  • 2021, McCombe Research Award
  • 2020, Fellow of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology
  • 2015, IOBC Best Paper Award
  • 2012, W. Maurice Young (1961) Career Development Professorship
  • 2010, Society for Experimental Social Psychology
  • 2009, Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize