Dr Miguel Ribeiro Ramos

Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology
Senior Lecturer

Contact details

Address
School of Social Policy and Society
Muirhead Tower
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Miguel is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Policy and Society in the Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology. In his work, Miguel investigates the impact of the social environment on people’s well-being and health, especially of those who face disadvantage in our societies.

Feedback and office hours

Miguel’s office hours vary in the Spring and Summer terms, see office door for latest details. Students are also welcome to make an appointment outside of these hours via email.

Qualifications

  • PhD, Social Psychology, University of St. Andrews (2010)
  • MSc. Psychological Research Methods, University of Exeter (2005)
  • BA Psychology, ISPA, Portugal (2002)

Biography

Miguel joined the Department in September 2019 as a lecturer in sociology. Miguel completed his PhD in 2010 in social psychology at the University of St. Andrews. He had a sequence of postdoctoral positions at the University of Exeter (2010), ISCTE-IUL (Portugal, 2010-2015) and the University of Oxford (2015-2019). Miguel was a visiting scholar at Princeton University in 2017. His work has been funded by the ESRC, Fulbright Commission, the European Commission, and FCT (Portugal).

Miguel is a social psychologist working at the intersection of different fields within the social sciences.

In his research, he uses social psychological theorising to understand the processes by which social environments and individuals mutually influence each other.

He has a quantitative focus with work ranging from lab experiments to analysis of large worldwide data.

Teaching

Social Research II

Terror, threat, and security

Postgraduate supervision

Prospective graduate students interested in Miguel’s research topics (see “Research” below) may contact him by email.

Research

Miguel’s work has focused on the impact of the social environment on people’s well-being and health, especially of those who face disadvantage in our societies.

This includes studying the effects of harmful aspects of the social environment such as prejudice and discrimination, as well as beneficial ones such as the social ties and identities individuals develop when in contact. In his work he models both aspects together with the aim of understanding under which conditions intergroup contact and identity mitigate the harmful effects of discrimination, prejudice, and negative stereotyping.  

More recently, he has been interested in the effects of ethnic and religious diversity on people’s well-being. He has aimed to answer questions such as: Are we happier and more satisfied in diverse societies? Does coexisting with individuals from a different demographic background impact our well-being and health?

Miguel’s work has focused on stigmatised groups such as women, racial and ethnic minorities, and older adults. He has used a wide range of techniques spanning from lab experiments to the analysis of large surveys with worldwide data.   

He is now working on two funded research projects:

The Impact of Ethnic Diversity on Wellbeing and Health (PI with Matthew Bennett [Birmingham], Miles Hewstone [Oxford], and Douglas Massey [Princeton]). Nuffield Foundation Open Door (£219,131)

This is a three-year interdisciplinary project funded by the Nuffield Foundation, U.K. The project is concerned with understanding the effects of contemporary changes in ethnic composition of our societies. Our findings will identify risk factors, as well as positive aspects of diversity, that will inform leaders and policy makers in planning the broad range of diversity-related challenges of modern societies.

Exploring the relationship between ethnic heterogeneity, intergroup relations and stress. (with Matthew Bennett [Birmingham] and Miles Hewstone [Oxford]). ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative (£199,746.)

This project seeks to advance the theoretical and empirical understanding of how variations in the ethnic composition of local areas are associated with individuals’ stress (inflammatory markers and allostatic load). We also seek to understand the impact of both negative (e.g., threat) and positive (e.g., intergroup contact) correlates of diversity, identifying the beneficial and harmful effects that may push or pull in different directions. We will analyse data contained in Understanding Society and the National Child Development Study, with an emphasis on the biomarker data, and combine them with Census-based estimates for social context and apply advanced longitudinal, multilevel and structural equation data analysis techniques.

Publications

Branco, C., Ramos, M. R., & Hewstone, M. (in press). The association of group-based discrimination with health and well-being: A comparison of ableism with other “isms”. Journal of Social Issues.

Ramos, M. R., Bennett, M. R., Massey, D. S., & Hewstone, M. (2019). Humans adapt to social diversity over time. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116, 12244-12249.  

Ramos, M. R. & Hewstone, M. (2018). The good, the bad, and the long-term implications of social diversity. Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1-14.

Ramos, M. R., & Moriconi, M. (2018). Corruption in Latin America: Stereotypes of politicians and their Implications for affect and perceived justice. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 9, 111-122.

Ramos, M. R., Barreto, M., Ellemers, N., Moya, M., & Ferreira, L. (2018). What hostile and benevolent sexism communicate about men’s and women’s warmth and competence. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 21, 159-177.

Jones, J. M., & Ramos, M. R. (2017). Promoting engagement, health and well-being in ethnically diverse societies. In K. Niven, S. Lewis, & C. Kagan (eds.), Making a difference with psychology. London, UK: Richard Benjamin Trust.

Ramos, M. R., Barreto, M., Ellemers, N., Moya, M., Ferreira, L., & Calanchini, J. (2016). Exposure to sexism can decrease implicit stereotype bias. European Journal of Social Psychology, 46, 455-466.

Ramos, M. R., Hewstone, M., Barreto, M., & Branscombe, N. (2016). The opportunities and challenges of diversity: Explaining its impact on individuals and groups. European Journal of Social Psychology, 46, 793-806.

Ramos, M. R., Cassidy, C., Reicher, S., & Haslam, S. A. (2016). A Longitudinal study of the effects of discrimination on the acculturation strategies of international students. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47, 401-420.

Ampudia, F., Serafim, J. Cobra, J., Faria, L., Roque, M. I., Ramos, M. R., Carvalho, P., & Costa, R. (2016). Research in the social sciences: A practical guide for students. [Investigação em ciências sociais: Guia prático do estudante]. Lisbon: Pactor.

Correia, I., Alves, H., Morais, R., & Ramos, M. R. (2015). The legitimation of wife abuse among women: The impact of belief in a just world and gender identification. Personality and Individual Differences, 76, 7-12.

Ramos, M. R., Cassidy, C., Reicher, S., & Haslam, S. A. (2015). Well-being in cross-cultural transitions: Discrepancies between acculturation preferences and actual intergroup and intragroup contact. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 45, 23-34.

Ramos, M. R. (2014). Portuguese adaptation for university students of Heatherton and Polivy’s state self-esteem scale. Psicologia, 28, 33-38.

Ramos, M. R., Correia, I., & Alves, H. (2014). To believe or not to believe in a just world? The psychological costs of threats to the belief in a just world and the role of attributions. Self and Identity, 3, 257 -273.

Ramos, M. R., Jetten, J., Zhang, A., Badea, C., Iyer, A., Cui, L., & Zhang, Y. (2013). Minority goals for interaction with the majority: Seeking distance from the majority and the effect of rejection on identification. European Journal of Social Psychology, 43, 72-83.

Correia, I., Alves, H., Sutton, R., Ramos, M. R., Gouveia-Pereira, M., & Vala, J. (2012). When do people derogate or psychologically distance from victims? Belief in a just world and ingroup identification. Personality and Individual Differences, 53, 747-752.

Ramos, M. R., Cassidy, C., Reicher, S., & Haslam, S. A. (2012). A longitudinal investigation of the rejection-identification hypothesis. British Journal of Social Psychology, 51, 642–660.

Badea, C., Cassidy, C., Boza, M., & Ramos, M. R. (2011). War against smokers: The effects of smokers’ group identification. International Review of Social Psychology, 24, 63-81.

Ramos, M. R. & Alves, H. (2011). Portuguese adaptation of a multidimensional scale of identification. Psicologia, 2, 23-38. 

View all publications in research portal