Linda Carli

Senior Lecturer Emerita in Psychology

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Interests include women leaders, social influence, gender differences in interaction and influence, and reactions to victimization.

I have been a faculty member at Wellesley College since 1991. An authority on gender discrimination and the challenges faced by professional women, I am the author (with Alice Eagly) of Through the Labyrinth: The Truth About How Women Become Leaders, published in conjunction with the Center for Public Leadership of the Kennedy School of Government. The book received the 2008 Distinguished Publication Award from the Association of Women in Psychology; an article based on the book received a McKinsey Award as the second most significant article published in the Harvard Business Review in 2007. In 2001, I co-edited (with Eagly) a volume of the Journal of Social Issues that focused on women leaders. My research focuses on the effects of gender on women's leadership, group interaction, communication, influence, and reactions to adversity.

I teach courses in introductory and social psychology as well as advanced courses in the psychology of law, which applies psychology to criminal behavior and legal issues; and organizational psychology, which applies psychology to the workplace and other organizational settings. Topics in the psychology of law include factors contributing to criminal behavior, methods of interrogation, reliability of eyewitnesses, use of lie detectors, victimization, jury selection and decision making, and the insanity defense. Topics in organizational psychology include achievement motivation, leadership, power and influence, coping with stress, diversity, group decision making, conflict resolution, and negotiation.

I am active in professional organization in psychology and management, and I serve on the executive board of the Society for the Women of Psychology. I have developed and conducted diversity training workshops and negotiation and conflict resolution workshops for women leaders, and have lectured widely on gender and diversity for business, academic, and other organizations.

Education

  • B.A., University of Connecticut
  • Ph.D., University of Massachusetts (Amherst)