I am Bai (pronounce like bye)!
I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Psychology, affiliated with the School of Public and International Affairs, the Program in Cognitive Science, and the Center for Statistics and Machine Learning at Princeton University.
I study dynamic social minds: the interplay between individual decision processes and societal phenomena in the field of social cognition. My current work explores the psychological origins of social stereotypes. You can learn more about my work by reading [Research] and [Teaching] Statements, or [this] paper.
I will join the University of Chicago as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology, starting in July 2024 [CV].
I am Bai (pronounce like bye)!
I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Psychology, affiliated with the School of Public and International Affairs, the Program in Cognitive Science, and the Center for Statistics and Machine Learning at Princeton University.
I study dynamic social minds: the interplay between individual decision processes and societal phenomena in the field of social cognition. My current work explores the psychological origins of social stereotypes. You can learn more about my work by reading [Research] and [Teaching] Statements, or [this] paper.
I will join the University of Chicago as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology, starting in July 2024 [CV].
I am Bai (pronounce like bye)!
I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Psychology, affiliated with the School of Public and International Affairs, the Program in Cognitive Science, and the Center for Statistics and Machine Learning at Princeton University.
I study dynamic social minds: the interplay between individual decision processes and societal phenomena in the field of social cognition. My current work explores the psychological origins of social stereotypes. You can learn more about my work by reading [Research] and [Teaching] Statements, or [this] paper.
I will join the University of Chicago as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology, starting in July 2024 [CV].
Xuechunzi Bai 白 雪純子

I am a Neubauer Family Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology, the University of Chicago. I study dynamic social minds: the interplay between (micro) individual decision processes and (macro) social structures in the field of social cognition [CV].
My Ph.D. work, advised by Drs. Susan Fiske and Tom Griffiths, explores psychological origins of social stereotypes; how individual-level exploratory behaviors lead to societal-level stratification. You can learn more about my current and future research by reading [research] statement or [this] paper, and about my mentorship in [teaching] statement.
I will be reviewing materials for postdoc researcher, graduate student, and research assistant positions for the 2024-25 cycle, see details in this [doc].
Selected Publications
(see a full list from [Google Scholar] page)

Explicitly unbiased large language models still form biased associations.
Bai, X., Wang, A., Sucholutsky, I., Griffiths, T. L. (2025).
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
[preprint][data & code]

Costly exploration produces stereotypes with dimensions of warmth and competence.
Bai, X., Griffiths, T. L., Fiske, S. T. (2024).
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

Globally inaccurate stereotypes can result from locally adaptive exploration.
Bai, X., Fiske, S. T., Griffiths, T. L. (2022).
Psychological Science.
[paper][data & code][slides]

As diversity increases, people paradoxically perceive social groups as more similar.
Bai, X., Ramos, M.R., Fiske, S. T. (2020).
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
[paper][data & code][slides]
© 2025 By Xuechunzi Bai. All rights reserved.