Kimia Saadatian
Ph.D. Student in Psychology, admitted Autumn 2021
Honors & Awards
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Graduate Research Fellowship, National Science Foundation
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Graduate Fellowship in Science and Engineering, Stanford University
All Publications
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Congregation Over Denomination: Analyzing Psychological Reactions to a Church Ruling on Same Sex Marriage
JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION
2024
View details for DOI 10.1111/jssr.12905
View details for Web of Science ID 001158085700001
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A scalable empathic supervision intervention to mitigate recidivism from probation and parole
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
2021; 118 (14)
Abstract
Incarceration is a pervasive issue in the United States that is enormously costly to families, communities, and society at large. The path from prison back to prison may depend on the relationship a person has with their probation or parole officer (PPO). If the relationship lacks appropriate care and trust, violations and recidivism (return to jail or prison) may be more likely to occur. Here, we test whether an "empathic supervision" intervention with PPOs-that aims to reduce collective blame against and promote empathy for the perspectives of adults on probation or parole (APPs)-can reduce rates of violations and recidivism. The intervention highlights the unreasonable expectation that all APPs will reoffend (collective blame) and the benefits of empathy-valuing APPs' perspectives. Using both within-subject (monthly official records for 10 mo) and between-subject (treatment versus control) comparisons in a longitudinal study with PPOs in a large US city (N PPOs = 216; N APPs =∼20,478), we find that the empathic supervision intervention reduced collective blame against APPs 10 mo postintervention and reduced between-subject violations and recidivism, a 13% reduction that would translate to less taxpayer costs if scaled. Together, these findings illustrate that very low-cost psychological interventions that target empathy in relationships can be cost effective and combat important societal outcomes in a lasting manner.
View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.2018036118
View details for Web of Science ID 000637398300028
View details for PubMedID 33782121
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC8040791