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Dr. Alex Borgella joined Fort Lewis College in Fall 2019 as an assistant professor of psychology. He was trained in social psychology at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, with a concentration in cognitive underpinnings of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. Prior to joining Fort Lewis, he was a visiting assistant professor of psychology at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.
Dr. Borgella’s current research interests involve the following topics:
His research has been published in outlets such as The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, The Journal of Social Psychology, The Psychology of Sport and Exercise, and Humor: International Journal of Humor Research. He has also been interviewed about his work in popular media outlets like National Public Radio (NPR) The APA Monitor, VICE, Quartz Magazine, and Fast Company Magazine.
Dr. Borgella regularly teaches the following courses at FLC:
Borgella, A.M., Howard, S., & Maddox, K.B. (2020). Cracking wise to break the ice: Can racial humor ease interracial anxiety? Humor: The International Journal of Humor Research, 33, 105-135.
Thai, M., & Borgella, A.M. (2020). Was that joke funny or offensive? Who’s telling it matters. The Conversation (online only).
Howard, S., Borgella, A.M. (2019). Are Adewale and Ngochi more employable than Jamal and Lakeisha?: The influence of nationality and ethnicity cues on employment-related evaluations of Blacks in the United States. The Journal of Social Psychology (online only), 1-11.
Thai, M., Borgella, A.M., Sanchez, M. S. (2019). It’s only funny if we say it: Disparagement humor is better received if it originates from a member of the group being disparaged. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 85, 1-10.
Howard, S. & Borgella, A.M. (2018). “Sinking” or sinking?: Identity salience and shifts in Black women’s athletic performance. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 39, 179 - 183.
Borgella, A.M. (2016). Science deconstructs humor: What makes some things funny? The Conversation (online only).
Lee, M.R. & Borgella, A.M. (2012). Assessment of changes in multicultural awareness and behavior in three academic majors. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting Proceedings, 2012, 1-34.
Borgella, A.M., Yi, S., & Lee, M.R. (2012). The role of traditional gender role beliefs in predicting male and female homophobia. Teaching of Psychology: Ideas and Innovations, 2012, 36-38.
Borgella, A.M. (2021, February) Allies on the edge: Humor, irony, and appropriation in fraught intergroup relations. Symposium discussant at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (online).
Borgella, A.M., & Murphy, R.L. (2020, February). The role of weight, self-esteem, and body-esteem on the use of weight-related disparagement humor. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, New Orleans, LA.
Borgella, A.M., Carvalho, K., Hammer, C.K., & Bedard, T. (2019, February). “I’m going to say it before you can”: Humorist weight and reactions to weight-disparaging jokes. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Portland, OR.
Borgella, A.M., & Maddox, K.B. (2018, February). Cracking wise to break the ice: The role of identity and humor in intergroup judgments. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.
Borgella, A.M. (2018, September) Investigating ideas: Humor in hard places. Symposium discussant at the Bates College “Investigating Ideas” symposium series, Lewiston, ME.
Borgella, A.M., Fenton, J.L., & Maddox, K.B. (2017, April) Scrutiny as a moderator of racial phenotypicality bias in guilt judgments. Symposium discussant at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, MA.
Borgella, A.M., & Maddox, K.B. (2017, January). The effects of deprecating humor on intergroup interactions: A review. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX.
Aronson, R.K., Howard, S., Borgella, A.M. (2015, March). What’s in a (Black) name: evaluations of African vs. African American Names. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Philadelphia, PA.
Borgella, A.M., Maddox, K.B., Sargent, M.J., Murray, M.P (2015, February). Full court pressure: Racial phenotypicality under scrutiny. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Long Beach, CA.
Borgella, A.M., Fenton, J.L., & Maddox, K.B. (2014, February) Exploring aversive racism as a moderator of racial phenotypicality bias in guilt judgments. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Austin, TX.
Borgella, A.M., & Maddox, K.B. (2013, September). Concerns over appearing biased moderates the use of Afrocentric facial features in judgments of Blacks. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology. Berkeley, CA.