Website: http://www.chsbs.cmich.edu/Stephen_Colarelli/
Bio:
Stephen Colarelli was born in Denver and grew up in Arvada, Colorado. His early years in Colorado left him with deep appreciation of nature and the outdoors. He received his B.A. in political science from Northwestern University, where he studied political science and history. After college he served in the Peace Corps for two years in Senegal, West Africa. Upon returning from the Peace Corps, he received his M.A. in social and organizational psychology from the University of Chicago, and his Ph.D. in industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology from New York University. He worked in applied research and consulting for three years before coming to Central Michigan University in 1985. He was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Zambia and a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore.
Research Interest:
My research is concerned with the question of how evolutionary theory and evolutionary psychology in particular can influence and alter the ways we think about, conduct research on, and practice industrial and organizational (I/O) psychology. While evolutionary theory is the foundation of the life sciences, it has made few inroads into I/O psychology. My writing and research involve integrating an evolutionary perspective into I/O psychology. I also conduct basic research in evolutionary psychology.
My work in I/O psychology focuses on four specific areas: (1) understanding the use and non-use modern human resource technologies within the context of our evolved psychological adaptations; (2) adapting human resource technologies so that they are more compatible with our evolved psychology; (3) understanding the mechanisms that motivate people to draw unwarranted conclusions about human differences and developing organizational interventions that minimize the salience of differences that are irrelevant to working together in modern organizations; and (4) understanding the evolutionary dynamics of organizational (and social) change.
Recent Research:
Colarelli, S. M., & Arvey, R. A. (in press). Handbook of the biological foundations of organizational behavior. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Spranger, J. A., Colarelli, S. M., Dimotakis, N., Jacob, A., & Arvey, R. D. (2012). Effects of kin density within family-owned businesses. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. Available on-line.
Colarelli, S.M., Roscoe, A., Monnot, M., & Ronan, G. (2012). Administrative assumptions and some assumption violation effects in top-down selection. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 61, 498-512.
Yang, C., Colarelli, S. M., Han, K., & Page, R. (2011). Start-up and hiring practices of immigrant entrepreneurs: An empirical study from an evolutionary psychological perspective.
International Business Review.
Colarelli, S. M., Poole, D. A., Unterborn, K., & D’Souza, G. (2010). Racial prototypicality, affirmative action, and hiring decisions in a multi-racial world. International Journal of Assessment and Selection, 18, 166-173.