Campus Directory

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Biography

Dr. Pirlott is a social psychologist who earned her B.A. in Psychology and Women's Studies from Marquette University in 2005; her M.A. in Social Psychology from Arizona State University in 2008; and her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Arizona State University in 2012. She then joined the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire in 2012 through 2015 as an assistant professor before joining the Psychology Department at Saint Xavier University in 2015 as an assistant professor where she progressed to associate professor with tenure in 2019 and to professor in 2025. She accepted progressive leadership opportunities as the Chair of the Psychology Department, Director of the Social Sciences Division, and now serves as the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Education. 

Dr. Pirlott's research employs an affordance management perspective to human cognition and behavior, which suggests that people think about and respond to those around them in ways intended to better manage the potential opportunities (e.g., for friendship or romance) and threats (e.g., to mating opportunities or sexual autonomy) these others afford. She developed a program of research applying this perspective to two substantive areas of research--intergroup relations, prejudice, and stereotyping, and human mating.

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Selected Publications

Pirlott, A. G., & DeGirolamo, G. (2026). Adding formative daily comprehension checks predicts improved performance in an undergraduate psychology statistics course. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/stl0000486 

Pirlott, A.G. & Hines, J.C. (2025). Eliminating ANOVA hand calculations predicts improved mastery in an undergraduate statistics course. Teaching of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/00986283231183959

Pirlott, A. G., & Cook, C. L. (2025). Evolutionary approaches to understanding prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination. In T. D. Nelson (Ed.), Handbook of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination (3rd ed., pp. 3–16). Routledge.

Pirlott, A.G. (2024). Online versus face-to-face learning in an undergraduate statistics course. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/stl0000340

Pirlott, A. G., & *Foley, M.M. (2023). Cross-cultural evidence for the role of parenting costs limiting women's sexual unrestrictedness. Evolutionary Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-023-00361-4

MacKinnon, D. P., Cheong, J., Pirlott, A. G., & Smyth, H. L. (2023). Statistical mediation analysis in psychological research. In H. Cooper, M. N. Coutanche, L. M. McMullen, A. T. Panter, D. Rindskopf, & K. J. Sher (Eds.), APA handbook of research methods in psychology: Research designs: Quantitative, qualitative, neuropsychological, and biological (2nd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 435–458). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000319-020 

Neuberg, S. L., Williams, K. E. G., Sng, O., Pick, C. M., Neel, R., Krems, J. A. & Pirlott, A. G. (2020). Toward capturing the functional and nuanced nature of social stereotypes: An Affordance Management Theory. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 62, 245-304. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.aesp.2020.04.004 

Pirlott, A. G., & Cook, C. L. (2018). Prejudices and discrimination as goal activated and threat driven: The affordance management approach to sexual prejudice. Psychological Review, 125(6), 1002-1027. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000125 

Pirlott, A. G., & MacKinnon, D. P. (2016). Design approaches to experimental mediation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology: Special Issues on Rigorous and Replicable Methods, 66, 29-38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2015.09.012 

Pirlott, A. G., *Rusten, M. L., & *Butterfuss, R. M. (2016). Perceptions of threats to physical safety, sexual autonomy, values, and of discrimination drive LGBT prejudices toward heterosexuals. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 42(9) 1147-1163. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146167216651854 

MacKinnon, D. P. & Pirlott, A. G. (2015). Statistical approaches for enhancing causal interpretation of the M to Y relation in mediation analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 19(1), 30-43. https://doi.org/10.1177/108886831454287 

Pirlott, A. G., & Neuberg, S. L. (2014). Sexual prejudice: Avoiding unwanted sexual interest? Social Psychological & Personality Science, 5(1), 92-101. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550613486674 

Selected Presentations and Invited Talks

Pirlott, A. G., & DeGirolamo, G. (2026, April). Formative daily comprehension checks predict improved statistics performance. [paper presentation]. Midwestern Psychological Association Conference, Chicago, IL.

Pirlott, A. G. (2025, April). Ingroup identity salience explains cross-temporal and cross-cultural anti-LGB prejudices. [paper presentation]. Midwestern Psychological Association Conference, Chicago, IL and Saint Xavier University Faculty & Staff Scholarship Symposium, Chicago, IL.

Pirlott, A. G. (2023, May). Cross-cultural evidence for the role of parenting costs limiting women’s sexual unrestrictedness [paper presentation]. Human Behavior and Evolution Society Conference, Palm Springs, CA and Saint Xavier University Faculty & Staff Scholarship Symposium, Chicago, IL.

Pirlott, A. G. (2023, April/May). Evidence-based strategies for teaching undergraduate statistics [paper presentation]. Midwestern Psychological Association Conference, Chicago, IL and Saint Xavier University Faculty & Staff Scholarship Symposium, Chicago, IL.

Pirlott, A. G. (2022, April). Design approaches to experimental mediation: A "how-to" workshop for your research. [Invited workshop]. Midwestern Psychological Association Conference, Chicago, IL.

Cook, C. L., & Pirlott, A. G. (2019, August). Using the affordance management approach to explore the influence of fundamental motives on stereotyping and prejudice. Talk given at the inaugural FOSSIL (FlyOver State Scientists Integrating Evolution) Conference, Stillwater, OK.

Cook, C. L., & Pirlott, A. G. (2019, April). Applying an affordance management approach to understand prejudices as goal activated and threat driven. Presentation at the annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Pasadena, CA.

Pirlott, A.G., & Cook, C.L. (2019, February). Prejudices and discrimination as goal activated and threat driven: The Affordance Management Approach. Data blitz presentation at the 17th Annual Evolutionary Psychology Preconference to the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Portland, OR.

Pirlott, A. G., *Czerwien, B., & *Olita, S. (2017, June). Do gay men and lesbians show sex differences in mate preferences? A meta-analysis. Presentation at the 29th Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Boise, ID.

Pirlott, A. G. (2017, April). Not all negative: Friendship and mating interest predict heterosexuals' positivity toward some LGB. Presentation at the Midwestern Psychological Association Conference, Chicago, IL.

Pirlott, A. G. (2016, September/May). Perceived threats to religious ingroup predict moral disgust toward, aggression against, and expulsion of LGB individuals on the individual- and country-levels. Co-chaired symposium presented at the Annual Society of Experimental Social Psychology Conference, Santa Monica, CA and presentation at the Midwestern Psychological Association Conference, Chicago, IL.

Pirlott, A. G., & Wagner, K. (2016, May). Sex differences in mate preferences: A meta-analysis. Presentation at the Midwestern Psychological Association Conference, Chicago, IL.

Pirlott, A. G. (2016, January). Sex and gender differences in mating behaviors: Evolutionarily driven, culturally developed, and ecologically elicited. Presentation at the 2016 Annual Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, San Diego, CA.

Pirlott, A. G., & MacKinnon, D. P. (2015, September). Design approaches to experimental mediation to improve causal inference. Presentation at the 51st Annual Meeting of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, Denver, CO.

Pirlott, A. G., *Graham, E., & *Young, T. (2014, May). Age mate preferences across perceiver ages: Comparing heterosexual, bisexual, and gay/lesbian men and women. Presentation at the 2014 Midwestern Psychological Association Conference, Chicago, IL.

Pirlott, A. G. & White, A. E. (2013, August). Many dating competitors hastens sexual activity at the cost of condom use. Presentation at the 4th Annual Summer Institute on Human Ethology, Ann Arbor, MI.

Pirlott, A. G. & Neuberg, S. L. (2013, July). Understanding sexual prejudices: Avoiding threats of unwanted sexual interest? Presentation at the 25th Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Miami, FL.

Pirlott, A. G., White, A. E., Basilio, C., & Kwan, V. S. Y. (2012, January). The influence of social ecology factors on sexual health decision making. Co-chaired symposium presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, San Diego, CA.

Pirlott, A. G., & Neuberg, S. L. (2011, October). Thinking straight about sexual prejudice: Avoiding unwanted sexual interest? Presentation at the Social Psychologists of Arizona Conference, Phoenix, AZ.

MacKinnon, D. P., & Pirlott, A. G. (2010, January). The unbearable lightness of b: Approaches to improve causal interpretation of the M to Y relation. Presentation at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Las Vegas, NV.

Pirlott, A. G., & Cohen, A. B. (2010, June). Features of the dating ecology: Implications for sexual strategies. Presentation at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Eugene, OR.