From Machines to the Human Mind, Psychology Professor is Fascinated By How Things Work
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Associate Professor of Psychology
When Rachel Dinero, Ph.D., began her undergraduate studies at the University of Florida, she planned to become an engineer. Dinero was intrigued by robots, and was eager to learn how they worked – and how to build them. Two years into the program, though, the Palm Harbor, Fla., native was no longer certain that engineering was the right fit for her. She changed course and took a class in psychology that immediately captured her imagination. In fact, the more Dinero delved into the field, the more it fascinated her. She was particularly intrigued by ways our experiences and our environments shape us.
Today Dinero is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Le Moyne, where she teaches Cross-Cultural Psychology and Stereotypes, Discrimination and Prejudice. When asked about making the transition from engineering to psychology, Dinero explains that, while the fields may seem disparate, they actually hold something critical in common. Both, at their core, examine how things work, whether it is a piece of technology or the human mind. It simply turned out that, in Dinero’s case, “how people work was way more interesting to me than how machines work.”
Dinero’s particular areas of interest as a psychologist have grown and evolved over the course of her career. She has studied attachment, including how people’s early experiences with caregivers shape their expectations of relationships later in their lives. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, she became interested in how broader environmental and cultural factors shape individual health behaviors, including social distancing, masking and vaccination. Most recently, she has studied the impact of discrimination and marginalization on various communities. What each of these shares in common is that they focus on the impact of the broader social world on the individual.
As dedicated as she is to her research, Dinero is even more passionate about supporting, encouraging and challenging her students. Nurturing and engaging them is the most critical work she undertakes. To that end, Dinero focuses her energies on cultivating her undergraduates’ capacity to ask and answer increasingly sophisticated questions. Her ideal classroom is lively and full of discussion. Nothing fills her sails more than when the students she works with are engaged, asking questions and making connections between various topics. By the time they graduate, Dinero hopes that they will be equipped with critical thinking skills, compassion for others, and the capacity to assess information and challenge their own assumptions. It is their potential that drives her work.
They want the world to be a better place, and that fuels me every day”
Rachel Dinero, Ph.D., was one of 17 new faculty members to join the Le Moyne community in the fall of 2024.