Professor Lowery's research seeks to extend knowledge of individuals' experience of inequality and fairness. His work suggests that individuals distinguish between inequalities framed as advantage as opposed to disadvantage. This finding affects how individuals perceive inequality and the steps they take, if any, to reduce it. Thus, his work sheds light on intergroup conflict and the nature of social justice.

Brian Lowery is a Professor of Organizational Behavior. Professor Lowery is a social psychologist by training. He received his doctorate from UCLA in 2001 with a minor in statistical methods.

Professor Lowery's research has two major threads. The first thread examines the operation of racial attitudes below the threshold of consciousness. The second thread focuses on how people perceive inequality. Underlying both lines of work is the assumption that individuals may unintentionally exacerbate existing inequity, despite supporting the ideal of a just and fair society. This research has been published in major scholarly journals such as the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and Law and Human Behavior.

Professor Lowery's teaching focuses on translating basic knowledge about human interactions into lessons for managers. He currently teaches introductory organizational behavior courses for both master's and doctorate level students. In addition, he teaches a seminar on managing diversity.

Professor Lowery is in charge of the Lowery Lab. The lab focuses on how individuals perceive inequality. At the most basic level we seek to extend knowledge of individuals' experience of inequality and fairness. As such, our work touches on concerns of researchers across a range of social psychological literatures. In addition to connections with theories of equity, this work touches on issues of intergroup conflict and social justice. The extant literature generally assumes that individuals focus on their relative position in social hierarchies. In contrast, we suggest that individuals judge their and others' positions relative to some standard. Thus, we posit that individuals distinguish between inequalities framed as advantage as opposed to disadvantage.