We are a social psychology lab studying how social change happens — and why it's so hard. Our work sits at the intersection of collective action, intergroup relations, and political psychology, and focuses on the psychological process involved in efforts for social change towards greater equality. Our work follows the arc of social change from beginning to end. We start by asking what motivates people to take part in collective action in the first place, and what sustains their involvement over time. We then ask what happens once movements act, examining which tactics are effective at shifting public opinion, policy, and political behavior. Finally, we turn to the psychology of those who resist change, focusing on how people respond when their group's position or identity is challenged. We see these as connected pieces of the same question rather than as separate topics.We use a range of methods to study these processes, including laboratory and field experiments, large-scale analysis of text and behavioral data, and causal inference with observational data. We are part of the Social Psychology Area at the University of Virginia, and we collaborate broadly across psychology, political science, communications, and computational social science.