Yale School of Management - Faculty

Postdoctoral Associate in Organizational Behavior

Okimoto’s research investigates reactions to deviations from normative expectations, and the relationship between perceived norm violations and people’s understanding of what is "just" and "unjust". Why and when do norm violations demand "justice", eliciting the desire for punitive (or reparative) sanctions? What psychological motives influence people’s attitudes and behaviors under such conditions? Okimoto approaches these questions in intragroup and intergroup contexts, attempting to better understand individual responses to deviance by examining people’s underlying desire to protect, restore, and develop their social identities. From this perspective, his work examines reactions to and preferences for various justice interventions (e.g., apologies, punishment, compensation, forgiveness, restorative conferencing, etc.) following norm violations and rule-breaking more generally. Okimoto also conducts research investigating stereotype-based normative expectations, and the processes by which such expectations can lead to bias in organizational settings.

Selected Publications
"The Symbolic Meaning of Transgressions: Towards a Unifying Framework of Justice Restoration" (with M. Wenzel), in K.A. Hegtvedt and J.Clay-Warner, eds., Advances in Group Processes: Justice, Vol. 25, 291-326, Elsevier Ltd., 2008

"Outcomes as Affirmation of Membership Value: Material Compensation as an Administrative Response to Procedural Injustice", Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 44, No. 5, 1270-1282, 2008

"Retributive and Restorative Justice" (with M. Wenzel, N.T. Feather, and M.J. Platow), Law and Human Behavior, Vol. 32, No. 5, 375-389, 2008

"The Moderating and Mediating Role of Identification in Observers' Reactions to Intragroup Disrespect" European Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 38, No. 7, 2008

"Why Are Women Penalized for Success at Male Tasks?: The Implied Communality Deficit" (with M.E. Heilman), Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 92, No. 1, 81-92, 2007

Education
PhD New York University, 2005
MA New York University, 2004
BA University of California Santa Barbara, 2000