Linda Abarbanell, Ed.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology
College of Sciences
Imperial Valley Campus
720 Heber
Calexico, CA 92231-09021
Phone: 760-768-5678
Fax: 619-594-1332
Office Hours: W 2-4pm Faculty Offices East Room 137, Calexico
Email: labarbanell@sdsu.edu
Research Interests
Cross-cultural cognitive psychology including the study of healthcare beliefs and practices across cultures, the development of scientific reasoning and other explanatory beliefs, and linguistic relativity
Culture and Cognition Lab
I am broadly interested in how language and other cultural representations shape cognition. In my current work, I use qualitative and experimental methods to examine how cultural and structural factors at the US/Mexico border shape the healthcare beliefs and practices of individuals diagnosed with cancer and individuals who are HIV+. My lab is also examining the structure and spread of different conceptions related to COVID-19. This work is part of a cross-border collaboration and exchange with a faculty member and students at the UABC School of Medicine in Mexicali. I have also worked for over 15 years with a Tseltal Mayan community in Chiapas, Mexico. My projects there include an ethnographic study of indigenous women’s agency in reproductive healthcare in the context of a major Mexican anti-poverty program, experimental studies on the development of scientific and supernatural beliefs, and extensive work on the relationship between spatial language and cognition. I recently received a grant to study the effect of education on science and religion narratives in this context. Currently accepting entering MA students.