Valerie Purdie Greenaway

Purdie Greenaway's article with Richard P. Eibach, "Intersectional Invisibility: The Distinctive Advantages and Disadvantages of Multiple Subordinate-Group Identities", has been cited over 850 times, according to Google Scholar.[9] This article is significant for giving name to the psychological concept of intersectional invisibility.[10] This concept posits that individuals with multiple subordinate-group or non-prototypical identities tend to be overlooked. The subordinate-group member is rendered invisible through mechanisms such as historical narratives, cultural understandings, interest group politics, and legal frameworks.[10] Researchers give an example of African-American women; Because they do not fit the prototype of their subordinate group identities (white and male), they experience "intersectional invisibility" (378).[10] Purdie Greenaway and Eibach wanted to move away from the notion that one group suffers more than others and instead gain a better understanding of how an individual's identities interact to inform their whole experience. Their theory borrows from previous literature regarding "double jeopardy" which refers to the disadvantages associated with individuals who are part of more than one subordinate group.

In 2004, Purdie Greenaway along with Jennifer Eberhardt, Phillip Goff and Paul Davies published "Seeing Black: Race, Crime, and Visual Processing" in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.[11] Researchers conducted five studies to determine how salience to stereotypes might affect visual processing for their sample of both police officers and civilians. Previous literature has demonstrated how racial bias affects participants' judgement-making processes, specifically relating Blacks with crime (876).[11] In the present study, researchers found a bidirectional association between criminality and Blacks.[11] Studying the effects of such associations can prove helpful in eliminating racial profiling and improving police officer and civilian interactions.

In 2002, Purdie Greenaway and colleagues proposed a model of status-based rejection and its implications in their journal article, "Sensitivity to Status-Based Rejection: Implications for African American Students’ College Experience."[12] The concept of rejection sensitivity was developed by another team of researchers to indicate how rejection can influence an individual's relationships with others. Purdie Greenaway and her colleagues looked at this cognitive process as it relates to African Americans attending predominantly White educational institutions.[12] The first two studies conducted were to effectively develop a questionnaire that measures the construct of race-based rejection sensitivity. The RS–Race Questionnaire (RSQ–Race) for African Americans has subsequently been used in other psychological literature as a measure of racial expectations and beliefs. The third study utilized the questionnaire with a sample of African American college students. Their results indicated that higher levels of rejection sensitivity were related to perceiving a negative race-related experience or NRE.[12] The findings of this research can be instrumental for African American college students' academic success and overall well-being.