Michael Sargent, assistant professor of psychology, first decided to study affirmative action after reading Shelby Steele's "The Content of My Character: A New Vision of Race in America." Sargent, then a graduate student, saw some testable hypotheses in Steele's affirmative action critique and thought, "Let's go to the lab. Let's see when the critics are right and when they are wrong."

Sargent wanted to discover the potential benefits and costs of affirmative action by exploring its psychological effects. His dissertation expanded upon an earlier study by psychologist Madeline Heilman, who found that observers discounted the qualifications of employees hired under affirmative action programs. Sargent's subsequent studies qualified Heilman's work: He discovered that individuals who like to think critically are more prone – than those who aren't - to question the qualifications of affirmative action recipients.

Sargent , whose theoretical interests include prejudice, stereotyping, stigma and self-doubt, has supervised seven senior thesis projects during his two years as a member of the psychology department. "Being a thesis adviser is one of my favorite ways to teach. I have more one-on-one contact with students than in the classroom. I also get immediate feedback from students on how the instruction is going and on the student's performance," he says. " I've been blessed with great students, and it's fun to spend time with them."

Some of them, no doubt, have discovered his devotion to the field. "What brought me to the study of psychology was the potential to produce ideas that someone can do something useful with. Additionally, I learned 'There's no such thing as a free lunch.'" Any social program, even one with real benefits, he says, is likely to also have unintended negative consequences. "One of the most useful roles that social researchers play is to identify potential costs and benefits and then determine how the benefits can be maximized and the costs minimized."