Michael Thomas Rizzo

Michael Thomas Rizzo serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois. His research bridges developmental and social psychology, examining how children navigate social inequalities, form racial attitudes, and develop moral judgments within diverse social contexts.

His work focuses on:

• Developmental trajectories of racial bias and intergroup attitudes
• Children's understanding of social hierarchies and resource allocation
• The role of intentionality and past accuracy in trust formation
• How environmental factors shape early moral reasoning
• Mechanisms of social inequality perception in childhood
• Cognitive foundations of third-party responses to injustice

Analysis of his recent publications (2022-2025) reveals experimental studies with children emphasizing contextual influences on racial bias development, status-based hierarchy reinforcement, and moral judgment formation. Key trends include examining how neighborhood diversity structures racial reasoning, how group status affects belief systems, and the interplay between social norms and inequality perception in early development.