Victor Recabarren

Victor Recabarren is a people person. He chose the best of both worlds with a combined major in psychology and sociology. Recabarren explains, “Psychology examines the person. Sociology examines the people.” To him, the disciplines are intertwined, and he incorporates their connectedness into the research he conducts.

“I’m interested in relationships…between society and race, gender, and sexuality. I published my first scholarly work on the Web with the support of my professors.”

“I’m interested in relationships…between society and race, gender, and sexuality.”

His article, A Teen Reports on Black Creatives, focuses on the contradictory expectations, the misperceptions and struggles that black creative artists and musicians face. Using Kanye West as his primary example, Recabarren examines issues that affect black artists in a society that doesn't always know how to perceive or support them. His research on critical race theory is thorough, and his article is thought-provoking.

An aspiring college professor, Recabarren knows research is essential to his career, so it’s fortunate that research is his passion. For a psychology class, he completed a research experiment exploring the implicit psychological relationship between blackness and criminality, finding that highlighting the racial bias of the criminal justice system, surprisingly, actually made participants more likely to support it. He presented his paper at the university’s undergraduate research forum.

“Professor Elyshia Aseltine was incredibly helpful. She sponsored my research, and I presented to a roomful of professors and students. It was a great experience, and I wouldn't have been able to do it without the professors at Towson.”

Recabarren is now exploring graduate school programs in social psychology. “It’s a perfect marriage of my two degrees.”