Dr. Mrunali Harshadrai Damania

EDUCATION

• Qualified for Assistant Professor and Junior Research Fellowship in UGC-NET, Dec. 2015.
• M.A. (Clinical Psychology), The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, 2016
• B.A. (Psychology), Saviritribai Phule University, Pune, 2014

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

• Ph.D. Thesis titled ‘The Effect of Need for Cognition and Justice Sensitivity on Rape Myth Acceptance’. Conducted interviews with police officers, lawyers, and general public to understand rape myth acceptance (RMA) in a specific cultural context; developed Indian RMA scale.
• Master’s Dissertation: Coping, adjustment and subjective well-being among child sexual abuse survivors (M.S. University, 2016)
• Conducted an experiment to study the effect of pricing and packaging of chocolate on the perception of its quality. (M.S. University, 2015)
• Conducted a Survey to study the impact of optimism on academic performance (M.S. University, 2015)
• Conducted research focused on undergraduate students’ attitudes toward marriage using the Marriage Attitude Scale. (S.S.R. College, 2014)

RESEARCH SKILLS

• Semi-Structured Interviews and Thematic Analysis
• SPSS and MPlus

ARCHIEVEMENTS

• Received a travel grant for attending an international conference from the Dean of Resources and Alumni Affairs
• Membership of the Asian Association of Social Psychologists
• Late Prof. T.K.N. Menon Gold Medal at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
• Junior Research Fellowship from Union Grants Commission

1.      An Exploratory Qualitative Analysis of Rape Myths in India [2022, Analysis of Social Issues and Public Policies (Wiley Journal)]

2.      Relationship Between the Rape Myths About Male and Female Victims [March, 2023, 32nd Annual Convention of the National Academy of Psychology. (Ahmedabad University, India)]

3.      Effect of Maternal Education on Male Rape Myth Acceptance [14-15 Sept. 2022, Psychology of Education Section Annual Conference. (Wolfson College, Oxford University)]

4.      The Relationship Between Need for Cognition and Rape Myth Acceptance [5-7 Sept. 2022, Social Psychology Annual Conference. (University of Greenwich, London)]

5.      The Relationship between Ambivalent Sexism and Hostility Towards Women [July 2022, 17th European Congress of Psychology. (Ljubljana, Slovenia) Presented in-person by Supervisor]

6.      An Exploratory Qualitative Analysis of Rape Myths in India [July 2021, The 14th Biennial     Conference of the Asian Association of Social Psychology. (Seoul, Korea) Virtual]

7.      Rape Myth Acceptance Scale: Indian Adaptation and Hindi Translation [July 2021, International Meeting of Psychometric Society. (Bologna, Italy) Virtual]

8.      Optimism and Academic Achievement [2016, the National Seminar on Promoting Mental Health through Positive Psychology. (M.S University, Vadodara, India]