Research in the area of social and personality psychology focuses on theory-based empirical work that addresses a variety of important social issues across the life span. Our faculty have research interests covering a broad range of topics including investigations of social cognition and decision-making; effects of emotions on reasoning and memory; subjective well-being; self and identity across cultures; control behavior; personality resilience; interpersonal relations; adaptation to stressful life events; risk perception; and psychology and law.
Faculty
Campos, Belinda, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
Culture, relationships, positive emotion, health
Ditto, Peter, Ph.D., Princeton University
Social cognition, motivated judgment and decision-making process, social psychology
Heckhausen, Jutta, Ph.D., University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
Life-span developmental psychology, motivation and developmental regulation in children, adolescents, and adults, control and health, cultural universals and differences in achievement behavior
Jamner, Larry, Ph.D., State University of New York - Stony Brook
Health psychology, psychophysiology, biopsychosocial factors related to tobacco use in youth
Levine, Linda, Ph.D., The University of Chicago
Bias in predicted and remembered emotional experience; effects of emotions on memory and decision making; emotion regulation in adults and children
Loftus, Elizabeth, Ph.D., Stanford University
Human memory, psychology and the law, 'how facts', ideas, suggestions and other forms of post-event information can modify our memories
Molina, Kristine, Ph.D., University of Michigan
Racism and discrimination, social inequality, health disparities, Latinx health
Piff, Paul, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
Social hierarchy, privilege, power, social emotion, prosocial behavior and cooperation, morality and ethics, uncertainty, groups, field experiments
Pressman, Sarah, Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University
Health psychology, positive emotions, stress physiology, psychosocial effects on physiology and health
Rook, Karen, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
Gerontology, social psychology, health psychology, social support and social networks
Scurich, Nicholas, Ph.D., University of Southern California
Psychology and law, judgment and decision making, violence risk assessment
Silver, Roxane Cohen, Ph.D., Northwestern University
Coping with stressful life events (e.g., personal traumas, natural disasters, terrorism)
Sng, Oliver, Ph.D., Arizona State University
Evolution, culture, stereotyping, ecology
Zinger, Joanne, Ph.D., University of California, Riverside
Expressive writing, meta-analysis, positive psychology, health psychology, preventive medicine, educational psychology