Social/Personality Psychology
The Social/Personality faculty in the Department of Psychology and
Social Behavior conduct theory-based empirical work that addresses a
variety of important social issues across the life span. Our faculty
bring a multidisciplinary approach to the study of human behavior and a
sensitivity to the relevance of our research to individual and social
problems. The faculty also share a strong commitment to train students
in theory, field and laboratory research methods, and advanced
statistical techniques.
Our faculty have research interests covering a broad range of topics in
the areas of social and personality psychology, 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
Dickerson, Sally S., Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
Stress physiology. Psychoneuroimmunology. Effects of social evaluation
or rejection on emotional and physiological outcomes. Self-conscious
emotions. Health psychology.
Ditto, Peter H., Ph.D., Princeton University
Judgment and decision-making in emotionally-charged or
motivationally-involving situations. Current interests include biases
in how people respond to threatening medical information and
information that challenges firmly-held attitudes and prejudices, and
psychological issues involved in end-of-life medical decision-making.
Frattaroli, Joanne, Ph.D. University of California, Riverside
Expressive writing, meta-analysis, positive psychology, health psychology,
preventive medicine, educational psychology
Heckhausen, Jutta, Ph.D., University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
Motivation and control behavior; social relationships and their
interface with goal engagement and disengagement; individual
differences in implicit and explicit motivation.
Knowles, Eric D., Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
Cultural influences on social inference, White racial identity, beliefs
and attitudes concerning intergroup inequality, social and political
ideology, person perception
Levine, Linda J., Ph.D., The University of Chicago
Cognitive appraisals associated with emotions; effects of emotions on
attention, memory, and problem-solving; sources of bias in memory for
past emotions; emotion regulation; relations between children's
cognitive and emotional development.
Loftus, Elizabeth F., Ph.D., Stanford University
Human memory; the legal field; how facts, ideas, suggestions and other
forms of post-event information can modify our memories; psychology and
the law.
Maddi, Salvatore, Ph.D., Harvard University
Stress management, health, and personality, especially personal
"hardiness;" naturalistic research designs involving adult participants.
Rook, Karen, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
Effects of family relationships and friendships on psychological and
physical health, particularly in later life; the processes of
substitution and compensation following the loss of a major close
relationship; the role of close relationships in fostering or hindering
older adults' self-care practices and health behaviors; the antecedents
and consequences of loneliness in young adults and older adults.
Silver, Roxane Cohen, Ph.D., Northwestern University
Coping with stressful life experiences, emotionally traumatic events,
and changes in coping over time; predictors of effective coping;
long-term sequelae of acute and chronic stress; how beliefs and
expectations of the social network impact on the coping process.
Vaughan, Elaine, Ph.D., Stanford University
How individuals with specific cognitive and affective characteristics,
and larger communities, adapt and respond to health, environmental and
technological risks; interpretation of and response to scientific risk
information by diverse social and cultural groups; the role of science
and values in shaping public health and environmental policies; the
measurement and statistical issues that arise when studying
psychosocial phenomena across diverse populations and communities.
