- Heather Claypool is a co-PI on a 4-year NSF grant with 兔子先生 alum Dr. Michael Bernstein (Ph. D., 2010) to study the impact of social exclusion on stereotyping and individuation.
- Allen McConnell is a co-PI on a 5-year NICHD R01 grant to study the therapeutic benefits of using therapy dogs with children suffering from traumatic brain injuries (the primary performance site is Cincinnati Children's Hospital).
- Jeff Hunger is a Co-Investigator on a 3-year NHLBI R01 grant to study the impact of weight stigma on health behaviors.
- Allison Farrell and Jeff Hunger were selected to participate in Phase II of the .
- Allison Farrell and Jeff Hunger received support from the Provost's 2021 Faculty Enhancement Fund.
- JJ Togans' research on cross-cultural comparisons of emoji use was as part of 兔子先生 University's Top News Stories.
- Alejandro Trujillo (Ph.D., 2021) joined Proctor and Gamble as the Tide North America Analytics and Insights Manager in 2021.
Meet the Faculty, Students, and Alumni
The social psychology program is composed of five core faculty members who directly supervise the doctoral students in our program and who offer seminars in social psychology (e.g., close relationships, social cognition, stigma, and intergroup relations). The program aims to provide students with expertise in the social psychology of health and well-being. Under this unifying mission, faculty and graduate students explore topics ranging from psychological and biological benefits of close relationships, social support, and acceptance, to the detrimental effects of exclusion, stigma, discrimination, and other social stressors.
Meet the Faculty
Heather Claypool
Dr. Claypool's research focuses on social belonging and how its fulfillment and deprivation shape emotion, cognition, and behavior.
She also explores how experiences of cognitive ease (or fluency) impact social behavior and perception.
Learn more about Dr. Claypool.
Allison Farrell
Dr. Farrell's research examines the interplay between stress, close relationships, and health across the lifespan. In particular, her work identifies the psychological and biological mechanisms explaining how parent-child and romantic relationships affect physical health.
She also studies how high quality relationships promote better outcomes for individuals at risk for poor health outcomes (e.g., individuals with low socioeconomic status, people of color).
Learn more about Dr. Farrell's for current research, publications, and news.
Darwin Guevarra
Dr. Guevarra’s research aims to understand affective processes (e.g., emotions, stress, pain, mood, impulses), ways to regulate them, and their impact on psychological and physical health.
He is presently interested in identifying, developing, testing, and understanding low-effort and easy-to-use affect regulation strategies.
Read more details about Dr. Guevarra's research on the website.
Jeffrey Hunger
Dr. Hunger’s research uses insights from social psychology to understand and improve the health of stigmatized groups (e.g., higher body weight individuals, racial and sexual minorities).
His current interests include the psychobiological consequences of social identity threat and extending traditional models of stigma and health to understand how individuals contend with multiple stigmatized identities.
Learn more about .
Allen McConnell
Dr. McConnell's research focuses on how relationships with entities such as family and pets affect health and well-being, how people decode others’ nonverbal displays, how nonconscious and conscious feelings and beliefs affect judgment and behavior, and how self-knowledge influences emotions, goals, and actions.
Read more details about .
Meet the Students
Christina Fitzpatrick
My research focuses primarily on how race and social class influence educational outcomes. After graduation I plan to continue to use my training in social psychology to design and implement brief interventions to improve outcomes for underrepresented students in higher education.
Jason Folmsbee
Advisor: Dr. Heather Claypool
I am interested in how social exclusion, identity, and meaning-making overlap in individuals. Broadly, my research focuses on how exclusion both threatens an individual's identities and shapes how one views the world around them.
Prit Patel
Advisor: Dr. Allison Farrell
I am the graduate assistant for the MARSH Lab and my research interests include studying close relationships, particularly romantic relationships, culture, health, and social media. I would like to eventually focus on doing research for social media while accounting for health and connection building.
Erika Rosenberger
Advisor: Dr. Heather Claypool
I have a broad range of research interests that involve the effects of exclusion and belongingness on individuals, especially in relation to gender and race. Currently, my research focuses on the ways in which language (e.g., "he" vs. "he or she") influences perceived exclusion and prejudice and other outcomes.
Jordan Rubin-McGregor
Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey Hunger
My research broadly focuses on the impacts of ableism on disabled individuals' well-being. I have a particular interest in understanding how disability identification can act as a buffer against the negative consequences of stigma.
LaCount "JJ" Togans
Advisor: Dr. Allen McConnell
My research examines cultural differences between East Asian and Western cultures regarding various topics in social cognition (e.g., attitudes, communication processes, self-concept organization). I also am interested in investigating how discrete emotions (e.g., nostalgia, embarrassment, guilt) affect attitudes and persuasion-related processes.
Alumni and Their Current Positions
- Andrea I. Bakker (Ph.D., 2007), Director of Instruction Research, Air Force Institute of Technology Graduate School of Engineering and Management, Wright-Patterson AFB
- Michael J. Bernstein (Ph.D., 2010), Professor of Psychology, Penn State Univ. Abington
- Christina M. Brown (Ph.D., 2009), Research Manager, Facebook, Seattle, WA
- Elizabeth Brown (Ph.D., 2011), Associate Prof of Psychology, Univ. of North Florida
- Tonya M. (Shoda) Buchanan (Ph.D., 2015), Associate Prof of Psychology, Central Washington Univ.
- Chris Chartier (Ph.D., 2013), Associate Prof of Psychology, Ashland Univ.
- Emily Clark (Ph.D., 2013), Center for Social Organization of Schools, School of Education, Johns Hopkins University
- Jason Deska (Ph.D., 2018), Assistant Professor of Psychology, Ryerson Univ.
- Cliff Evans (Ph.D., 2008), Lecturer in Psychology, SUNY New Paltz
- Carrie Hall (Ph.D., 2007), Associate Teaching Professor, 兔子先生 Univ.
- Brandon Humphrey (Ph.D., 2021), Visiting Assistant Professor, 兔子先生 University
- Amanda Johnston (Ph.D., 2011), Associate Prof of Psychology and Women's Studies, Univ. of Houston Clear Lake
- Isaiah Jones (Ph.D., 2013), Senior Marking Analyst, Electronic Arts
- Jason Lanter (Ph.D., 2008), Associate Prof of Psychology, Kuntztown Univ.
- E. Paige Lloyd (Ph.D., 2018), Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Denver
- Ryan Moreno (Ph.D., 2019), Quantitative User Experience Researcher, Facebook
- Robert "BJ" Rydell (Ph.D., 2005), Associate Prof of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Indiana Univ.
- Donald F. Sacco (Ph.D., 2010), Associate Professor of Psychology, Univ. of Southern Mississippi
- Kurt Schuepfer (Ph.D., 2017), Global Data Scientist at McDonald's
- Pirita See (Ph.D., 2014), Lecturer in Psychology, South Dakota State Univ.
- Edwin Shriver (Ph.D., 2011), Instructor in Human Development, Wheelock College
- Hayley Skulborstad (Ph.D.., 2016), Human Resources Analytics, CVS, Boston, MA
- Mia Steinberg (Ph.D., 2015), Research Director, A/B Partners, New York, NY
- Alejandro Trujillo (Ph.D., 2021), Tide North America Analytics and Insights Manager, P&G
- Taylor Tuscherer (Ph.D., 2015), Analyst at 84.51 and Lecturer at Lake Forest College
- John Paul Wilson (Ph.D., 2013), Assistant Prof of Psychology, Montclair State Univ.
- Steven G. Young (Ph.D., 2009), Quantitative UX REsearcher, Meta, Seattle, WA
Recent News: Social Psychology Faculty and Alumni
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