jonathan.amburgey@psych.utah.edu
805 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-6253

Research assistants are needed to help schedule and conduct experimental sessions for research projects pertaining to environmental attitudes and behavior. These positions are best suited for individuals interested in environmental and/or social psychology-related areas of research. Duties/Responsibilities: Duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, scheduling participants for survey and experimental studies, entering data in statistical programs for analysis, conducting literature searches and/or reviews, attending lab and project meetings, as well as assisting with other project-related work as needed. Compensation: Research assistant positions are unpaid; however, it is possible to receive course credit for assistance (a letter grade or Pass/Fail). Letters of recommendation for graduate school and/or employment will be offered, contingent on fulfillment of duties and responsibilities. Prior Experience & Other Qualifications: No prior experience as a research assistant is required. A time commitment of approximately 4 or more hours per week is preferred, and hours will be flexible to accommodate busy schedules. Opportunities to work in both the Fall and Spring semesters are available. For further information and to set up an interview, contact Jonathan Amburgey (jonathan.amburgey@psych.utah.edu)

lisa.aspinwall@psych.utah.edu
804 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 587-9021

Social, Interpersonal Processes, Self Regulation, Health

1. Self-regulation, future-oriented thinking, and health. 2. The effects of positive and negative emotions and expectations on the processing of negative events and information. 3. Psychological and behavioral aspects of genetic testing.

LSB_3@MSN.com
1405 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-4463

Clinical, Clinical-Developmental, Interpersonal Processes

Combining clinical intuition and research discipline through the use of Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB)

Mental health and disorder emerge from an interaction between nature and nurture. My interest is in enhancing understanding of the nurture side of the equation. Rather than "blaming families", this perspective gives families and individuals more effective choices when a stricken member seeks to heal. The "lens" I use to focus on quintessentially relevant transactions is culled Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB). Questionnaires, coding systems, and software permit reliable descriptions of relevant interpersonal and intrapsychic interactions. The resulting data provide operationalized, reliable, and clinically valid descriptions of the person's view of self and others. Using the same metric, the system also provides a description of the person from the perspective of an objective observer.

The SASB methodology has been used by many different investigators to study a wide range of subjects. The system has been or is being translated into 12 different languages. My own applications include the study of: mother-infant interactions, psychotherapy transactions, marital interactions, psychiatric diagnosis, depression, the nature of hallucinations, personality disorders, and more.

My current emphasis is on identifying and transforming "the heart of darkness" in personality disorder. The key diagnostic issue is to discover how problem patterns (described in SASB language) are the result of one or more of three copy processes started in relation to an important early caregiver (parent, sibling, others having close contact- like a babysitter). Those are (1) Be like him/her (identification); (2) act as if he/she is still around and in charge (recapitulation); (3) treat yourself as he/she did (introjection). Sometimes the copying is in negative image (e.g., be the opposite - as defined by opposing points on the SASB model). These three copy processes are three different forms of internalization. The purpose of the copying is to seek reconciliation, approval, love of the internalized representation of that original object. People unwittingly act accordingly to the "rules" laid down by these early relationships and even when they believe they hate the original copyperson. Every psychopathology is a gift of love.

The treatment implication is that the relationship with the internalizations of these early experiences needs to be updated and transformed so that the person is free to choose his or her way of being in the present. The developmental and therapy goals are for the person to become both more friendly (attached) and clearly- defined (differentiated) in relation to current important people in his/her life.

cynthia.berg@psych.utah.edu
622 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-8239

Developmental, Diversity, Clinical-Developmental, Interpersonal Process, Health

We are looking for students who are excellent workers as well as independent and able to take direction well. We are particularly interested in applicants who are majoring in psychology or a health-related field (at least in their sophmore year) with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. We do require at least 3 hours of work per week, and prefer 6, so only those students who are able to commit to that time should inquire. We will provide all the necessary training so no previous research experience is required, although any students who have had experience should not be discouraged from applying. Interested students should have some degree of computer experience (i.e., familiar with the internet and Microsoft Word and have access to email). Interested parties with special skills (e.g., bilingual with excellent communication skills in English and Spanish, data entry experience) are particularly encouraged to apply. Click here to download application

jonathan.butner@psych.utah.edu
802 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-5805

My current focus has been on developing tools for studying social psychology. Systems theory originated in mathematics and physics where much of the methodology and statistics are built around being able to measure a widget thousands of times and doing so for many widgets. This is just not true in psychology, thus the tools do not simply translate over. My paper in Psychological Methods is one such statistical tool for studying a cyclical bidirectional process.

sarah.creem@psych.utah.edu
1003 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-5045

CNS, Cognitive-Clinical Neuropsychology

The Visual Perception and Spatial Cognition laboratory of Dr. Creem-Regehr is looking for a research assistant to start *this semester* to help in conducting perception experiments with human participants. We are especially looking for someone who has afternoons available Wednesdays, Thursdays, or Fridays. Our research is fun and interactive, involving tasks measuring distance and space perception in real and virtual environments. It is a great experience to add to graduate school applications as well! If interested, please email Dr. Creem-Regehr at sarah.creem@psych.utah.edu.

sheila.crowell@psych.utah.edu
1323 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower


Clinical, Developmental, Health

Students under my training will enjoy a wide range of opportunities and will be well prepared as both scientific researchers and clinicians. My research is conducted with highly complicated individuals, many of whom are facing their most difficult life challenges. Thus, clinical skills are developed in every interaction and scientific endeavors have meaningful implications for prevention and treatment. Self-injury and borderline personality disorder affect individuals from all backgrounds, although the burden is most often borne by those with few available resources for treatment. Students who are interested in examining issues of diversity, disempowerment, and oppression will find the Department of Psychology to be an engaging environment for this line of research. Those students who are eager to pursue research-oriented academic careers will fit particularly well in the Department of Psychology and the University of Utah. The department houses several state-of-the-art psychophysiological laboratories and the University has fMRI facilities and a top genetics department. I also offer clinical training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), a highly effective intervention for reducing self-injury and risk for suicide. I received my DBT training directly from Marsha Linehan, Ph.D., the treatment developer. Salt Lake City is a metropolitan hub of the West with access to abundant outdoor recreation activities, an ideal setting to balance intellectual and personal development.

diamond@psych.utah.edu
623 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 585-7491

Developmental, Diversity, Clinical-Developmental, Interpersonal Process, Health

My research focuses on two distinct but related areas -- the nature and development of affectional bonds and the nature and development of same-sex sexuality. The common thread uniting these lines of research is my interest in the psychological and biobehavioral processes underlying intimate relationships and their influence on emotional experience and functioning over the life course.

My primary research questions are as follows: (1) what are the basic psychological and biobehavioral processes underlying the formation and functioning of affectional bonds; (2) how are these processes related to sexual desire and sexual orientation; (3) what are the implications of affectional bonding for mental and physical well-being at different stages of life? In addressing these questions, I use a diverse range of research methods, including in-depth qualitative interviews, controlled social-psychophysiological experiments, and assessment of naturalistic interpersonal behavior.

drews@psych.utah.edu
1004 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 585-1977

Cognition in context, medical decision making, human error in medicine, human factors, visualization, and visual attention.

alan.fogel@psych.utah.edu
603 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-8560

Developmental, Clinical-Developmental, Interpersonal Processes

Currently we are studying the development of emotional relationships between mothers and their children. By using video recordings of various play activities, we look at emotional expressions of parent and child as they change over time. Research assistants are needed for transcription and coding of digital video using advanced digital analysis technology. Training in coding and using, coding and editing digital media will be provided but a commitment of one year is required.

fran.friedrich@psych.utah.edu
1006 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-5068

CNS, Cognitive-Clinical Neuropsychology

Attentional processes in word recognition
Neuropsychology of spatial attention

michael.himle@utah.edu
1330 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-7529

I am interested in taking new graduate students in the next academic year. Graduate students who work in my lab typically come in with interests in one of the areas described above. Prior research experience and a basic working knowledge of cognitive-behavioral theory is highly desirable (but not necessary).

The University of Utah Clinical Psychology program is committed to the scientist-practitioner model and strives to provide well-rounded, balanced training in research and empirically-informed clinical practice. Consistent with this model, I make it a priority that graduate students who work in my lab will not only learn to conduct high-quality research, but will also learn how to deliver cognitive-behavioral treatment for disorders in which CBT is indicated. Students who have significant interests in both conducting research and translating that research into evidence-based practice will fit best with my lab. In addition, students in my lab typically have a strong research focus and are actively engaged in numerous research projects beyond the program requirements of a thesis and dissertation. Students in my lab will have many opportunities to present and publish research.

In addition, I am always looking for undergraduate students who are interested in gaining research experience in one of the aforementioned (or related areas).

david.huebner@psych.utah.edu
1331 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 587-9886

Clinical, Diversity, Health

I am excited to work with PhD students who have research interests in the broad areas of sexual orientation, HIV-prevention, and how discrimination (of any kind) impacts physical and mental health. The University of Utah has an extremely unique Psychology Department, in that we are one of the few places in the country with multiple faculty members who have ongoing programs of research in the area of sexuality and sexual orientation (myself, Dr. Strassberg, and Dr. Diamond). As a result, we have many, many exciting projects for students to be involved in.

Our Clinical Psychology PhD program requires that students obtain substantial training in both scientific research and clinical intervention. Students who work with me must have a strong desire to participate in research activities, and generally plan to have research comprise at least some portion of their careers following graduate school.

I am interested in working with students of all genders, sexual orientations, and ethnicities. Sometimes diverse students, particularly LGBT students, wonder what it is like to live in Salt Lake City. Although it is true that the State of Utah is conservative politically, Salt Lake City is much more diverse and politically liberal than the rest of the state. Salt Lake City residents have elected Democratic mayors continuously since the 1970’s. Additionally, it is home to a large and politically active LGBT community, complete with social and political organizations, bars, clubs, and a Pride festival that sees thousands of visitors each year. The State of Utah now ranks 14th highest (of all 50) in the per capita number of households with same-sex couples.

p.kerig@psych.utah.edu
1306 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 585-5752

Clinical, Clinical Child and Family, Developmental

I maintain an active lab group and involve students in all phases and aspects of my research. To show this, I've underlined the names of student collaborators on my publications and conference presentations below. I am interested in taking new graduate students in the next academic year.

rpkesner@behsci.utah.edu
1033 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-7430

CNS, Cognitive-Clinical Neuropsychology

Theoretical and applied aspects associated with the neurobiological basis of learning and memory.

Development of animal models paralleling mnemonic symptomatology in brain damaged patients.

In general, I am interested in the neurobiological basis of learning and memory in animals and humans focussing on applied and theoretical issues. From a theoretical perspective, I have emphasized the importance of a multidimensional model of memory pointing to the existence of differential neuroanatomical contributions to different forms of memory. More specifically, I have proposed that memory organization is based on functionally separate but interdependent attributes of memory, such as space, time, response, affect and sensory perception in animals and humans. In humans, I have added a language attribute. In this attribute model it is assumed that any specific memory is not only composed of a set of attributes, but is further organized into a data-based memory system akin to episodic or working memory and a knowledge-based memory akin to semantic or reference memory. Furthermore, it is proposed that different neural regions and neural circuits subserve these different memory attributes. Thusfar, tests have been devised to measure specific data-based or working memory experiments for each of the proposed attributes and it can be shown that within the data-based memory system these attributes can operate independent of each other as observed in a 4-way dissociation among these attributes. For example, the hippocampus mediates primarily spatial location and temporal attributes, the caudate nucleus mediates primarily response attributes, the medial extrastriate mediates primarily visual object information as an example of sensory-perceptual attributes, and the amygdala mediates primarily affect attributes.

It appears that each attribute is represented in memory not only by a single neural region, but rather by an extensive neural circuit. For example, for spatial location memory the entorhinal cortex, parietal cortex, and infra- and prelimbic cortex also play important roles. Similarly, for response and temporal memory the anterior cingulate cortex is important, for visual object memory the perirhinal cortex and pre- and infralimbic cortex are important, and for affect memory the agranular insular cortex can be shown to be important. These latter observations suggest that one needs to analyze the neural circuits that mediate each attribute. If indeed there are different neural regions that represent, for example, spatial location information in memory, then it is important to uncover whether these neural regions contribute differentially to the representation of spatial location information.

There are a number of possibilities that I am exploring. First, it is possible that different neural regions contribute to spatial location memory by representing different features of spatial location, such as allocentric spatial distance, egocentric spatial distance, and egocentric direction. Second, it is possible that different neural regions contribute to spatial location memory by processing different dynamic components of memory, such as selective attention, working memory, short-term consolidation, long-term consolidation, and retrieval.

The same neurobiology of attribute model has also been used to study neural circuits associated with memory in humans. Hypoxic subjects with hippocampal damage based on MRI data, subjects with hippocampus and surrounding cortex or hippocampus and amygdala and surrounding cortex damage, frontal cortex damage, and Alzheimer's patients with hippocampus and neocortical damage have been tested. New tests have been generated that are more analogous to the tests that are administered to rats, so that it is easier to make comparisons between rats and humans in terms of attribute memory representation. Even though parallels are not always found, it is remarkable how homologous brain structures have similar mnemonic function. Thusfar, it has been shown that the right hippocampus is important for memory for spatial location, spatial distance, new geographical information, duration and temporal order information, whereas the left hippocampus is important for linguistic information, i.e. memory for words and the order of words in nonmeaningful sentences. The amygdala is important for affect as measured by a liking test. The frontal cortex is important for memory for durationa and temporal order.

Recently, the emphasis of the present research is that one needs to evaluate the role of the hippocampus, a brain area that is very important for memory, in terms of the contribution of its specific subregions rather than treating the hippocampus as a single entity. Furthermore, one needs to understand the interactions and dissociations among these different subregions and to understand the input and output pathways to further uncover how the hippocampus supports so many multiple processes, such as spatial and temporal pattern separation, spatial and temporal pattern completion based on flexibility, the development of arbitrary associations, especially involving time and space, sequence learning, encoding and retrieval of information , short- and intermediate-term memory and promotion of consolidation of new information. Also, understanding the input and output function of the hippocampus allows for the study of interactions and dissociation with other brain regions, such as prefrontal cortex, entorhinal cortex, and parietal cortex. This research promotes a very important and necessary interplay between the development of computational models and behavioral analysis of hippocampal function. Previous research has shown that some of the behavioral results were predicted based on the extant computational models, but new findings are challenging the computational modelers to refine some of their assumptions. This is especially the case in processing of temporal information. All of the above mentioned processes have emerged as important for the functions of different subregions of the hippocampus and all these processes are essential for successful learning of new information and for efficient ability to retrieve previously learned information.

monisha.pasupathi@psych.utah.edu
625 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 585-9175

Developmental, Diversity, Clinical-Developmental, Interpersonal Process

We are currently seeking volunteer research assistants to help with all of our projects. Depending on individual interests and experience, volunteers may be involved in recruiting participants, assisting with interviews, transcribing audio files, data entry, and data coding.
If you are interested in being a part of our research team, please send an email to Holly.Recchia@psych.utah.edu and tell us a bit about yourself. Including a copy of your transcript and academic/employment references would also be helpful.

holly.recchia@psych.utah.edu
633 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 585-5094

We are currently seeking volunteer research assistants to help with all of our projects. Depending on individual interests and experience, volunteers may be involved in recruiting participants, assisting with interviews, transcribing audio files, data entry, and data coding.
If you are interested in being a part of our research team, please send an email to Holly.Recchia@psych.utah.edu and tell us a bit about yourself. Including a copy of your transcript and academic/employment references would also be helpful.

fred.rhodewalt@psych.utah.edu
704 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-6303

Social, Diversity, Health, Interpersonal Processes, Social-Developmental

My research focuses on the social construction and maintenance of the self-concept. This interest spans basic social cognitive processes, self-regulation, and interpersonal relations.Major foci are the study of self-handicapping strategies, the influence of public behavior on private self-conceptions, and social cognitive underpinnings of narcissistic behavior. An interest running through all of this research is the relation between self-concerns, social behavior, and physical health.

sanbonmatsu@psych.utah.edu
702 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-8505

Social, Diversity, Persuasion-Decision Making

Decision making and judgment, attitudes and the attitude-behavior relation, and the minority experience.

carol.sansone@psych.utah.edu
810 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-3667

Social, Diversity, Interpersonal Processes, Social-Developmental

My research interests focus on intrinsic motivation; self-regulation of motivation; gender differences in motivation for math and science; life span development differences in self-regulation; and self-regulation of motivation in online learning.

charlie.shimp@psych.utah.edu
1031 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-8483

CNS, Diversity

1. Partisanship and competitiveness versus mutual respect and understanding in peer review, science, and society. 2. Human values in the scientific method. 3. Real-time computational behavior, including scientific decision making. 4. Development and evaluation of new empirical and theoretical tools for the study of memory, attention, intuitive inference, statistical learning, decision making, behavior dynamics, categorization, the structure and function of behavior, and awareness in non-human animals.

tim.smith@psych.utah.edu
1320 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-5087

Clinical, Diversity, Interpersonal Processes, Self Regulation, Health

Most of my research addresses personality and social risk factors for cardiovascular disease. I am interested in the application of theory and methods from the interpersonal tradition in clinical, personality, and social psychology to the conceptualization and assessment of psychosocial risk factors for disease, and to the study of the psychophysiological mechanisms linking risk factors to disease. A basic premise of this perspective is that personality characteristics are reciprocally related to characteristics of the social environment. Over long periods of time and throughout the course of personality and social development, people shape and are shaped by their relationships and the social contexts they inhabit. This transactional process through which people influence and are influenced by social contexts, in turn, can impact the individual's risk for serious illness.

As reflected in the following list of recent publications, I am also interested in risk factors and processes in the specific social context of close personal relationships (e.g., marriage). I am also interested in using the same interpersonal concepts and methods to study the process of adjustment to chronic medical illness.

Recent studies and papers illustrating these interests are listed below. I would particularly recommend the Smith and MacKenzie (2006) *** in the Annual Review of Clinical Psychology; the Smith, Ruiz, and Uchino (2000) Health Psychology paper; the Baron, Smith et al (2007) Journal of Behavior Medicine paper, Smith, Glazer et al (2004) paper in Journal of Personality, and the Smith et al (2007) Psychosomatic medicine paper.

Our current major projects include two studies on marital interaction, cardiovascular reactivity, and cardiovascular risk. One of these involves younger couples, and the other involves middle-aged and older couples. The former, funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, examines cardiovascular and Neuroendocrine responses during couple interactions. The latter project - funded by the National Institute of Aging - reflects our growing interest in studying the psychosocial risk process from the perspective of adult development and aging, and examines the association of psychosocial risk factors and physiological reactivity with coronary artery disease assessed with CT scans. In other projects, we are examining a variety of interpersonal determinants of the magnitude and nature of cardiovascular stress responses, such as the personality trait of hostility, the act of anger expression, and internal representations of social ties.

donald.strassberg@psych.utah.edu
1327 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-7559

Clinical, Diversity, Clinical-Developmental

We are an APA-approved Ph.D. program in Clinical Psychology. We attempt to select students with research interests that match those of one or more of our faculty. The students whom I advise tend to have research and clinical interests in the general area of human sexuality. Research done by these students in recent years has focused on such topics as the Development of Sexual Orientation, the Effects of Exposure to Sexually Explicit Material, the Use of Plethysmography in the Assessment of Sexual Arousal, Medical Treatment for Premature Ejaculation, the Impact of Viagra on the User and His Partner, and Predictors of Treatment Success for Sex Offenders.

For students working with me, our program is well suited for those looking to earn a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and who wish to focus their research training on issues associated with sexuality and/or psychological assessment. While our Clinical program allows for significant flexibility in emphasis along the Scientist-Practitioner continuum, all of our students are expected to develop high levels of competency as both researchers and clinicians. As with all APA-approved clinical programs, ours is quite competitive. We receive applications from many more qualified students than we can admit to our program. But, if you have a good GPA, good GRE scores, and good letters of recommendation, I strongly encourage you to apply. We look particularly favorably upon those applicants who, in addition to the qualifications I’ve already mentioned, also have had at least some research and applied (i.e., clinical) experiences, the more the better.

strayer@psych.utah.edu
1002 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-5037

CNS, Diversity, Cognitive-Clinical Neuropsychology

Cognition Lab (Cell Phone/Driving Research, etc.)
Attention and Performance
Skill Acquisition and Skilled Performance
Mathematical Modeling of Human Performance
Age-related Differences in Information Processing
Cognitive Psychophysiology

yana.suchy@psych.utah.edu
1330 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 585-0796

Clinical, Cognitive-Clinical Neuropsychology

I am looking for students who are interested in conducting research in the area of clinical neuropsychology, with the focus on understanding the construct of executive functioning. Additionally, I also welcome students whose research interests are focused on understanding executive deficits in a particular population. Recently, we have conducted research with the following populations:
- Adults and children with autism
- Community-dwelling elderly
- Elderly with mild cognitive impairment
- Sex offenders
- College students

In the past, incoming students have either developed their own projects, or participated in ongoing projects that they used as a springboard for their Master's Thesis and Dissertation. I encourage creative thinking and look forward to seeing students' own ideas take hold within the framework of my laboratory.

monica.tsethlikai@psych.utah.edu
602 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 585-9269

Memory and Social Cognition Lab

Cognitive Mechanisms of Self-regulation, Constructive Memory Processes in Children's Recall of Social Misunderstandings, and Well-being

What happens to children's memory of events involving conflict with peers over time when new information reveals that their initial understanding of what occurred was misconstrued? That is, are memory processes amenable to incorporating new information about an event when it contradicts the current understanding of what happened? And, how does continued experience with a peer influence memory of past events involving the peer? Given that good times and bad times are bound to occur over the course of a long-term friendship understanding how fluctuations in the status of a relationship affect memory is an important task. The current study is my lab examines how individual differences in basic cognitive skills influence children's memory of events involving conflict with a peer and explores whether changes in memory or failure to update a memory is related to children's well-being. Assistants are needed to help transcribe the interviews with the children, score assessments, and enter the data. Students who work in the lab for more than one semester will be trained to work with the children directly.

bert.uchino@psych.utah.edu
813 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-5682

Social, Diversity, Persuasion-Decision Making, Interpersonal Process, Health

Our relationships with others form a ubiquitous part of our everyday lives. In the classic analysis by Emile Durkheim (1951), suicide rates were higher among individuals who were less socially integrated. The loneliness and despair that characterize a lack of social connections may be responsible for such unfortunate outcomes. Less obvious, however, is the possibility that individuals with poor relationships may also be more at risk for physical disease endpoints such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, or infectious diseases. Is there evidence that such an association exists? If so, how is it that social relationships influence such disease processes? The answer to the first question is relatively well documented. In a review of large prospective studies it was found that less socially integrated individuals had higher mortality rates from all causes, including cardiovascular mortality (House, Landis, & Umberson, 1988). In fact, the evidence linking social relationships to mortality was comparable to standard risk factors such as smoking and physical activity.

What is less known is the answer to the second question of how social relationships influence such long-term health outcomes. Our program of research has been aimed at examining how social relationships influence health at multiple levels of analysis. We have been examining the social (e.g., types of social interactions), cognitive (e.g., how these interactions are interpreted or construed), and physiological (e.g., cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune) processes associated with our all important social relationships (see Uchino, Cacioppo, & Kiecolt-Glaser, 1996; Uchino, Uno, & Holt-Lunstad, 1999 for reviews). For instance, in our program of research we have found that perceptions of supportive relationships predicts reduced cardiovascular reactivity during stress (Uchino & Garvey, 1997; Uno, Uchino, & Smith, 2000) and lower blood pressure in older adults (Uchino, Kiecolt-Glaser, & Cacioppo, 1992; Uchino et al., 1995; Uchino et al., 1999). More recently, we have been developing a broad framework for conceptualizating relationships that differ in how we feel towards them (i.e., primarily positive, primarily negative, both postive and negative). Critical data are now being collected but our recent studies funded by the National Institutes of Health suggest that network members who are sources of positive and negative feelings (ambivalence) may have important and detrimental physiological consequences in their own right (Uchino et al., 2001; Uno et al., 2002). We are now evaluating various hypotheses about why relationships that are sources of ambivalence may have negative consequences.

This research has been generously supported by National Institutes of Health James A. Shannon Director's Award (1 R55 AG13968) and a National Institute of Mental Health grant (RO1 MH58690).

cecilia.wainryb@psych.utah.edu
601 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-8929

Developmental, Diversity, Clinical-Developmental, Social-Developmental

We are currently seeking volunteer research assistants to help with all of our projects. Depending on individual interests and experience, volunteers may be involved in recruiting participants, assisting with interviews, transcribing audio files, data entry, and data coding.
If you are interested in being a part of our research team, please send an email to Holly.Recchia@psych.utah.edu and tell us a bit about yourself. Including a copy of your transcript and academic/employment references would also be helpful.

jason.watson@psych.utah.edu
1034 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-5040

Three of the most fundamental questions in Cognitive Science are concerned with (1) how people read words, (2) how people remember events, and (3) how people stay "on task" by minimizing the influence of potentially distracting information. Although there have been several important findings in these three areas of research, there have been very few attempts to bridge the gaps in knowledge accumulated thus far on word recognition, memory, and cognitive control. Yet there must be a fundamental (and perhaps synergistic) relationship among these three cognitive processes.

The goal of my research is to bridge the scientific work conducted thus far on reading, remembering, and cognitive control in an attempt to gain a richer understanding of brain-behavior relations. To accomplish this goal, I am pursuing several converging lines of research in my Cognitive Science Lab at The University of Utah including but not limited to: (1) behavioral studies of individual differences in cognitive control in young adults that may mediate susceptibility to associative memory illusions, (2) functional neuroimaging studies of individual and age differences in reading, remembering, and cognitive control (3) and other large scale behavioral and neuroimaging studies that systematically compare the influence of lexical variables like frequency, concreteness, and spelling-to-sound correspondence on reading and memory performance.

Given the inter-disciplinary nature of Cognitive Science, in my lab, we employ a variety of methods from Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Neuropsychology to gain leverage in answering empirical questions about brain-behavior relations. For example, to investigate reading, remembering, and cognitive control, we (1) may measure reaction times using naming and lexical decision tasks, (2) may measure memory using free recall and episodic recognition tasks, (3) may conduct cross-population studies with healthy old adults or neuropsychological participants like Alzheimer's patients, and (4) may use functional neuroimaging techniques to determine the underlying neural correlates of a hypothesized cognitive process.

For additional information about my research interests, ongoing research projects, and preferred research techniques, please contact me via email jason.watson@psych.utah.edu, by phone (801-581-5040), or refer to my Cognitive Science Lab website. Thank you!

carol.werner@psych.utah.edu
811 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-8938

Social, Environment-Behavior, Persuasion-Decision Making, Self Regulation

My empirical work examines the attitudinal and motivational underpinnings of proenvironmental behaviors. I work at the interface between theory and application. For example, I have done extensive field research on neighborhood and university recycling using self-concept, behavioral self-regulation, and persuasion concepts. In my current work, I am developing a multi-level intervention program for pesticide reduction. I work with local agencies, such as health departments and transportation offices who need to implement persuasion and behavior change programs.

Paul.White@psych.utah.edu
809a Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 585-3998

Social, Diversity, Persuasion-Decision Making, Interpersonal Processes

My research interests can be placed in three "P's" of social psychology: persuasion, prejudice/ethnic issues, and performance. The question we ask can be simplified to "what motivates behavior" in these areas. In this pursuit, the three areas often overlap in our investigations.

For persuasion, the main focal points are what role does ethnicity/stigma play in persuasion and what happens when we are not motivated or able to pay attention to a message. We explore how the characteristics of the source or target of a message (e.g., race, gender, sexual orientation) affects the persuasiveness and attention given to the communication. Also, we are investigating the possible differential impact that motivation and ability may have on attitude change. In addition, work is underway to investigate the phenomenon of stealing thunder as a persuasive technique and its possible limitations.

For prejudice, we examine the effects of subtle prejudice via persuasion and stereotype trait paradigms. Our main focal point is the development of models for intergroup relations that include the viewpoint of different stigmatized groups toward themselves and other such groups (e.g., African Americans relationships with Asian Americans). In addition, work is underway to explore how and why certain interactions are labeled as prejudicial.

For performance, we investigate what motivates performance and the factors that may undermine performance. We examine how evaluation by self or others influences affects performance on a task and the impact evaluation has on goal setting. Also, we explore when people may underachieve for social reasons (e.g., not hurt someone's feelings) and the role it may play in group identity/formation. In addition, research is underway to examine the effects of stereotype threat and the impact of its elimination on the performance of those considered not at risk.

paula.williams@psych.utah.edu
1301a Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 585-6271

Clinical, Health

The overarching focus of my research is on understanding individual differences in vulnerability to adverse mental and physical health outcomes, with a particular focus on gender and the Five Factor Model of personality. Specific, inter-related research areas include:

1. Individual differences in vulnerability to anxiety (worry/generalized anxiety disorder and health anxiety/hypochondriasis), depression, insomnia, physical health problems, and illness behavior. Current studies are examining:
   - stress exposure
   - affective and psychophysiological responses to laboratory stress
   - stress-related sleep disruption
   - gender differences in response to communal vs. agentic stressors


2. Cognitive/neuropsychological aspects of personality, with a particular emphasis on executive functioning (in collaboration with Yana Suchy) and examination of relations to stress responses and emotion regulation.

malloy@psych.utah.edu
714 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-7865

dominika.mazur@psych.utah.edu
817 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 581-7960

Social psych lab at U looking for undergraduate research assistants to help in conducting experiments, contacting participants/recruitment and data processing. Contact Dominika Mazur: dominika.mazur@psych.utah.edu for more information!

david.rudd@csbs.ut
(801) 581-8620

jeanine.stefanucci@psych.utah.edu
1103 Social & Behavioral Sciences Tower
(801) 585-7895