SOCIAL-PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY
at York University
SOCIAL-PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY
at York University
Social-Personality Faculty
Research Interests Accepting Students for 2008/2009? The application of statistics within psychological research. Robust statistical analyses, multiplicity control and the measurement of change. Other statistical application projects or empirical projects applying innovative statistical methods. The roles of trait perfectionism and perfectionistic self-presentation in personal adjustment, psychosocial functioning, and health problems. The associations among personality, coping, stress, and distress in adolescents, middleaged individuals, and the elderly.
Social psychology, health related fields. Work stress, burnout, coping, psychosocial factors and rehabilitation, and psychological effects of SARS in nurses. Coping, social support and health, especially interested in applying a new scale, “The Proactive Coping Inventory” to a variety of different populations. Values, social norms and cross-cultural research pertaining to sexuality, health, and close relationships. Self-conscious emotions and their role in behaviour and behavioural intentions. The automatic activation of associations related to social categories including stereotypes, prejudice, automatic behaviors, approach avoidance tendencies, and emotions. The implication of these associations for responding to target category members and the self. Strategies to reduce these activations.
Social psychology of intergroup relations with a focus on issues of ethnic, cultural, and national identity. Responses to discrimination, immigrant acculturation, and bicultural identification. Projection of the self into fictional narratives. Ascription of intentionality to abstract social agents. Individual differences in, and the core processes of, empathy and social understanding. Imagination. Stimulation based theories of language comprehension. And the neural underpinnings of these processes. Social information processing and socialcognitive models. Aspects of the self, depression, and interpersonal communication. Zealous and extreme reactions to psychological threats. Associated personality predispositions and underlying motivational processes. Self, identity, goal regulation, and meaning. How psychologists conceptualize and research lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender experience. Stereotypes of sexual assault and childhood sexual abuse survivors. Research focuses generally on behavioural assumptions in the law, and specifically on the behaviour of various decision makers (e.g., juries, police). Considerable work done on decision making processes of decision makers in cases involving violence against women (sexual assault, battered women). More recent work examines the impact of racial bias and legal strategies for curbing its influence (e.g., challenge for cause) Stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination from the target’s perspective. How people combat the effects of negative self-relevant stereotypes in academic settings. How stereotypes are activated and inhibited in impression formation. The development of gender/ racial stereotypes and beliefs in children, examined from a social cognitive perspective. Social cognition or how people make sense of themselves and other people. Social and organizational psychology, including attributions, social motivation, forgiveness, coworker interactions, and decision making. Psychological aspects of driving; human needs and psychological dimensions of housing; scientific racism; violence and explanations of criminality. Ethics and societal values influencing research practice as well as strong interest in applied psychology.
Affiliated Social-Personality Faculty
Primary Affiliation Research Interests Accepting Students for 2007/2008? Aetiological factors in the development of eating disorders, compulsive overeating, and obesity. Issues related to the biological basis of personality and how this relates to disordered eating, and other addictive behaviours, are also considered. Broad area of eating and its disorders from both a social/personality and a clinical psychology perspective. Factors that influence women to undertake or continue dieting, and psychological consequences of restrictive eating. Effects of exposure to thin media images on eating, mood and body image among female dieters and nondieters. Anxiety, perfectionism, possible selves, body image and social influences on eating. Vulnerability to depression including the personality styles of dependency and selfcriticism, and associated interpersonal behaviours. Transactional models of depression including the dynamics between vulnerable individuals and their social context. Resilience building in those vulnerable to depression is also a current focus. Application of structural models of personality (i.e., interpersonal circumplex and five-factor models of personality) to increasing understanding of mental, physical, and neuropsychological health processes and outcomes. How personality variables affect the physical and psychological problems to which one is most prone, how one copes with these problems, and how these variables affect outcomes. The role of social support processes and how these variables affect relationship satisfaction and the ability to establish and maintain satisfying relationships. * Prospective graduate students can also apply to work with these faculty through their primary area of affiliation.