Social-Personality The BBS program offers expertise in Social and Personality Science. Our training is designed to train scientists to understand the twin forces of the environment and individual in shaping thoughts, feelings and behaviors. UGA's department has significant strength in the study of the self, narcissism, decision-making, culture, relationships, emotion, and personality processes. Researchers in this area use a variety of methods including experiments, longitudinal and cross-sectional surveys, neuroscience, and big data approaches to understand their questions of interest. Core Social-Personality Faculty Dr. Brian Haas studies personality, social neuroscience and the link between culture and social-cognitive processing. Laboratory: Culture and Identity Lab Dr. W. Keith Campbell studies personality (especially narcissism), culture, social media, and the self. Laboratory: MERLab Dr. Adam Goodie studies judgment and decision-making. Laboratory: Georgia Decision Laboratory Dr. Leonard Martin studies existential experiences such as the wake-up call and the mismatch between modern culture and ancient biology. Laboratory: Cultural Evolution and Optimal Experience Dr. Allison Skinner studies how attitudes, biases, and nonverbal behaviors are established, maintained, and facilitated through subtle messages present in everyday life. Laboratory: GABBA Lab Dr. Richard Slatcher focuses on understanding the effects of peoples' close relationships on their health and well-being from a social psychological perspective. Laboratory: Close Relationships Laboratory Dr. Michelle vanDellen studies the cognitive and motivational mechanisms of self-regulation. Laboratory: Motivation and Behavior Laboratory Affiliated Social-Personality Faculty Dr. Katie Ehrlich studies how children’s social experiences shape their mental and physical health. Laboratory: Health and Development Laboratory Dr. Josh Miller studies the interplay between personality and psychopathology with a focus on personality disorders such as psychopathy and narcissism. Laboratory: Personality Studies Laboratory Dr. Dean Sabatinelli studies the dynamic brain mechanisms that underlie emotional stimulus processing. Laboratory: Georgia Emotion Neuro-Imaging Laboratory Dr. Anne Shaffer studies social and emotional processes in families and close relationships. Laboratory: FRESH (Family Relationships, Emotions, Stress and Health) Laboratory Across campus, we interact with multiple areas and departments. Many of our students take classes in and collaborate with scholars in the Departments of Sociology, Advertising, Management, Marketing, Education, Kinesiology, and Health Promotion & Behavior. Read more about Social-Personality
Health Psychology The BBS Program includes a concentration in Health Psychology. This specialty area is designed to provide interdisciplinary training in both theory and methods focused on physical health across the lifespan. Our faculty have expertise in health behaviors (e.g., smoking, diet, physical fitness), clinical indicators of health (e.g., blood pressure, cardiometabolic risk), and immunologic processes. In addition, students can take advantage of training opportunities across campus, including options for research and coursework in Public Health, Human Development and Family Science, Sociology, and Foods and Nutrition. Core BBS Health Psychology Faculty Dr. Katie Ehrlich studies how children’s social experiences shape their mental and physical health. Her laboratory utilizes a variety of research methods to evaluate social and emotional functioning, including structured behavioral observations, clinical interviews, self-reports, and performance-based tasks. In addition, she incorporates clinical health measures and indices of cellular function and adaptive immunity. Current projects examine (a) the links between social experiences and children’s antibody production following vaccination, (b) intergenerational transmission of health disparities among African American families, and (c) skin deep resilience, depression risk, and cognitive development in adolescence. Laboratory: Health and Development Laboratory Dr. Janet Frick studies individual and developmental differences in infant visual attention, with a primary focus on the cognitive and social influences of early attention, learning, and memory. She utilizes both laboratory and community-based observational studies of infant and toddler behavior. Some of her recent collaborative work has included examination of nutritional influences on the early development and function of the visual system, with a focus on how such individual differences impact early learning and memory. Laboratory: Infant Research Laboratory Dr. Randy Hammond studies how lifestyle, primarily dietary, influences both the development of degenerative disease and the normal function of the central nervous system. For example, he uses psychophysical methods to measure the concentration of the dietary carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin within the fovea (termed macular pigment or the macula lutea) and have related those pigments to various aspects of retinal and brain function. Laboratory: Vision Sciences Laboratory Dr. Philip Holmes studies neurobiological mechanisms responsible for cognitive, motivational, and emotional functions, with a focus on brain catecholamine and peptide neurotransmitters. This research involves a combination of molecular, genetic, pharmacological, and behavioral approaches in rodent models. His research has revealed the essential role noradrenergic systems play in mediating the beneficial effects of exercise on synaptic plasticity and stress resilience. He also studies how endocrine and immune systems impact brain catecholamines to influence learning, memory, and emotional behavior. Laboratory: Behavioral Neuropharmacology Laboratory Dr. Richard Slatcher focuses on understanding the effects of peoples' close relationships on their health and well-being from a social psychological perspective. Laboratory: Close Relationships Laboratory Dr. Lawrence Sweet integrates multimodal neuroimaging and neuropsychological assessments to examine brain-behavior relationships in clinical and at-risk populations (e.g., addictions, cardiovascular disease, early life adversity, aging). The Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory (CNS Lab) specializes in experimental design, and data acquisition, analyses, and interpretation for studies that employ functional magnetic resonance imaging, structural morphometry, and white matter lesion quantification. The CNS Lab is responsible for data analyses and consultation for several local and multi-site NIH-funded research studies. Laboratory: Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory Dr. Michelle vanDellen studies self-regulation, the processes by which people choose, pursue, and disengage from goals. Her work is driven by two core assumptions: 1) goal pursuits are inherently interpersonal and 2) cognition and motivation interact to drive self-regulatory processes. She applies her work to a broad range of domains, including health behaviors of smoking (with a particular emphasis on dual-smoker couples), eating, and physical fitness. Laboratory: Motivation and Behavior Laboratory Affiliated Health Psychology Faculty Dr. Steven Beach is interested in the interconnected nature of problems in the family, problems with depression, and health-related outcomes. He also has focused on identifying ways to utilize social relationships as a method of enhancing health and well-being by constructing or enhancing resilience-promoting social resources (Brody, Yu, & Beach, 2016). His current work focuses on identifying biological markers, inflammatory processes, and epigenetic mediators of environmentally triggered effects on health and health behavior (Beach, Lei, Brody, Miller, Chen, Mandara, Philibert, 2017). This work contributes to the understanding of modifiable environmental factors that may indirectly drive biological and behavioral risk processes. Of particular interest are biological effects of family and social relationships. Laboratory: Beach Laboratory Dr. Ron Blount studies medical adherence, quality of life and adjustment to illness, medical outcomes, transition from pediatric to adult medical care, and related topics. His primary patient research groups include solid organ transplant recipients, patients with inflammatory bowel disease, cardiac conditions, and their families. Additionally, he has a variety of pediatric research interests and is currently or has recently conducted research on therapeutic camps and Tourette syndrome. Laboratory: UGA Pediatric Psychology Lab Dr. Adam Goodie studies decision making under uncertainty, including risky decisions that affect psychopathology, health care, and safety. Laboratory: Georgia Decision Laboratory Dr. Justin Lavner is interested in interventions to promote physical, mental, and relational health among couples and families. He is currently conducting a randomized controlled trial testing two interventions for first-time African American mothers and their newborn infants aimed at reducing health disparities early in the lifespan. Dr. Anne Shaffer studies social and emotional processes in families and close relationships. She is currently studying how intensive parenting behaviors are linked to poorer mental health and systemic inflammation in parents. Laboratory: FRESH (Family Relationships, Emotions, Stress and Health) Laboratory Read more about Health Psychology
Dr. Marshall Shepherd from Atmospheric Sciences Speaks to Psychology Students Dr. J. Marshall Shepherd, Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor and Director for the UGA Program in Atmospheric Sciences, spoke to a rapt audience in Dr. Allison Howard’s innovative PSYC 5100 course “Environmental Psychology: Behavior and Decision Making in a Changing World.” Dr. Shepherd is a preeminent expert on weather, climate, and the socio-economic aspects of their impacts and is regularly featured on CNN, CBS, NBC and others including his own show on The Weather Channel. Thanks a bunch Dr. Shepherd and kudos to Dr. Howard for bringing him into her class! Read more about Dr. Marshall Shepherd from Atmospheric Sciences Speaks to Psychology Students
Recent Faculty Grant Successes Congratulations to four faculty members in the Department of Psychology who have recently received national grant awards! Keep up the great work! Read more about Recent Faculty Grant Successes
Soheil Shapouri Research Interests: Research Interests: Evolutionary Psychology, Fear, Disgust Teaching Interests: Research Methods Statistics Selected Publications Selected Publications: Shapouri, S., Martin, L. L., & Arhami, O. (2023). Affective Responses to Natural and Technological Disasters; An Evolutionary Perspective. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, 1-15. Shapouri, S. (2022). Of Germs and Cultures; Parasite Stress as the Origin of Individualism-Collectivism. Evolutionary Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-022-00335-y full-text Shapouri, S., Martin, L.L. (2021) Snakes vs. Guns: a Systematic Review of Comparisons Between Phylogenetic and Ontogenetic Threats. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40750-021-00181-5 Conference Posters/Presentations Shapouri, S., Martin, L. L. (2022, March 16-18). Emotional Reactions to Natural and Technological Disasters; A Possible Case for Evolutionary Mismatch. 9th MindBrainBody Symposium. Leipzig, Germany. Shapouri, S., Martin, L. L. (2021, March 15-18). Evolutionary vs. Modern Threats: A Systematic Review . 8th MindBrainBody Symposium. Leipzig, Germany. Shapouri, S. & Martin, L. L. (2019, May). the effects of evolutionary and modern threats on delay discounting . 31th Human behavior and evolution society. Boston, US. Madahi, B., Khosrowabadi, R., Shapouri, S., Tabatabaie, A. F., Yoonesi. A. (2016, September). Functional Connectivity of Musical Induced Emotions Using EEG . Poster presentation, 3rd International Human Brain Mapping Congress. Tehran, Iran. Shapouri, S., Nejati, V., Eftekhar Ardebili, M. (2015, April). Homosexuality and social cognition . Poster presentation, 6th International Conference of Cognitive Science. Tehran, Iran.
Arturia Melson-Silimon Research Research Interests: I am interested in researching areas related to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) law, such as issues in selection concerning sub-group differences, employment discrimination and workplace sexual harassment. Specifically, I'm interested in researching potential organizational methods which aim to reduce negative experiences of workers belonging to marginalized groups and underrepresented identities. Dissertation/Thesis Title: Regional Differences in Applicants' Procedural Justice Judgements of Affirmative Action Plans (Thesis) Selected Publications Selected Publications: Melson-Silimon, A., Harmata, R., Lefevre-Levy, R., Behrend, T.S., & Carter, N.T. (forthcoming). Diversity in the digital age: Cybervetting, doxxing, and employment discrimination. In E.B. King, Q.M. Roberson, & M.R. Hebl (Eds) Research in Social Issues in Management: The Future of Diversity & Inclusion. Lefevre-Levy, R., Melson-Silimon, A., Harmata, R., Hulett, A., & Carter, N.T. (accepted). Neurodiversity in the workplace: Looking at neurological disability from a diversity perspective. Manuscript accepted at Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice. Melson-Silimon, A., Salter, N.P., & Carter, N.T. (2020). A historical review of industrial-organizational psychology's role in the study of LGBTQ employees' workplace experiences. In L.L. Koppes Bryan, J. Cleveland, & K. Murphy (Eds) Historical Perspectives in Industrial and Organizational Psychology (2nd ed.). Melson-Silimon, A., Harris, A.M., Shoenfelt, E.L., Miller, J.D., & Carter, N.T. (2019). Personality testing and the ADA: concern as normal and abnormal models are integrated. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice. [Focal Article] Melson-Silimon, A., & Carter, N.T. (2019). On the legal front: Considering supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh’s record on employment law. The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 56. Retrieved from http://my.siop.org/Publications/TIP/562/ArtMID/18540/ArticleID/690/On-the-Legal-Front-Considering-Supreme-Court-Justice-Brett-Kavanaugh%E2%80%99s-Record-on-Employment-Law Other Information Other Affiliations: Research Profile
Justin Jones Education Education: M.S., Western Kentucky University, Industrial-Organizational Psychology B.A., Quinnipiac University, Psychology (Industrial-Organizational Concentration) Research Research Interests: My research primarily falls within the realm of computational social science. As such, I endeavor to use methodologies such as computational modeling and social network analysis in order to conduct scientific inquires into the underpinnings and temporal/multi-level dynamics of emergent phenomena, with a particular emphasis on cognition within teams and multi-team systems. Selected Publications Selected Publications: Jones, J.M., Mohan, G., Trainer, H.M. & Carter, D.R. (2018). The changing nature of teams: Recommendations for managing 21st century teamwork. In B. Hoffman, M. Shoss, & L. Wegman (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of the Changing Nature of Work. Other Information Other Affiliations: LINC-Lab
Riley Hess My current area of research uses personality (the Big-5) and Regulatory Focus Theory to understand and predict workers' performance and job satisfaction. Education Education: University of Kansas - Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (2017) Selected Publications Selected Publications: Atakere, D., Naemi, P., Kuofie, A., & Hess, R. (Accepted). General well-being in adult Black males with chronic illness. Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine’s special issue on diverse race and ethnic populations and aging.
David Facteau Education Education: M.S., Industrial-Organizational Psychology, University of Georgia B.A., Psychology with a General Business Minor, Auburn University Research Research Interests: My research interests include organizational mentoring (e.g., negative mentoring, mindfulness in mentoring), helping relationships at work, and occupational health.
