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: Gene-Brain-Social Behavior Laboratory
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. 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.