The Psychology Department is committed to presenting psychology as a behavioral science. To that end, we have an active and accessible research program that allows our majors to become involved in doing research either independently or in conjunction with faculty. Interested students typically become involved in departmental research in their junior and senior years and often have the chance to attend regional and/or national conferences to present their findings.
Psychology Research, by Faculty Member
|
|
|
| |
| |
My overall program of research aims to answer a variety of important research questions related to
- factors involved in the acquisition/development of diet;
- the long-term and short-term consequences of dietary food selection;
- the role of cognition on hunger and fullness; and
- the relationship between preferences, meal size, caloric intake, and health.
This research is aimed at exploring practical strategies for enhancing liking for healthier foods and controlling hunger without increasing caloric intake. This has implications for preventing or minimizing symptoms of obesity and other health problems related to the types of foods and flavors humans consume.
In all, this behavioral program of research can be (and is) applied to a variety of research areas in psychology including sensation and perception, cognition, behavioral, experimental, and physiological areas of specialization. My research interests and focus extend from liking for food to hunger and fullness, with implications for enhancing liking for healthier diets and controlling hunger and fullness. This makes my overall program of research rather dynamic and practical for overseeing a variety of undergraduate research projects at St. Bonaventure University across psychological disciplines and interests.
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
Have you ever tried to convince someone to give you a job, go on a date with you, or change their political opinion? Have you ever tried to eat healthier, exercise more, or improve your study habits? The tactics you used to influence yourself or others are all social influence tactics. Thus each of us, in our every day life, is not only a social influence practitioner but also the target of social influence tactics. Social influence researchers attempt to understand the how, when, and why of social influence, so that we can become better at it and/or better at defending ourselves from such attempts.
My students and I have conducted both field and laboratory research on a variety of social influence topics. Topics examined have included the impact of modeled helping on actual helping, the effectiveness of persuasion tactics used by hate groups, and impression management tactics used by athletes. Our research has been presented at regional and national conferences.
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
My research program looks at personality – specifically the trait of narcissism and the dimension of erotophilia/erotophobia.
Narcissism
Narcissism is basically love of one’s self taken to the extreme. My research seeks to determine how different levels of narcissism affect how we behave and feel about things. For example – If you are narcissistic, are you attracted to other narcissists or do you want someone who will worship you? Will a narcissist forgive you if you make a mistake (either perceived or real)?
Erotophilia/erotophobia
I also do research on the personality dimension of erotophilia/erotophobia, which is not a well-known term. This dimension is essentially how comfortable a person is with sexually-related stimuli. So for example, does one’s personality affect how much he or she believes in the sexual double standard? Would level of erotophobia affect how that person might behave on a jury trying a rape case? Does one’s personality affect how closely he or she attends to and respond to sexually-related information (i.e. sex words or pictures) in the environment?
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
Rumor & Gossip
For over three decades my students and I have been studying what rumor and gossip is and why it is that people spread rumors and gossip about each other. We have done research on how anxiety makes rumors more virulent and whether or not good rumors spread as fast as bad rumors. More recently we have been doing research on gossip. We have identified several types of gossip and the social functions of each. How gossip is being passed through the social media (e.g., Facebook), is a fascinating new project we are presently working on. The results of our research on rumor and gossip have been presented at major national conferences held in New York, Chicago, Boston and San Francisco, and published in leading academic journals.
Social Flow
Some of my students are interested in the phenomenon of flow, particularly social forms of it. Flow states occur when one’s skills can be deployed to gracefully dispatch important challenges emerging from one’s environment. We have done a series of studies that support the conclusion that social forms of flow are more pleasant and enjoyable than flow experienced alone. It explains, for example, why some sports are more enjoyable to participate in or watch. This research has been presented at national and international conferences and will appear soon in a new leading journal, Positive Psychology.
Human Well-being
With the help of my students, staff and faculty I have been studying the life satisfaction, happiness and well-being of college students and faculty. This research started in the mid-90s and continues today. I have developed a well-being inventory for faculty and another for students. These inventories assess how much someone is flourishing and show associations between traits in people and characteristics of the institutions in which they teach or learn. We just completed a four-year longitudinal study that revealed that the mental health of students does indeed improve during their time in college. We now know more about what aspects of the college experience builds well-being, on one hand, and what thwarts development resulting in languishing, on the other. The results of this research have been featured on the programs of major international summits on human well-being and higher education. It is currently being prepared for publication in a journal on student development.
|
| |
|
| |
Publications with Students
The students' names are underlined.
- Walker, C. J., & Hale, N. M. (1999). Faculty Vitality and Well-Being. In R. Menges, Professors in New Jobs: Mastering Academic Work. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Walker, C. J. & Beckerle, S. (1987). The Effect of State Anxiety on Rumor Transmission. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 2(3), 351-360.
Highlights from National Conferences
Psychology student researchers celebrate with Dr. Walker and his wife at
the 2008 national meeting of the Association for Psychological Science (APS).
Abby L. Cohen, ’08, Dr. Charles Walker and Keely M. Sibbald, ’09,
present their research “Self-Gossip on Facebook: A Tactic of
Self-Presentation?” at the 2008 national meeting of APS.
Keely Sibbald, ‘09, Theresa Canavan, ‘08, Jillian Coniglio, ‘09, and
Elizabeth Thomeier, ’09, present their research (with Dr. Walker)
“Broaden-and-Build Theory and Friendship: What Good Are Good Friends?”
at the 2008 national meeting of the APS.
Recent Paper & Poster Presentations with Students
Presentations are ordered by year. The students' names are underlined.
Valeri, R. M., Borgeson, K., Saile, M., Killion, J., Cullinane, K., & Post, M. (2010). Examining the Impact of Terror Management on Attitudes toward Affirmative Action. Poster presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Society, Boston, MA.
Wright, R., Post, M., Valeri, R. M., & Payne, P. (2010). Can George W. Bush’s attempts to shape his legacy be effective? Poster presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Society, Boston, MA.
Valeri, R. M., Saile, M., Cullinane, K., Killion, J., Post, M. (2009). Helping: The effects of expected and unexpected helping in field research. Poster presented at the meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Pittsburgh, PA.
- Walker, C. J., Coniglio, J., Cuviello, C., Sibbald, K. & Thomeier, E. (2009). The Pervasiveness, Truthfulness, and Negativity of Slander Gossip. Poster presented at the national conference of the Association for Psychological Science held in San Francisco, CA.
Valeri, R. M., Saile, M., Cullinane, K., Killion, J., Brackett, A. (2008). Can modeled helping overcome negative attitudes? Poster presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Society, Chicago, IL.
Valeri, R. M., Deisinger, A., Killion, J., Saile, M., & Sturzenbecker, A. (2008). Modeled helping and the lost letter. Poster presented at the meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, MA.
- Canavan, T., Coniglio, J., Sibbald, K., Thomeier, E. & Walker, C. J. (2008). Broaden-and-Build Theory and Friendship: What Good Are Good Friends? Poster presented at the national conference of Association for Psychological Science, Chicago, Illinois.
- Clark, D., Rogers, K., Burdick, A. & Walker, C. J. (2008). Self-Fulfilling Prophecy and Princeton Review: Descriptions or Prescriptions for Drinking in College? Poster presented at the national conference of the Association for Psychological Science, Chicago, Illinois.
Walker, C. J., Cohen, A. & Sibbald, K. (2008). Self-Gossip on Facebook: A Tactic of Self-Presentation? Poster presented at the national conference of Association for Psychological Science, Chicago, Illinois.
Valeri, R. M., Saile, M., & Sturzenbecker, A., Deisinger, A., Killion, J. (2007). Examining Reciprocal Helping Using the Lost Letter Technique. Poster presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Society, Washington, D.C.
Valeri, R. M., Deisinger, A., Killion, J., Saile, M., & Sturzenbecker, A. (2007). Replicating Milgram’s Lost Letter Research. Poster presented at the meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Philadelphia, PA.
Valeri, R. M., Borgeson, K., Saile, M., Kantowski, K., & Aquino, N. (2006). Does the nose know? Examining the impact of scent identification on juror decisions. Paper presented at the meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Baltimore, MD.
Valeri, R. M., Bruno, J., & Dinolfo, C. (2006). The influence of age stereotypes on managerial decisions: Thirty years later. Poster presented at the meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Baltimore, MD.
Adams, A., Johnson, R., Meleen, M. & Valeri, R. M. (2006). Cross-gender friendships and romance. Poster presented at the meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Baltimore, MD.
Valeri, R. M., Borgeson, K., Barras, A., Denby, H., & Latendresse, A. (2005). Impression management tactics of college athletes. Poster presented at the meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, MA.
Valeri, R. M., Bruno, J., & Dinolfo, C. (2005). Longitudinal study examining body image of college athletes. Poster presented at the meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, MA
Finley, D. L., Bartzak-Graham, S., Bosack, T., Kinslow, S. L., Munshell, C., Park, D., Rodman, M., & Valeri, R. M. (2005).
Carini, D., Cerello, D., Denby, H. & Walker, C. J. (2005). Audience Facilitation of Flow Experience: A Field Experiment. Poster presented at the American Psychological Society, national convention held in Los Angeles, CA.
Walker, C. J. & Ballerstein, M. (2005). Effects of Social Interdependence on the Experience of Flow. Poster presented at the American Psychological Society, national convention held in Los Angeles, CA.
For a complete list of paper and poster presentations mentored by Dr. Valeri, see
Dr. Valeri's profile. For a complete list of paper and poster presentations mentored by
Dr. Walker, see
Dr. Walker's profile.