Psychology Program at SUNY Plattsburgh - Faculty Research

My research interests include the application of persuasion theory to pro-social outcomes, especially those with environmental or health benefits. I have created and tested anti-littering public service announcements, as well as examined persuasion attempts to motivate safer sex, to promote a commitment to exercise, and to encourage an anti-smoking commitment among adolescents.

Visit Dr. Bator's web pages for more information.

My research investigates visual perception and cognition, including object recognition, face perception, and perception of surface material properties. I have been studying how people can recognize faces and objects given variations in lighting and shadows. I have also begun investigating the visual/cognitive factors that influence the ease of understanding forms and instructions.

Visit Dr. Braje's web pages for more information.

My research and writing are in the general area of psychoeducational assessment and intervention. Most recently, I revised the Qualitative Scoring System for the Modified Version of the Bender-Gestalt Test (published by Charles C. Thomas, 2002) and worked on the development of the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test, Second Edition (published by Riverside Pub., 2003). I am currently completing work on a coauthored book entitled Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds.

My research interests include academic and non-academic factors that affect achievement in college. Academic factors include previous achievement such as high shool GPA and SAT scores while non-academic factors include locus of control and self-efficacy. In the future, I would like to investigate the effectiveness of school discipline strategies such as in-school and out-of-school suspensions.

The main focus of my research is social support, specifically social support from friends or relatives (i.e., not from formal sources such as counsellors). I ask some basic questions about the social support process that occurs when people disclose various personal problems. So far, my research has focused on disclosures of experiences of partner abuse and of suicidal thoughts or behaviors. I hope to expand this research to disclosures of other kinds of personal crises. Recently, I have also done studies on perceptions of incidents of sexual harassment and the effects of the victim's response to the harassment on observers' reactions. I also have interests and experience in applied research, including program evaluation and needs assessments for community and health-related services.

Visit Dr. Dunham's web pages for more information.

My research interests are in the areas of: instructional interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorders, self-management techniques for children and adolescents, and the use of behavioral strategies to facilitate effective inclusion in general education settings.

Visit Dr. Egan's web pages for more information.

My major research focus is now on the psychology of justice. Three major concepts are studied in this area. Distributive justice refers to people's beliefs about the fairness of outcomes, procedural justice refers to perceptions of fairness in the procedures used in allocation of outcomes, and interactional justice refers to people's beliefs about the fairness with which they have been treated by authority figures. Currently, my focus is on procedural justice, which is particularly interesting for me, as research in that area spans the gulf between social and organizational psychology. I welcome students' participation in my research projects, and encourage interested students to contact me about possibilities for taking Psy 302-Research Practicum or engaging in independent studies (e.g., Psy 499) in this area. In addition, I often consult with colleagues and students regarding questionnaire and survey design, delivery, and analysis.

Visit Dr. Gaeddert's web pages for more information.

My recent research concerns the perceptual and cognitive processes involved in reading. For example: How does reading performance depend on print size? How is reading speed influenced by typeface? How can we improve the reading performance of individuals with low vision or children with dyslexia?

Visit Dr. Mansfield's web pages for more information.

The primary focus of my research has been on the development of emotion regulation skills during the infancy and early childhood period. My research has focused on normative changes in emotion regulation, as well as on the development of individual differences in emotion regulation behavior. The latter focus of my work has led to my considering how children's experiences with their parents, how children's temperament, and how contextual influences, beyond the home environment, might lead to stylistic differences in how children go about regulating their emotional state. Most recently, I have been examining how children's early nonverbal communication skills influence their ability to regulate emotion, and what types of behavioral strategies young children use to regulate emotion.

Visit Dr. Morales's web pages for more information.

My research interests are in the area of the externalizing behavioral disorders of childhood. Children suffering from these disorders, which include Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, create significant challenges for schools, communities, and families. My research examines the cognitive differences of these populations and the efficacy of various treatment modalities.

My research area is Biological Psychology, with a specialization in Neuropsychology. The thrust of my research during the past fifteen years has focused on the recovery of function following brain injury. My research team and I recently completed a three year study examining the immediate and long term consequence of concussion among high school and college male and female athletes. My current research is examining the benefits of neurofeedback in improving attention problems of children ages 7 to 13.

Visit Dr. Ryan's web pages for more information.

I am primarily interested in personality vulnerability to mood disorder. In particular, I have been looking into personality traits such as perfectionism, self-criticism, and attributional style. I have also conducted studies into the role that involuntary subordination plays in the development of depression, as well as other variables derived from evolutionary theories.

My research interests are in the broad area of evolutionary psychology, particularly as it relates to evolved human mating strategies. Over the past ten years, I have published studies investigating male and female deception in mating contexts, jealousy and jealousy evocation strategies, sex differences in short-term and long-term mating strategies, and evolved sex differences in sexual desire and preferences for sexual variety. Currently, I am an active collaborator in the International Sexuality Description Project (ISDP), an international group of researchers investigating cross-cultural universals in human mating behavior. In addition to refereed academic journals, my research has been featured in several popular press outlets such as Psychology Today, WebMD, Reader's Digest, APA Monitor, and Donahue.

Visit Dr. Tooke's web pages for more information.

My research interests include: the neuropsychology of aging, behavioral aspects of dementia, coping with memory loss, memory retraining for age-related lossesof cognitive functioning, nursing home intervention programs for dementia patients, normal vs. abnormal memory losses associated with aging, dementia among intellectually disabled ederly people, assessment and identifying markers for dementia among intellectually disabled individuals, use of technology for improving the quality of life of disabled individuals, and life quality of intelletually disabled individuals as a function of disability and mental health.