Faculty Research Interests:
Bernat, Edward:
Brain mechanisms underlying impulse control (externalizing) problems such as substance use/abuse, antisocial behavior, and psychopathy. Analyses focus on measures of brain activity including EEG/MEG and MRI/fMRI.
Carbonell, Joyce:
Prediction of criminal behavior; classification systems for
prison inmates; women offenders; domestic violence; posttraumatic
stress.
Cougle, Jesse: Cognitive, behavioral, and biological processes in anxiety disorders with an emphasis on obsessive-compulsive disorder and posttraumatic stress; risk factors for and prevention of trauma and its consequences; treatment and prevention of anxiety disorders; courage and strategies to facilitate courageous behavior.
Joiner, Thomas: The
interpersonal, cognitive, and neurobiological causes, correlates,
and consequences of depression and related disorders (e.g.,
anxiety, bulimia nervosa). Additional focus is on the nature
and treatment of suicidal ideation and behavior.
Keel, Pamela: Translational research in eating disorders, includlng biological and psychologcal factors that contribute to binge eating and purglng behaviors; nosology and statistical approaches to classification; epidemiology and cultural factors that influence eatlng disorders and body image.
Kistner, Janet: Developmental
psychopathology; children's responses to stress and failure;
problematic social interactions of children; learning and behavior
problems of children.
Lang, Alan: Antecedents and consequences of alcohol use, particularly cognitive mediation of the connections between drinking and emotional/behavioral response. Currently investigating alcohol's relation to fear, impulsivity, and social stereotyping, as well as responses to addiction-relevant cues that evoke craving and/or inclinations to avoid use.
Licht, Barbara: Depression, anxiety, and life satisfaction in persons with epilepsy. Clinical and behavioral assessment techniques applied to improving the diagnosis of epilepsy. Family studies on the inheritance of epilepsy (animal model). Psychological characteristics (e.g., self concept of ability, perceived control) that contribute to life satisfaction among the elderly.
Licht, Mark: Psychosocial
adjustment to normal aging and to age-related pathologies. That
is, how do cognitive-motivational, personality, behavioral,
and social factors affect adaptation to changes that occur later
in life. Other research interests include: assessment and treatment
of chronically institutionalized mental patients, psychosocial
adjustment to and genetic bases of epilepsy, and the teaching
of psychology.
Lonigan, Christopher:
Two primary areas of research: Developmental Psychopathology with a primary focus on self-regulatory influences (i.e., emotional, motivational, and executive capacities) on the development of psychopathology; and Early Literacy with a primary focus on the development of language and literacy skills, including typical development, children at risk for educational failure, early intervention, and the interplay between the development of language and literacy skills and children's behavioral and social development (e.g., behaviors associated with ADHD, self-regulation).
Patrick, Chris:
Neuroscientific, genetic, and psychometric-
quantitative approaches to the study of: psychopathy, antisocial behavior, and
violence/aggression; dispositional fear, negative affectivity, and internalizing
(anxiety, mood) disorders; alcohol/drug effects, addictions. Affiliated interests:
emotion, temperament, and personality; self-regulation and disinhibition; psychodiagnosis
& assessment; psychoneurometrics (developing neurobiologically based
trait measures using psychological [psychometric] phenotypes as referents)
Sachs-Ericsson, Natalie:
Psychiatric epidemiology in general population
and elderly population samples:
psychosocial factors (e.g., poverty, early
childhood experiences, childhood abuse,
interpersonal functioning, ethnicity, race)
that influence the onset and course
of psychiatric disorders (in particular
depression) and cognitive decline; racial,
ethnic and gender differences in protective
and vulnerability factors that influence
psychiatric disorders; depression
and cognitive decline in racially diverse
elderly populations.
Schmidt, Brad: Behavioral, cognitive, and biological
causes, correlats, and consequences of anxiety; assessment, treatment and prevention of anxiety pathology; nosology of
psychopathological syndromes: gene-behavior models of psychopathology.
Taylor, Jeanette: Physiological, cognitive, and environmental risk factors for substance use disorders and Cluster B personality disorders; genetic and environmental factors associated with individual differences in antisocial behavior, personality disorders, and substance use problems (using data on twins).
Wetherby, Amy: Autism spectrum disorders; speech, language, and communication disorders
in young children: early detection; early intervention.
