Faculty Research Labs
Acculturation and Immigrant Health Research Lab
Dr. Kevin Chun's research and publications focus on processes of adaptation and their relation to health and psychosocial adjustment for Asian American immigrants and refugees. Currently, he is working on a number of publications focusing on cultural issues in the management of type II diabetes for Chinese immigrants and their families. Additionally, he is working on an ethnographic study of acculturation strategies and processes for new Chinese immigrants at religious sites in San Francisco Chinatown.
Aging and Diversity Research Lab
Dr. Lisa Wagner has conducted research on stereotyping and aging for the past 21 years. Through a grant from the National Institute on Aging and with support from USF, she has examined age-related stereotypes and older adults’ experience of stereotype threat. Her most recent research promotes intergenerational interactions between younger and older adults and then examines the effects of these interactions on attitudes toward both age groups. The 3rd edition of her co-authored book entitled, Aging and Diversity: An Active Learning Experience, was released in September of 2018.
Cognition and Emotion Lab
Dr. Marisa Knight's research interests are focused on the interplay between motivation, emotion and cognitive functioning across the lifespan. In one line of research, she is examining how particular emotion regulation strategies influence emotional experience and memory performance in older and younger adults. In another line of research, she is investigating the factors that lead to both the enhancement and impairment of memories that are associated with emotional arousal.
The Creative Brain Lab
We are born creative: from our first utterances, our first steps, we are driven to explore, experiment and connect. But many of us disconnect from our creative selves as the pressures, responsibilities and discouragement grow. In the Creative Brain Lab, our aim is to understand and ultimately unleash our creativity. After all, in a chaotic and changing environment, we need all the innovation we can muster.
Dr. Indre Viskontas and the Creative Brain Lab works towards this aim by focusing on three goals:
- to understand and mitigate the effects that stress and anxiety might have on creative work
- to evaluate and optimize technological tools designed to interface with creativity
- to explore ways in which creative work might be used to heal or improve our wellbeing.
Family Research Lab
Dr. Shirley McGuire's research involves using a biocontextual approach to study children's social and personality development and adjustment during middle childhood and adolescence. She has published papers on twin/sibling similarities and differences in self-concept, personality and loneliness. She has also investigated the nature of children's parent-child and sibling relationships. She received a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to examine sibling socialization effects and the development of juvenile delinquency and adjustment problems. She is also developing a developmental model of children's computer hacking, a new type of children's behavior problems.
Foster Care Research Group (FCRG)
Created by Dr. June Madsen Clausen and now run by Dr. Saralyn Ruff, FCRG's focus over the last 10 years is the evaluation of mental health interventions for foster youth, with the goal of identifying the most effective approaches to assisting this vulnerable population. FCRG's primary efforts include program evaluation and outcome research for A Home Within, a national nonprofit organization based in San Francisco focused on addressing the emotional needs of current and former foster youth.
Intersectionality and Social Issues Research Lab
Dr. J. Garrett-Walker utilizes quantitative and qualitative methodologies to examine the intersections of multiple identities, specifically racial, religious and sexual identities. She is most interested in the ways in which Black LGBT young adults navigate and negotiate social marginalization in their multiple communities through negative religious rhetoric, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and heterosexism. Dr. Garrett-Walker’s 2nd line of research seeks to raise student, faculty, and staff awareness around social inequalities and privilege. She has become increasingly interested in the ways in which shared educational privilege impacts colorblind racial ideologies and privilege awareness (i.e., white, male, class).
Learning and Reasoning Lab
Dr. Ed Munnich's research focuses on whether, and to what extent, statistics influence people’s beliefs and preferences about personal and public policy issues. In a series of studies, he has found that people’s beliefs and preferences about numbers are influenced by how numbers are presented to them, and that these effects last for a considerable time. In a complementary line of research, he has focused on how people can learn to look for multiple perspectives and thereby improve the accuracy of their numerical beliefs. He has also explored ways in which exposure to spatial semantics (words used to describe spatial relationships) relates to spatial cognition.
Love and Communication Lab
Dr. Zachary Reese's research focuses on social-personality psychology. The unifying principle of his lab is that humans often use well-intended but misguided approaches when navigating relationships and conversations. The Love and Communication Lab's active research projects examine each of the following questions: (1) What are the consequences of hiding (versus revealing) news from others? (2) How do we feel about other people's accomplishments and downfalls? (3) How does gaming alone versus with others affect one's mental health? (4) How do end-of-the-day conversations with our romantic partners impact our sleep and health? (5) What are the consequences of trash-talking and being trash-talked? (6) How do our siblings motivate us throughout adulthood?
Mass Emotion and Intergroup Conflict Lab
Dr. Violet Cheung's research focuses on anger, fear and anxiety in concrete contexts such as terrorist attacks, cyber insecurity and the migrant crisis. Online surveys, lab experiments, and Big Data analytics, are some of the methodologies used to differentiate emotions in terms of their causes, their effects on democratic processes and their abilities to rally the public behind group actions/social policies.
Research on Equity and Action for Community Health - REACH Lab
Dr. Joyce Yang focuses on understanding and addressing the mental health needs and unjust barriers to accessing healthcare experienced by communities of color. The REACH Lab utilizes community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods to name and understand disparities, as well as develop and implement sustainable interventions to reach towards health equity.
Social Cognition and Judgment Lab
Dr. Saera Khan explores how individuals’ motivation and their processing of social information act to influence their use of stereotypes when judging others. Her interest is in gaining a comprehensive view of stereotyping by examining the process from multiple perspectives. Stereotypes can be studied from the point of view of (a) the target (i.e., the individual belonging to the stereotyped group), (b) the observer (i.e., a third party observing the use of stereotypes by the perceiver) (c) or the perceiver (i.e., the person using the stereotype to judge an individual). A second line of research is devoted to understanding how moral judgments are influenced by our group identity and need for belonging.
Social Reasoning in Childhood Lab (SeaRCH)
Dr. Aline Hitti's research focuses on how children and adolescents make social decisions. We are particularly interested in decisions regarding group norms, group dynamics, intergroup attitudes, and social exclusion. Our research uses a developmental framework, examining how various aspects of social cognition develop and change through childhood and adolescence. In our research, we utilize surveys, interviews, and behavioral tasks.
Spirituality and Health Lab
Dr. John Pérez's primary research interest is in exploring how spirituality and religiousness influence mental and physical health across the lifespan. He is particularly interested in the ways people use religious or spiritual resources (e.g., prayer, meditation, support from religious community) to cope with chronic illness and stressful life events. A related research interest focuses on identifying the cognitive, social, and cultural mechanisms that buffer high-risk individuals against major depression. Across both of these research domains, Dr. Pérez examines the strengths and needs of low-income, multicultural populations, especially Latinos.