Dr. Berler is the Associate Chair in the Department of Psychology and the Coordinator of External Placements. Her administrative responsibilities include scheduling undergraduate and graduate courses, doing the assignments for Teaching and Departmental Assistants, overseeing tuition waivers, coordinating external practicum positions, and coordinating the activities of the department in the absence of the Chair.
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.
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.
Neurobiological, interpersonal, and
cognitive causes, correlates, and
consequences of mood, eating, and
anxiety disorders; the nature, assessment,
and treatment of suicidal
behavior; nosology of psychopathological
syndromes; gene-behavior
models of mental disorders; experimental
design and analysis.
Translational research in eating disorders,
including biological and psychological
factors that contribute to
binge eating and purging behaviors;
nosology and statistical approaches
to classification; epidemiology and
cultural factors that influence eating
disorders and body image.
Developmental psychopathology;
children's responses to stress and
failure; problematic social interactions
of children; learning and
behavior problems of children.
Assessment and psychosocial treatments in residential/inpatient settings for the seriously mentally ill; observational assessment. Other interests include: college teaching strategies, successful aging and adaptation to chronic health problems.
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).
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).
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.
Behavioral, cognitive, and biological
causes, correlates, and consequences
of anxiety; assessment, treatment
and prevention of anxiety pathology;
nosology of psychopathological
syndromes; gene-behavior models of
psychopathology.
Physiological risk factors for substance
use disorders; personality
disorders; genetic and environmental
factors associated with individual
differences in antisocial behavior,
personality disorders and substance
use problems (using data on twins).
