The Social Psychology program at Florida State University involves the scientific examination of how people think about, influence, and relate to each other. The program provides students with in-depth training in the areas of personality and social psychology, focusing on both basic and applied research. The goal of the program is to prepare students for future positions as researchers and educators. Coursework provides students with an education in a broad range of areas including classic and contemporary issues in social psychology, methodological and statistical approaches to psychological research, as well as in depth seminars in specialty areas such as prejudice and stereotyping, the self, motivation, social cognition, and evolutionary psychology. Graduate students develop further expertise in a specific area or areas of personality and social psychology through hands-on research, in collaboration with one or more faculty members in the Social program. Students in the program may specialize in one research area but are encouraged to work in several in order to broaden their experience. Students have been very successful at collaborating with multiple faculty members to help broaden their research. Some students may also have opportunities to collaborate with faculty in the other psychology programs whose interests and expertise are relevant to social psychology.

Baumeister, Roy: Self and identity, emotion, social rejection and belongingness, aggression, sexuality, self-control, self-esteem, interpersonal processes, defensiveness and self-deception, self-defeating behaviors, quest for meaning, free will and consciousness, motivated cognition, interdisciplinary approaches to psychology.

Ehrlinger, Joyce: Accuracy and error in self judgments, perceptions of bias in the self and others, the influence of self-perceptions on choice, motivated cognition and motivated allocation of attention, predictions of future consequences, social cognition, judgment and decision making.

Gerend, Mary: Health psychology, women's health, judgment and decision making, persuasion, risk perception, individual differences.

Maner, Jon: Evolutionary psychology; motivated social cognition; emotion; Romantic attraction and close relationships; Power and dominance; Social affiliation and rejection; Prosocial behavior; Risk-taking; Intergroup Processes; Individual Differences.

Plant, Ashby: Social Psychology with a focus on prejudice and stereotyping; specific interests include individual differences in the activation and control of prejudice, intergroup interactions, motivation and self-regulation, and the prejudice reduction process.

Tice, Dianne: Primary interest is in the scientific study of the self, especially the behavioral, motivational, and emotional components of the self. Also, studies of self-control and self-regulation, self-presentation, self-handicapping, self-esteem, the self-concept, and social rejection.

Self & Identity

Specific research includes self-control, self-knowledge, accuracy and error in self-judgment, self-deception and defense mechanisms, self-presentation and impression management; how the self operates in social interactions; how people respond to blows to their pride or "threatened egotism," including effects on decision-making and aggression; the "need to belong" as a basic motivation, including what happens when people are rejected or excluded.

Dr. Baumeister, Dr. Ehrlinger and Dr. Tice explore issues related to various aspects of the self. Recent work by Dr. Baumeister and Dr. Tice has examined the interactions among self-control, self-regulation, and ego-depletion, as well as the relationship between self-esteem and violent behavior. Still another research program focuses on the behavioral, motivational, and emotional components of the self. Here, current projects include studies of how acts of self-control and self-regulation may affect subsequent acts of self-control, as well as studies of the effects of social rejection.

Dr. Ehrlinger's research focuses on beliefs about the self, including beliefs about the level and modifiability of our traits and abilities and of our susceptibility to bias. Dr. Ehrlinger's research explores the sources of accuracy and error in the assessments of the self. In addition, her research explores how beliefs regarding the modifiability of one's intelligence influence perceptions of the self, especially after success or failure, and the experience of success and failure influences beliefs about modifiability in turn.

Prejudice and Stereotyping

Specific research includes the regulation of prejudice and the prejudice reduction process; the causes and consequences of negative affect in interracial interactions; the implications of race for responses to criminal suspects.

Dr. Plant and Dr. Maner explore issues related to prejudice and stereotyping. Dr. Plant's current research in this area examines the regulation of prejudice, intergroup interactions, and people's motivation to respond without prejudice. Other work focuses on developing mechanisms to encourage prejudice reduction and the successful control of stereotype use. Dr. Maner's research explores ways in which emotions such as fear and anxiety can affect prejudice and stereotyping.

Emotion

Specific research includes emotional influences on judgment and decision-making, risk-taking, and social cognition; the self-regulation of emotional states; emotional experiences in the context of social interaction; psychophysiological processes and emotion.

Evolutionary Psychology

Specific research includes examination of evolved social cognition in areas such as romantic attraction and long-term relationships, power and dominance, social affiliation and rejection, prosocial/altruistic behavior, and prejudice; evolutionary approaches to human emotion and motivation; hormonal processes involved in social behavior.

Health

Specific research includes social processes in physical health (cancer prevention, healthy eating and physical activity, smoking cessation) and mental health (anxiety, depression, etc.); health communication; determinants of health protective or health-damaging behavior; judgment and decision making in the health context.