Graduate Programs

Dr. Mark Manning: My research focuses on the role of information (e.g., perceived norms, perceived racism, etc.) in predicting health behaviors and health outcomes, and in applying these relevant processes involving this information to understanding racial health and health care disparities. Racial health disparities are in part attributable to racial disparities in secondary prevention behaviors (e.g., cancer screening), which themselves are due to effects of structural, systemic, and individual racism. I use behavioral decision-making principles to understand the processes that transmit the effects of racism to secondary prevention behaviors. Some examples of current research questions are as follows: To what extent do perceptions of medical mistrust due to the perceived treatment of one’s racial group moderate and mediate the effects of perceived racism on health behaviors and racial health disparities? How do context-level indicators of systemic racism factor into individual-level decision making related to health behaviors, and how to those dynamics contribute to racial health disparities?  How can we capitalize on perceptions of behavioral norms related to secondary prevention behaviors to promote uptake of those prevention behaviors among non-adherent individuals from minoritized populations within the United States? I also have expertise in various statistical methods including structural regression modeling and multilevel modeling. For more information, please visit: markmanningphd.com.

Dr. Melissa McDonald: My research takes an evolutionary and social psychological approach to examining how the ultimate motivation to protect reproductive choice has shaped women’s psychology. I postulate that women are equipped with a threat management system for protecting reproductive choice that assesses the environment for possible threats, and in response produces cognitive, emotional, and behavioral output that is calibrated to the likelihood that one will experience a threat to reproductive choice, and the severity of the costs were the threat to be realized. Currently we are identifying inputs to this system (individual and situational factors that moderate threat) as well the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral consequences of perceiving threat (e.g., fear of rape, risk avoidance, seeking familial protection, increased intergroup bias, changes in dating behavior, consumption of true crime media, intrasexual gossip). For more information, please visit: Dr. Melissa McDonald's website.

Dr. Michele Parkhill Purdie: My research is interdisciplinary in nature and scope. In general, I conduct research on the role of masculinity on violence (sexual violence, violence against women, violence against LGBTQ individuals, gun violence, police violence against minority populations, and school shooting violence). My interests in political psychology and the history of colonial oppression (e.g., slavery, oppression of Native Americans/Indigenous peoples, threats of rape against women) inform my research on masculinity and violence. I am also interested in how childhood abusive trauma, substance use, and emotion regulation play a role in the perpetration of violence. For more information, please visit: Dr. Michele Parkhill Purdie's website.

Dr. Todd K. Shackelford: I am interested in the application of evolutionary principles to human and non-human psychology. Much of my research addresses sexual conflict between men and women, with a focus on men’s physical, emotional, and sexual violence against their intimate partners. Other research in my lab addresses religion, morality, suicide, psychopathology, and intelligence. For more information, please visit www.ToddKShackelford.com.

Dr. Kanako Taku: Our research concentrates on changes in people’s perceptions, cognitive judgements, emotions, attitudes, feelings, behaviors, values, and beliefs (so pretty much everything related to changes in human behaviors and perceptions), which may or may not correspond to the path of posttraumatic growth – positive psychological changes that people sometimes report as a result of the struggle with major life crises or traumatic events. We are hoping to contribute to the fields of clinical, trauma, personality, social, and cross-cultural psychology by conducting experimental and innovative research on the moment of changes (i.e., tipping point). For more information, visit: Dr. Kanako Taku's website.

Dr. Jennifer Vonk: I am primarily a comparative psychologist with a focus on animal cognition. My work examines the mechanisms underlying cognition and behavior in diverse species (including amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) with the goal of better understanding evolutionary and environmental factors that shape cognition. Current areas of research involve social cognition, prosocial behavior, and problem solving. Much of my current work focuses on the welfare of zoo-housed species and the human/animal relationship. I am also interested in human cognition and personality with a particular focus on theory of mind, empathy, and ideology as a function of early experiences. More information can be found at jennifervonk.com

Dr. Lisa Welling: Research in my lab investigates mating-related behavior, including different aspects of mate selection, preferences, sexual strategies, underlying hormonal mechanisms, romantic and sexual relationships, and human sexuality. We use a social-evolutionary framework to investigate and explain findings within a variety of related research questions. Example topics include hormonal effects (e.g., across the menstrual cycle, on vs. off hormonal contraceptives) on mate choice and related behaviors, sources of variation in mate preferences, similarities and differences across different gender and sexual minorities, and differences between online and off-line mate-seeking, among other topics. For more information, please see my website: Dr. Lisa Welling's website.

Dr. Virgil Zeigler-Hill: My primary research interests are in three interrelated areas: (1) personality structures and processes (e.g., narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism, spitefulness), (2) self-esteem, and (3) interpersonal relationships. Though divergent at times, these substantive areas often overlap in my research so that much of my work reflects an integration of these topics. My research concerning personality structures and processes is focused on identifying potentially aversive aspects of personality and examining their connections with aspects of motivation (e.g., the desire for status) and important life outcomes (e.g., psychological adjustment). In my research concerning self-esteem, I have focused primarily on the causes and consequences of fragile high self-esteem as well as the development of the status-signaling model of self-esteem. Finally, in the area of interpersonal relationships, I examine how personality features as well as beliefs about the self and one’s romantic partner influence intimacy, relationship satisfaction, jealousy, infidelity, and longevity in close relationships. For more information, please visit http://www.zeigler-hill.com/

Martha Escobar: My research focuses on two main areas: How the environment determines what we learn and recall, and how sociocultural factors influence the success of individuals from non-traditional backgrounds on science. Our studies use physiological, behavioral, survey, and qualitative methodology to determine the outcomes of academic, social, and health educational interventions, as well as the mechanisms that determine which stimuli in the environment come to control behavior. For more information, visit my website at www.escobarlab.com.

Andrea Kozak: I am primarily interested in psychological and environmental risk factors of excess weight; interventions to reduce weight and maintain weight loss; and consequences of excess weight. I have expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research methods. For more information, please visit https://sites.google.com/a/oakland.edu/dr-andrea-t-kozak/

Mark Manning: My research focuses on the role of information (e.g., perceived norms, perceived racism, etc.) in predicting health behaviors and health outcomes, and in applying these relevant processes involving this information to understanding racial health and health care disparities. Racial health disparities are in part attributable to racial disparities in secondary prevention behaviors (e.g., cancer screening), which themselves are due to effects of structural, systemic, and individual racism. I use behavioral decision-making principles to understand the processes that transmit the effects of racism to secondary prevention behaviors. Some examples of current research questions are as follows: To what extent do perceptions of medical mistrust due to the perceived treatment of one’s racial group moderate and mediate the effects of perceived racism on health behaviors and racial health disparities? How do context-level indicators of systemic racism factor into individual-level decision making related to health behaviors, and how to those dynamics contribute to racial health disparities?  How can we capitalize on perceptions of behavioral norms related to secondary prevention behaviors to promote uptake of those prevention behaviors among non-adherent individuals from minoritized populations within the United States? I also have expertise in various statistical methods including structural regression modeling and multilevel modeling. For more information, please visit markmanningphd.com.

Michele Parkhill Purdie: My research is interdisciplinary in nature and scope. In general, I conduct research on the role of masculinity on violence (sexual violence, violence against women, violence against LGBTQ individuals, gun violence, police violence against minority populations, and school shooting violence). My interests in political psychology and the history of colonial oppression (e.g., slavery, oppression of Native Americans/Indigenous peoples, threats of rape against women) inform my research on masculinity and violence. I am also interested in how childhood abusive trauma, substance use, and emotion regulation play a role in the perpetration of violence. For more information, please visit: Dr. Michele Parkhill Purdie's website.