Educational Background (baccalaureate through post-doc):

2000 B.A. University of Florida (Psychology)

2004 M.A. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Social Psychology)

2006 Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Social Psychology)

Teaching Interests:

Social Psychology

Health Psychology

Research Methods

Senior Research

The Psychology of Close Relationships

Problematic Beliefs & Decision-Making

Research Interests:

My research interests explore two areas in social psychology: social cognition (specifically, judgment and decision-making) and close relationships. I've done work on how romantic partners influence (by either helping or hindering) our ability to achieve personal goals. I've also done recent research on how the way that we think of positive and negative features of our romantic relationships can influence our commitment and satisfaction to that relationship. Specifically, it's not just the number of positive or negative features that come to mind when we think about our romantic relationships that matters, but, rather, how easy it was to think of those positive or negative features. Thus, we shouldn't use those pro/con lists that many might encourage in making decisions (about our romantic relationship or other life decisions) in the traditional way (simply count which column has more items listed). Instead, we should assess how easy or difficult it was to think of those pros or cons.

Future research interests include exploring sibling relationships and how they influence our decision making at various lifespan periods.