Psychology is the scientific study of behavior, cognition and emotion. The Santa Clara psychology department believesactions, thoughts and feelings are best understood as the result of psychological, neurological, developmental, social and cultural influences. The composition of the faculty reflects this broad approach, with members who specialize in clinical psychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, educational psychology, health psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, learning, neuropsychology, and social psychology.

The psychology department places a strong emphasis on empirical methods of inquiry. All faculty members have active research programs, and we encourage undergraduates to get involved. Each year a large number of our majors present papers at professional conferences, and many students co-author articles in professional journals. Permanent laboratories maintained by the department include a health psychology lab, an animal lab, and a sleep lab.

Follow


Submissions from 2020

Link

Compassion meditation increases optimism towards a transgressor, Birgit Koopmann-Holm, Jocelyn Sze, Thupten Jinpa, and Jeanne L. Tsai

Link

Can Reading Personalized Storybooks to Children Increase Their Prosocial Behavior?, Ellen Kruse, Isabelle Faller, and Kirsten Read

PDF

A Review of Spiritual Development and Transformation among College Students from Jesuit Higher Education, Thomas G. Plante

PDF

Clericalism Contributes to Religious, Spiritual, and Behavioral Struggles among Catholic Priests, Thomas G. Plante

PDF

St. Ignatius as psychotherapist? How Jesuit spirituality and wisdom can enhance psychotherapy, Thomas G. Plante

Link

E-books for children with autism: Best read alone or with a therapist?, Erin Soares, Therese Miller, Kathleen Ciffone, and Kirsten Read

Link

E-books for children with autism: Best read alone or with a therapist?, Erin Soares, Therese Miller, Kathleen Ciffone, and Kirsten Read

PDF

Online communication and dating relationships: Effects of decreasing online communication on feelings of closeness and relationship satisfaction, Kieran T. Sullivan, Jessica Riedstra, Brenda Arellano, Bonnie Cardillo, Vanessa Kalach, and Amrita Ram

Submissions from 2019

PDF

Comparing to ingroup and outgroup members: Do we assimilate, contrast, or neither?, Kathryn Bruchmann and Meghan C. Evans

Link

Quantitative Analysis of Heterogeneity in Academic Achievement of Children With Autism, Lang Chen, Daniel A. Abrams, Miriam Rosenberg-Lee, Teresa Iuculano, Holly N. Wakeman, Sandhya Prathap, Tianwen Chen, and Vinod Menon

PDF

The visual word form area (VWFA) is part of both language and attention circuitry, Lang Chen, Demian Wassermann, Daniel A. Abrams, John Kochalka, Guillermo Gallardo-Diez, and Vinod Menon

PDF

Clergy sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church: Dispelling eleven myths and separating facts from fiction, Thomas G. Plante

Link

Possible Next Steps in APA’s Civility Efforts: Moving from Civility to Hospitality, Solidarity, and to Kinship, Thomas G. Plante

PDF

Relationship between Religion, Spirituality, and Psychotherapy: An Ethical Perspective, Thomas G. Plante

PDF

Further Developments of the Santa Clara Ethics Questionnaire, Thomas G. Plante and Anna McCreadie

PDF

The Santa Clara Ethics Scale, Thomas G. Plante and Anna McCreadie

Link

Using strategic pauses during shared reading with preschoolers: Time for prediction is better than time for reflection when learning new words, Kirsten Read, Erin Furay, and Dana Zylstra

Submissions from 2018

PDF

Mechanisms of interactive specialization and emergence of functional brain circuits supporting cognitive development in children, Christian Battista, Tanya M. Evans, Tricia J. Ngoon, Tianwen Chen, Lang Chen, John Kochalka, and Vinod Menon

PDF

Seeing beyond political affiliations: The mediating role of perceived moral foundations on the partisan similarity-liking effect, Kathryn Bruchmann, Birgit Koopmann-Holm, and Aaron Scherer

Link

Positive Attitude Toward Math Supports Early Academic Success: Behavioral Evidence and Neurocognitive Mechanisms, Lang Chen, Se Ri Bae, Christian Battista, Shaozheng Qin, Tianwen Chen, Tanya M. Evans, and Vinod Menon

Link

The effects of health frame and target relevance in appearance social comparisons, Maggie L. Head and Kathryn Bruchmann

Link

Ethical issues and challenges working with religious individuals and organizations: Providing culturally competent professional mental health services, Thomas G. Plante

PDF

Promoting Hope, Healing, and Wellness: Catholic Interventions in Behavioral Health Care, Thomas G. Plante and Gerdenio Manuel S.J.

PDF

Perceived Fitness and Exercise Intensity Can Predict Exercise Enjoyment, Thomas G. Plante, Marily Oppezzo, Brendan Tran, and L. Aislinn Diaz

PDF

Rhyme and Word Placement in Storybooks Support High-Level Verb Mapping in 3- to 5-Year-Olds, Kirsten Read and Jacqueline Quirke

Link

The cat has a… : Children’s use of rhyme to Guide sentence completion, Kirsten Read and Madeline Regan

PDF

Asian Americans respond less favorably to excitement (vs. calm)-focused physicians compared to European Americans, Tamara Sims, Birgit Koopmann-Holm, Henry Young, Da Jiang, Helene Fung, and Jeanne L. Tsai

Link

Examining the academic motivation of a diverse student population: A consideration of methodology, Tim Urdan and Kathryn Bruchmann

Submissions from 2017

Link

Compared to What? The Importance of Control Groups in Social Comparison Research, Kathryn Bruchmann

Link

A unified model of human semantic knowledge and its disorders, Lang Chen, Matthew A. Lambon Ralph, and Timothy T. Rogers

PDF

The cultural shaping of compassion, Birgit Koopmann-Holm and Jeanne L. Tsai

PDF

A Survey of Ethics Training in Undergraduate Psychology Programs at Jesuit Universities, Thomas G. Plante and Selena Pistoresi

Link

Pie, fry, why: Language play in 3- to 5-year-old children, Kirsten Read, Sarah James, and Andrew Weaver

PDF

Sleep Benefits Memory for Semantic Category Structure While Preserving Exemplar-Specific Information, Anna C. Schapiro, Elizabeth A. McDevitt, Lang Chen, Kenneth A. Norman, Sara C. Mednick, and Timothy T. Rogers

PDF

Responses to intimate partners’ attempts to change health behavior: The role of readiness, Kieran T. Sullivan, Lauri A. Pasch, Meredith Schreier, and Melissa Healy

Link

Exposure to Extrinsic Stressors, Social Defeat or Bisphenol A, Eliminates Sex Differences in DNA methyltransferase expression in the Amygdala, Emily C. Wright, Sarah A. Johnson, Rebecca Hao, Alex S. Kowalczyk, Gian D. Greenberg, Evelyn Ordoñes Sanchez, Abigail Laman-Marang, Brian C. Trainor, and Cheryl S. Rosenfeld

Link

Distinct influences of affective and cognitive factors on children’s non-verbal and verbal mathematical abilities, Sarah S. Wu, Lang Chen, Christian Battista, Ashley K. Smith Watts, Erik G. Willcutt, and Vinod Menon

Submissions from 2016

Link

Evaluation of “Out-of-the-Box” ​textbook ​technology ​supplements on ​student ​learning, Matthew C. Bell, Patricia M. Simone, and Lisa C. Whitfield

PDF

Implementation of best practices in online learning: A review and future directions, Matthew C. Bell, Patti Simone, and Lisa C. Whitfield

Link

Spacing effect in older and younger adults: Does context matter?, Katherine E. Bercovitz, Matthew C. Bell, Patricia M. Simone, and Melody Wiseheart

PDF

Seeing as Understanding: The Importance of Visual Mathematics for our Brain and Learning, Jo Boaler, Lang Chen, Cathy Williams, and Montserrat Cordero

PDF

Compassion Predictors in Undergraduates: A Catholic College Example, Erin S. Callister and Thomas G. Plante

PDF

The third voice: Do enhanced e-books enhance the benefits of shared story reading with preschoolers?, Katie Ciffone, Andrew Weaver, and Kirsten Read

Link

Gene Targeting Studies of Hyperexcitability and Affective States of Alcohol Withdrawal in Rodents, Gian D. Greenberg and John C. Crabbe

Link

Nest building is a novel method for indexing severity of alcohol withdrawal in mice, Gian D. Greenberg, L. C. Huang, S. E. Spence, J. P. Schlumbohm, P. Metten, A. R. Ozburn, and John C. Crabbe

Link

Effects of acute alcohol withdrawal on nest building in mice selectively bred for alcohol withdrawal severity, Gian D. Greenberg, Tamara J. Phillips, and John C. Crabbe

Link

Sex Differences in the Social Behavior Network and Mesolimbic Dopamine System, Gian D. Greenberg and Brian C. Trainor

PDF

Beyond Mindfulness: Expanding Integration of Spirituality and Religion into Psychotherapy, Thomas G. Plante

Link

Compassion, Thomas G. Plante

PDF

Principles of incorporating spirituality into professional clinical practice, Thomas G. Plante