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.
Submissions from 2014
The influence of exercise environment and gender on mood and exertion, Thomas G. Plante, Marily A. Opezzo, L. Aislinn Diaz, Selena Pistoresi, Michael Santos, Jacqueline E. Fahey, Elizabeth Kay, Briana Britton, and Suheel Khan
Clues cue the smooze: rhyme, pausing, and prediction help children learn new words from storybooks, Kirsten Read
The Seuss boost: Rhyme helps children retain words from shared storybook reading, Kirsten Read, Megan Macauley, and Erin Furay
Choosing a physician depends on how you want to feel: The role of ideal affect in health-related decision making, Tamara Sims, Jeanne L. Tsai, Birgit Koopmann-Holm, Ewart A.C. Thomas, and Mary K. Goldstein
The problem is my partner: Treating couples when one partner wants the other to change, Kieran T. Sullivan and Joanne Davila
The religious shaping of feeling: Implications of Affect Valuation Theory, Jeanne L. Tsai, Birgit Koopmann-Holm, Masako Miyazaki, and Cameron Ochs
Reduced activity-dependent protein levels in a mouse model of the fragile X premutation, Ramona E. von Leden, Lindsey C. Curley, Gian D. Greenberg, Michael R. Hunsaker, Rob Willemsen, and Robert F. Berman
Within-session spacing improves delayed recall in children, Jessica R. Zigterman, Matthew C. Bell, and Patricia M. Simone
Submissions from 2013
Long-term memory, sleep, and the spacing effect, Matthew C. Bell, Nader Kawadri, Patricia M. Simone, and Melody Wiseheart
Conditioned reinforcement in chain schedules when time to reinforcement is held constant, Matthew C. Bell and Ben A. Williams
Abstract mindsets and social comparison: When global comparisons matter, Kathryn Bruchmann and Abigail T. Evans
Searching for the limits and explanations of the non-selective superiority bias, Kathryn Bruchmann, Jerry Suls, Seon Lee, Jason P. Rose, Zlatan Krizan, and Paul D. Windschitl
Roman Catholic gay priests: Internalized homophobia, sexual identity, and psychological well-being, Stephan Kappler, Kristin A. Hancock, and Thomas G. Plante
The negative feelings that people want to avoid: Cultural differences and consequences for compassion, Birgit Koopmann-Holm
Buddhist-inspired meditation increases the value of calm, Birgit Koopmann-Holm, Jocelyn Sze, Camaron Ochs, and Jeanne L. Tsai
Effects of changeover delay on response allocation during probe tests, Margaret A. McDevitt and Matthew C. Bell
A call for life long spiritual and psychological formation of priests, Thomas G. Plante
Balancing personal and professional, faith and work, ideal and reality: a response to Paul Mariani, Thomas G. Plante
Consultation with religious institutions, Thomas G. Plante
Get rich u or get transformed u: reflections on Catholic liberal arts education in the 21st century, Thomas G. Plante
How to break a habit: Don't try harder—try differently, Thomas G. Plante
Institutional child sexual abuse: What can we learn from the sexual abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church?, Thomas G. Plante
The effect of visual suggestion on exercise motivation and outcomes, Thomas G. Plante, Ashley Morisako, Justine Folk, Elizabeth Kay, Caroline Read, Ashley Dunn, Angel Perez, and Eleanor Willemsen
Knowledge matters: anchoring effects are moderated by knowledge, Andrew R. Smith, Paul D. Windschitl, and Kathryn Bruchmann
Towards an understanding of the endogenous nature of group identification in games, John Smith and Katerina Bezrukova
Social comparison and persuasion in health communications, Jerry Suls and Kathryn Bruchmann
Sex differences in stress-induced social withdrawal: Independence from adult gonadal hormones and inhibition of female phenotype by corncob bedding, Brian C. Trainor, Elizabeth Y. Takahashi, Katharine L. Campi, Stefani A. Florez, Gian D. Greenberg, Abigail Laman-Maharg, Sarah A. Laredo, Veronica N. Orr, and Andrea L. Silva
Egocentrism in Judging the Effectiveness of Treatments, Paul D. Windschitl, Kathryn Bruchmann, Aaron M. Scherer, and Sean McEvoy
Submissions from 2012
Is it all in the family? The effects of early social structure on neural–behavioral systems of prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster), Gian D. Greenberg, J. A. van Westerhuyzen, K. L. Bales, and Brian C. Trainor
Assessing metacognitive skills in waking and sleep: A psychometric analysis of the metacognitive, affective, cognitive experience (MACE) questionnaire, Tracey L. Kahan and Kieran T. Sullivan
Spiritual modeling self-efficacy, Doug Oman, Carl E. Thoresen, Crytsal L. Park, Phillip R. Shaver, Ralph W. Hood, and Thomas G. Plante
Fruit of Faith, Fruit of the Spirit, Thomas G. Plante
Fruit of the Spirit: Next Steps, Thomas G. Plante
Goodness, Thomas G. Plante
Catholic Church sexual abuse: A decade of crisis, Thomas G. Plante
Catholic sexual abuse, 10 years later, Thomas G. Plante
Levels of explanation approach to Jake: Using a bio-psycho-social-spiritual and evidence based model, Thomas G. Plante
Students have the power to give their elders a gift that is both priceless and free, Thomas G. Plante
The 2005 Vatican instruction on homosexuality in seminaries: Are we in a "don't ask, don't tell" world on this topic?, Thomas G. Plante
Spirituality, religion, and psychological counseling, Thomas G. Plante and C. E. Thoresen
Diminished but not forgotten: Effects of aging on magnitude of spacing effect benefits, Patricia M. Simone, Matthew C. Bell, and Nicholas J. Cepeda
Frailty, leisure activity and functional status in older adults: Relationship with subjective well being, Patricia M. Simone and Amie L. Haas
Submissions from 2011
Possible worlds, possible selves: Dreaming and the liberation of consciousness, Tracey L. Kahan
Dreaming and waking: Similarities and differences revisited, Tracey L. Kahan and Stephen P. LaBerge
Values and display rules for specific emotions, Birgit Koopmann-Holm and David Matsumoto
Beyond the decade of crisis, Kathleen McChesney and Thomas G. Plante
Addressing problematic spirituality in therapy, Thomas G. Plante
Don’t hide your light under a bushel, Thomas G. Plante
Lessons learned from Penn State sex abuse case, Thomas G. Plante
