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.

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Submissions from 2013

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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

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Get rich u or get transformed u: reflections on Catholic liberal arts education in the 21st century, Thomas G. Plante

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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

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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

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Knowledge matters: anchoring effects are moderated by knowledge, Andrew R. Smith, Paul D. Windschitl, and Kathryn Bruchmann

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Towards an understanding of the endogenous nature of group identification in games, John Smith and Katerina Bezrukova

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Social comparison and persuasion in health communications, Jerry Suls and Kathryn Bruchmann

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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

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Egocentrism in Judging the Effectiveness of Treatments, Paul D. Windschitl, Kathryn Bruchmann, Aaron M. Scherer, and Sean McEvoy

Submissions from 2012

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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

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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

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Spiritual modeling self-efficacy, Doug Oman, Carl E. Thoresen, Crytsal L. Park, Phillip R. Shaver, Ralph W. Hood, and Thomas G. Plante

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Fruit of Faith, Fruit of the Spirit, Thomas G. Plante

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Fruit of the Spirit: Next Steps, Thomas G. Plante

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Goodness, Thomas G. Plante

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Catholic Church sexual abuse: A decade of crisis, Thomas G. Plante

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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

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Students have the power to give their elders a gift that is both priceless and free, Thomas G. Plante

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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

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Spirituality, religion, and psychological counseling, Thomas G. Plante and C. E. Thoresen

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Diminished but not forgotten: Effects of aging on magnitude of spacing effect benefits, Patricia M. Simone, Matthew C. Bell, and Nicholas J. Cepeda

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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

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Dreaming and waking: Similarities and differences revisited, Tracey L. Kahan and Stephen P. LaBerge

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Values and display rules for specific emotions, Birgit Koopmann-Holm and David Matsumoto

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Developmental trajectories of reading development and impairment from ages 3 to 8 years in Chinese children, Lin Lei, Jinger Pan, Hongyun Liu, Catherine McBride-Chang, Hong Li, Yuping Zhang, Lang Chen, Twila Tardif, Weilan Liang, Zhixiang Zhang, and Hua Shu

Beyond the decade of crisis, Kathleen McChesney and Thomas G. Plante

Addressing problematic spirituality in therapy, Thomas G. Plante

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Don’t hide your light under a bushel, Thomas G. Plante

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Lessons learned from Penn State sex abuse case, Thomas G. Plante

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Psychiatry as Faust: Has Psychiatry Sold its Soul to the Pharmaceutical Industry? A review of Unhinged: The Trouble with Psychiatry – A Doctor’s Revelations about a Profession in Crisis, Thomas G. Plante

Psychological screening of clergy applicants: Keeping those who might harm children and others out of ministry, Thomas G. Plante

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Why are so many so misinformed nine years after the clergy abuse crisis in America?, Thomas G. Plante

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Episcopal Applicants to Ordained Ministry: Are They Psychological Healthy?, Thomas G. Plante and Christopher Apodaca

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Impact of exercise partner attractiveness on mood, enjoyment, and exertion, Thomas G. Plante, Sarah Gregg, Jaclyn Rubbo, Thomas Favero, Ashley Morisako, and Jessica Cuadra

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Exercising with an iPod, friend, or neither: Which is better for psychological benefits?, Thomas G. Plante, Carissa Gustafson, Carrie Brecht, Jenny Imberi, and Jacqueline Sanchez

Tragedy and travesty: The sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy, Thomas G. Plante and Kathleen McChesney

Submissions from 2010

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The Influence of Intertrial Interval Food on Extinction and Devaluation in Chain Schedules, Matthew C. Bell, Matthew Goldenberg, and Margaret A. McDevitt

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Nonverbal Semantic Processing Disrupts Visual Word Recognition in Healthy Adults, Lang Chen and Timothy T. Rogers

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Blue car, red car: Developing efficiency in online interpretation of adjective-noun phrases., Anne Fernald, Kirsten Read, and V.A. Marchman

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Structure and meaning in Chinese: An ERP study of idioms, Youyi Liu, Ping Li, Hua Shu, Qirui Zhang, and Lang Chen

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Meditation lowers stress and supports forgiveness among college students: A randomized controlled trial, Doug Oman, Shauna L. Shapiro, Carl E. Thoresen, and Thomas G. Plante

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An updated perspective on clergy sexual abuse, Thomas G. Plante

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Assessment of men and women entering religious life, Thomas G. Plante

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Clinical psychology, Thomas G. Plante

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Division 36 – Moving and shaking, Thomas G. Plante

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Religion and psychology integration must be a hot topic when Adler says more about it after his death than when he was alive. Review of Religion and spirituality in psychotherapy: An individual psychology perspective by. T. Johansen, Thomas G. Plante