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 2013
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
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
Don’t hide your light under a bushel, Thomas G. Plante
Lessons learned from Penn State sex abuse case, Thomas G. Plante
Psychological screening of clergy applicants: Keeping those who might harm children and others out of ministry, Thomas G. Plante
Why are so many so misinformed nine years after the clergy abuse crisis in America?, Thomas G. Plante
Episcopal Applicants to Ordained Ministry: Are They Psychological Healthy?, Thomas G. Plante and Christopher Apodaca
Impact of exercise partner attractiveness on mood, enjoyment, and exertion, Thomas G. Plante, Sarah Gregg, Jaclyn Rubbo, Thomas Favero, Ashley Morisako, and Jessica Cuadra
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
The Influence of Intertrial Interval Food on Extinction and Devaluation in Chain Schedules, Matthew C. Bell, Matthew Goldenberg, and Margaret A. McDevitt
Nonverbal Semantic Processing Disrupts Visual Word Recognition in Healthy Adults, Lang Chen and Timothy T. Rogers
Blue car, red car: Developing efficiency in online interpretation of adjective-noun phrases., Anne Fernald, Kirsten Read, and V.A. Marchman
Structure and meaning in Chinese: An ERP study of idioms, Youyi Liu, Ping Li, Hua Shu, Qirui Zhang, and Lang Chen
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
An updated perspective on clergy sexual abuse, Thomas G. Plante
Assessment of men and women entering religious life, Thomas G. Plante
Clinical psychology, Thomas G. Plante
