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 2025
Potential mental disorder symptoms in the prophet Elijah: An exegetical and psychological analysis of selected episodes from 1 Kings 18–19, Dariusz Iwański and Thomas G. Plante
A Randomized Controlled Trial Assessing the Psychological Benefits of a Daily Examen-Based Practice, Thomas G. Plante, David B. Feldman, Jacqueline Ge, and Anthony Cortese
The Online Jealousy Scale: an adaptation, extension, and psychometric analysis of the Facebook Jealousy Scale, Kieran T. Sullivan and Kathryn Bruchmann
Submissions from 2024
A clinical trial of the Examen and mindfulness within a secular substance use disorder treatment program, Christopher M. Buenrostro and Thomas G. Plante
Atypical pattern separation memory and its association with restricted interests and repetitive behaviors in autistic children, Lang Chen, Jin Liu, Julia Boram Kang, Miriam Rosenberg-Lee, Daniel A. Abrams, and Vinod Menon
Spirituality in Clinical Practice: Integrating Who We Are With What We Do, Lorraine Mangione and Thomas G. Plante
Preliminary Efficacy of a Digital Intervention for Adolescent Depression: Randomized Controlled Trial, Emily Peake, Ian Miller, Jessica Flannery, Lang Chen, Jessica Lake, and Aarthi Padmanabhan
Advising Discerning College Students about Psychotherapist Career Options: Unpacking the Alphabet Soup of Graduate Training and Licensure, Thomas G. Plante
Dealing with Divisiveness: Ignatian Principles for Better Relationships, Thomas G. Plante PhD, ABPP
Religious and Spiritual Communities Must Adapt or Die: Surviving and Thriving during Challenging Contemporary Times, Thomas G. Plante
Spirituality in Clinical Practice: Updates and Transitions, Thomas G. Plante
Long-term abacus training gains in children are predicted by medial temporal lobe anatomy and circuitry, Ye Xie, Hyesang Chang, Yi Zhang, Chunjie Wang, Yuan Zhang, Lang Chen, Fengji Geng, Yixuan Ku, Vinod Menon, and Feiyan Chen
Submissions from 2023
The Effects of Centering Prayer on Well-Being in a Sample of Undergraduate Students: A Pilot Study, Alejandro Eros and Thomas G. Plante
Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD): Ethical Considerations for Psychologists, Gerald P. Koocher, G. Andrew H. Benjamin, Jonathan Bolton, and Thomas G. Plante
Limited Neural Capacity and Hyper-Excitability Affect Quantity Processing: A Computational Account, Lanni Krossa, Tannaz Azimi, Julia Lieberman, and Lang Chen
Atypical cognitive training-induced learning and brain plasticity and their relation to insistence on sameness in children with autism, Jin Liu, Hyesang Chang, Daniel A. Abrams, Julia Boram Kang, Lang Chen, Miriam Rosenberg-Lee, and Vinod Menon
Replicable Patterns of Memory Impairments in Children With Autism and Their Links to Hyperconnected Brain Circuits, Jin Liu, Lang Chen, Hyesang Chang, Jeremy Rudoler, Ahmad Belal Al-Zughoul, Julia Boram Kang, Daniel A. Abrams, and Vinod Menon
Ethical Considerations in Working with Roman Catholic Seminarians and Men and Women in Religious Formation, Thomas G. Plante
What Is Catholic Psychotherapy and How Should It Move Forward?, Thomas G. Plante
Use of the MMPI-3 with Catholic and Episcopal Seminary and Religious Life Applicants, Thomas G. Plante and Elena Peng
Human interaction with the divine, the sacred, and the deceased: topics that warrant increased attention by psychologists, Thomas G. Plante, Gary E. Schwartz, Julie J. Exline, Crystal L. Park, Raymond F. Paloutzian, Rüdiger J. Seitz, and Hans-Ferdinand Angel
Potential Benefits of the Jesuit Examen for Psychological Health and Well Being: A Pilot Study, Carolina Rader and Thomas G. Plante
The challenge of screen mediated shared reading for children’s learning and engagement, Kirsten Read, Hayley Harrison, Brianna Mireku, and Katrina Ying
It’s the talk that counts: a review of how the extra-textual talk of caregivers during shared book reading with young children has been categorized and measured, Kirsten Read, Sara Rabinowitz, and Hayley Harrison
Shifting students toward testing: impact of instruction and context on self-regulated learning, Patricia M. Simone, Lisa C. Whitfield, Matthew C. Bell, Pooja Kher, and Taylor Tamashiro
A psychometric analysis of the Relationship Attribution Measure–Online Behavior, Kieran T. Sullivan, Aine F. Sullivan, and Thomas N. Bradbury
Dysfunctions associated with the intraparietal sulcus and a distributed network in individuals with math learning difficulties: An ALE meta-analysis, Jonathan Tablante, Lani Krossa, Tannaz Azimi, and Lang Chen
Submissions from 2022
COVID-19 information overload: Intolerance of uncertainty moderates the relationship between frequency of internet searching and fear of COVID-19, Lindsay Baerg and Kathryn Bruchmann
Moral Foundations Predict Perceptions of Moral Permissibility of COVID-19 Public Health Guideline Violations in United States University Students, Kathryn Bruchmann and Liya LaPierre
One size does not fit all: Implicit theories of body weight and body mass index interact to predict body image disturbances, Kathryn Bruchmann, Chan L. Thai, and Brianna Wingard
Foundational Number Sense Training Gains Are Predicted by Hippocampal–Parietal Circuits, Hyesang Chang, Lang Chen, Yuan Zhang, Ye Xie, Carlo de los Angeles, Emma Adair, Gaston Zanitti, Demian Wassermann, Miriam Rosenberg-Lee, and Vinod Menon
Cognitive training enhances growth mindset in children through plasticity of cortico-striatal circuits, Lang Chen, Hyesang Chang, Jeremy Rudoler, Eydis Arnardottir, Yuan Zhang, Carlo de los Angeles, and Vinod Menon
Five spiritually based tools for clinical practice during challenging, stressful, and apocalyptic times, Thomas G. Plante
Principles for Managing Burnout among Catholic Church Professionals, Thomas G. Plante
Religion has a public relations problem: Integrating evidence-based thinking into clinical practice, Thomas G. Plante
Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale (SCBCS), Thomas G. Plante
The role of religion in sexual orientation change efforts and gender identity change efforts, Thomas G. Plante
The Impact of COVID-19 on Families’ Home Literacy Practices with Young Children, Kirsten Read, Grace Gaffney, Ashley Chen, and Amina Imran
Children’s Lexical Anticipation When Listening to Rhymes, Kirsten Read, Lily Padula, Julia Piacentini, and Vivian Vo
Rhyme over time: Vocabulary learning through daily reading aloud at home with children, Kirsten Read, Alena Rogojina, and Olivia Hauer-Richard
Verbal Labels Affect Holistic and Analytic Thinking Styles in Native English Speakers, Meg Richter, Birgit Koopmann-Holm, and Lang Chen
Submissions from 2021
Social Comparison Information Influences Intentions to Reduce Single-Use Plastic Water Bottle Consumption, Kathryn Bruchmann, Sarah M. Chue, Keelin Dillon, Jaime K. Lucas, Kayla Neumann, and Charlotte Parque
Construal level moderates a local dominance effect of appearance comparisons in undergraduate women, Kathryn Bruchmann, Maggie L. Osa, Kahana Wong, and Lindsay Baerg
Linear and nonlinear profiles of weak behavioral and neural differentiation between numerical operations in children with math learning difficulties, Lang Chen, Teresa Iuculano, Percy Mistry, Jonathan Nicholas, Yuan Zhang, and Vinod Menon
The role of civility and cultural humility in navigating controversial areas in psychology, Edward B. Davis, Thomas G. Plante, Melissa J. Grey, Christina Lee Kim, Darren Freeman-Coppadge, Tyler G. Lefevor, Jeffrey A. Paulez, Sulaimon Giwa, Jon Lasser, Stephen P. Stratton, Erin Deneke, and Kevin J. Glowiak
Category-specific activations depend on imaging mode, task demand, and stimuli modality: An ALE meta-analysis, Kimberly D. Derderian, Xiaojue Zhou, and Lang Chen
Improving reverse correlation analysis of faces: Diagnostics of order effects, runs, rater agreement, and image pairs, Michael J. Kevane and Birgit Koopmann-Holm
What constitutes a compassionate response? The important role of culture., Birgit Koopmann-Holm, Kathryn Bruchmann, Magdalena Fuchs, and Megan Pearson
What constitutes a compassionate response? The important role of culture, Birgit Koopmann-Holm, Kathryn Bruchmann, M. Fuchs, and M. Pearson
Four positive lessons learned during the 2020–2021 COVID-19 global pandemic: Implications for spirituality in clinical practice, Thomas G. Plante