Psychology — ��ϲ��

Les A. Gellis

Sophie Gomprecht — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 19:19:35 +0000

My research focuses on the causes and treatment of insomnia and related sleep deficiencies. Current interests include understanding sleep behaviors in the college student population, the development of cognitive interventions to treat insomnia, the development of smartphone applications to measure pre-sleep experiences, ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic disparities related to sleep disorders, and the intersection between sleep behaviors and alcohol and marijuana usage. I currently teach courses related to clinical and health psychology (Introduction to Psychotherapy, Introduction to Clinical Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, and Laboratory in Health Psychology).

Afton Kapuscinski

Lily Datz — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 18:14:42 +0000

Afton Kapuscinski is an Associate Teaching Professor of Psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences. She also serves as the Director of the within the Department of Psychology which aims to provide clinical trial training to doctoral students in clinical and school psychology.

Kapuscinski’s interests focus on the treatment and prevention of mental health issues in adults, and college students in particular. More recently she has targeted these interests on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young adults.

Her research involves the treatment of mood, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders, as well as other concerns that are particularly relevant to the young adult population, including body image and disordered eating. Kapuscinski also specializes in the conceptualization and measurement of spirituality and religiousness, and in particular the meaning of these terms within the college student population.

Kapuscinski is a licensed psychologist in the State of New York and a member of both the American Psychological Association (APA) and Association of Psychology Training Clinics (APTC).

Laura V. Machia

Ellen Mbuqe — Fri, 24 Feb 2017 22:06:52 +0000

Dr. Laura Machia’s research interests center on inter- and intra-personal dynamics of close relationships. Specifically, she examines predictors of relationship outcomes, most notably dissolution behaviors and health outcomes, as well as the processes associated with these outcomes. She is the director of the .

Her research currently focuses on why people leave their relationships. This deceptively simple question has dominated Dr. Machia’s thinking and work to date. In this work, she researches what process occurs that moves individuals from experiencing flagging commitment to actually leaving their relationships. She has developed a construct called dissolution consideration to encapsulate the increased salience of dissolution that people experience just prior to leaving their relationship. Subsequently, she has examined myriad processes associated with dissolution, including:

-the process by which need fulfillment is associated with stay-leave behavior, finding that personal needs promote commitment, whereas relational needs are directly associated with stay-leave behavior (VanderDrift & Agnew, 2012).

-whether valuing the friendship component of a romance more than other aspects is associated with relationship persistence. It is. (VanderDrift, Wilson, & Agnew, 2013; VanderDrift, Lehmiller, & Kelly, 2012)

-how active goal pursuits derail the maintenance necessary for persistence by refocusing attention and biasing relational information processing (VanderDrift & Agnew, 2014)

Amy Criss

Ellen Mbuqe — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 20:40:09 +0000

Dr. Amy Criss is an expert in cognitive science, investigating memory in particular. To best facilitate the development of a comprehensive and accurate model of memory, her research tests existing models to identify core assumptions and critical data necessary to model memory. Fully understanding memory requires the development of models that account for a range of tasks and a range of effects. In particular, Dr. Criss and her research associates build computer models to mimic the human memory system and understand the processes that underline human episodic memory. A multidisciplinary approach spanning experimental psychology, gerontology, computational science, and cognitive neuroscience lays the groundwork for a unified mechanistic account of memory.

Empirical and theoretical accounts of memory have been advanced by adopting multiple techniques and employing sophisticated analysis of response time distributions to evaluate models of memory. This unique approach has the potential to revolutionize the field of memory. Her research has application in criminal justice and educational testing by understanding the properties of effective memory cues. The research also has potential in the treatment of memory disorders. Dr. Criss is funded by the National Science Foundation.

Peter A. Vanable

Keith Kobland — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 16:00:19 +0000

Professor Peter Vanable’s research focuses on psychological aspects of health and illness, with an emphasis on behavioral aspects of HIV/AIDS. Current projects include studies designed to characterize the coping challenges and experiences of men and women who are living with HIV disease, as well as studies that evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to reduce high risk sexual behavior. Professor Vanable’s interests also include the prevention and treatment of addictive behaviors.

Representative Publications

Vanable, P.A., Carey, M.P., Brown, J.L., Littlewood, R., & Blair, D.C. What HIV+ MSM Want from Sexual Risk Reduction Interventions: Findings from a Qualitative Study (2012). AIDS and Behavior, 16, 554-563.

Brown, J. & Vanable, P.A. (2008). Stress Management Interventions for Persons Living with HIV: A Review and Critique of the Literature. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 35, 26-40.

Littlewood, R.A., Vanable, P.A., Carey, M.P., & Blair, D.C. (2008). Impact of Benefit Finding on Psychological Adjustment and Health Behavior Adaptation among HIV+ Women. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 31, 145-155.

Vanable, P.A., McKirnan, D.J., MacQueen, K. Bartholow, B., Buchbinder, S, Douglas, J. & Judson, F. (2004). Alcohol use and high-risk sexual behavior among men who have sex with men: The effects of consumption level and partner type. Health Psychology, 23, 525-532.

Vanable, P.A., Carey, M.P., Blair, D., & Littlewood (2006). Impact of HIV-Related Stigma on Health Behaviors and Psychological Adjustment Among HIV-Positive Men and Women. AIDS and Behavior, 10, 473-482.

Vanable P.A., Carey, M.P. Bostwick, R.A., Romer, D. DiClemente, R., Stanton, B., Valois, R.F., & Brown, L. (2008). Community partnerships in HIV prevention research: The example of Project iMMPACS. Chapter in B. Stanton et al. (Eds)., The uncharted path from clinic-based to community-based research (pp. 155-174). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science.