Illinois Psychology: Social-Personality Division

Program Description

The graduate program in Social-Personality Psychology at the University of Illinois is one of the oldest and most respected in the country. More research conducted at University of Illinois labs has appeared in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology than from any other university in the world (Quinones-Vidal et al., 2004, p. 436). The program provides intensive training in research methods, statistical analysis, and a wide array of theoretical perspectives sharing the theme of the cognitive and emotional basis of social interaction.

Social psychology emphasizes the power of the social situation as a determinant of individual behavior, thinking, and emotion. Personality psychology emphasizes characteristics of the individual that are stable over time but which also determine the individual's behavior, thinking, and emotion. The social-personality program provides particular emphasis on culture, decision making, emotion, gender issues, personality development and assessment, social cognition, and subjective well-being.

Curriculum

Students may specialize in social psychology, personality psychology, or both. Students also may take advantage of related courses offered in Industrial-Organizational psychology. The program is designed to train students to become contributing scientists in academic or applied settings and to become teachers at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Over the course of the program, students and advisor work together to design a program of study fitted to the student's particular needs and interests. The program places a heavy emphasis on original research from the beginning of graduate studies, and all students complete a first-year research project which they then present in the division seminar.

Facilities & Resources

Students have access to state-of-the-art research facilities. Laboratories are run by individual faculty members, and include small cubicles for individual computer testing, small conference rooms for group interaction, and large rooms for mass questionnaire testing.

Affiliated Departments, Programs, and Institutes

The social-personality program is closely aligned with the program in Industrial-Organizational psychology. In addition, faculty with training in social and personality psychology are to be found in other departments across the university, specializing in advertising, communications, marketing, and organizational behavior.

Social-Personality Division Faculty

Dolores Albarracin (Professor)
	Cognition, attitudes, emotion, and action (variations in movement and rest, desire to be active regarless of what activity is chosen; persuasion; language and effects of grammar and syntax on behavior; prediction and change of specific behaviors; influences of mood). Current methods include laboratory studies, fMRI, questionnaires, health intervention research, and meta-analysis.
	Office: Room 423 \| (217) 244-7019 \| dalbarra AT illinois.edu

Chi-Yue Chiu (Professor)
	Multicultural psychology, cultural identification, group processes and intergroup relations, communication and cognition
	Office: Room 417 \| (217) 265-5352 \| cychiu@uiuc.edu

Dov Cohen (Associate Professor)
	Cultural continuity and change, including culture and different perspectives on the self, cultural syndromes of honor, dignity, and face; language use; the interactions of people, culture, and situations.
	Office: Room 413 \| (217) 244-5830 \| dcohen@cyrus.psych.uiuc.edu

R. Chris Fraley (Associate Professor)
	Attachment theory and close relationships; personality development and organization; social cognition and affect; evolutionary psychology.
	Office: Room 409 \| (217) 333-3486 \| rcfraley AT uiuc.edu

Ying-Yi Hong (Professor)
	culture and cognition, social identifications and intergroup relations, and achievement motivation.
	Office: Room 419 \| (217) 333-0344 \| yyhong@uiuc.edu

Patrick R. Laughlin (Professor)
	Individual and group problem solving and decision making.
	Office: Room 229 \| (217) 333-4296 \| �plaughli@uiuc.edu

Jesse Preston (Assistant Professor)
	Interests include causal thinking and explanation, religious beliefs, perception of agency in self and others, and cognitive processes in judgment and decision making.
	Office: Room 235 \| (217) 333-4921 \| jlp at illinois dot edu

Brent W. Roberts (Professor)
	Dr. Roberts's primary line of research is dedicated to understanding the patterns of continuity and change in personality across the decades of adulthood and the mechanisms that affect these patterns.
	Office: Room 411 \| (217) 333-2644 \| broberts AT cyrus.psych.uiuc.edu

Neal Roese

	Office: Room \| \|

Deborah E. Rupp (Associate Professor)
	Organizational Justice; Emotion in the Workplace; Corporate Social Responsibility; Assessment Centers; The Use of Technology to Enhance Assessment and Development
	Office: Room 225 \| (217) 390-3048 \| derupp AT uiuc.edu

Associated Faculty from Other Divisions

Ed Diener (Alumni Distinguished Professor of Psychology (Emeritus))
	Subjective well-being and life satisfaction; measuring well-being; cross-cultural differences in subjective well-being; personality and well-being.
	Office: Room 415 \| (217) 333-4804 \| ediener@uiuc.edu

Eva Pomerantz (Professor)
	The development of children's motivational and emotional functioning. Major focus on the role of parents in such development, with an emphasis on the influence of culture.
	Office: Room 611 \| (217) 244-2538 \| pomerntz@illinois.edu

Glenn I. Roisman (Associate Professor)
	Dr. Roisman's interests concern the legacy of early relationship experiences as an organizing force in social, cognitive, and biological development across the lifespan.
	Office: Room 621 \| (217) 333-1529 \| roisman@uiuc.edu