Experts: Psychology

Maner is an expert on interplay between motivation, emotion, and social cognition in close relationships (e.g., romantic attraction and the maintenance of long-term relationships), social hierarchy (e.g., power and leadership, dominance and prestige), social affiliation and rejection, and self-protective processes (e.g., disgust, anxiety, and fear).

McNulty is an expert on how strong beliefs may change or remain stable over time mostly in the context of close relationships. His goals are to understand and define limits to social psych theories that suggest people possess effective techniques for maintaining their desired beliefs and to suggest directions for promoting the resilience of initially satisfying beliefs about close relationships.

Plant is an expert on the impact of the source of people’s motivation to respond without prejudice on their attitudes, affect, and behavior in prejudice-relevant situations. Other work examines factors that influence the quality of interracial interactions and the regulation and reduction of prejudice.

Schmidt is an expert on prevention and treatment of anxiety pathology, investigation of bio-behavioral parameters that affect the generation and maintenance of anxiety pathology and the relationship between anxiety pathology and physical health.