Primary Concentration: Clinical Health Psychology
Secondary Concentration: Social Psychology
Research Interests:
- Interests center on motivational explanations for excessive medical illness behavior. This includes the entire spectrum of subclinical excessive illness behavior to disorders such as somatoform and factitious disorders. This work is strongly influenced by social psychological theories of self and identity, particularly those involving social inclusion.
- Our team is also more broadly interested in the dynamics of the victim role, how victims are perceived, how observers evaluate the authenticity of victim role enactments, and how inauthentic victims persuade others to accept their claims to victimhood.
- We are beginning research of the social psychology of death attitudes and death acceptance. The premise of the work is that low levels of death acceptance lead to irrational choices in which ironically undermine the value and quality of life.
Research Areas:
- motivational explanations for excessive medical illness behavior
- dynamics of the victim role
- social psychology of death attitudes and death acceptance
His current research interests center on the motivational factors that contribute to unexplained medical symptoms, as observed in functional somatic syndromes, somatoform disorders, and especially factitious disorder.
