Biography
My research focuses on understanding how both social influences and mindsets affect people's mental and physical health decisions and outcomes. Topics I research include: health decision-making, information avoidance, social influences, growth mindsets, and impression management. The ultimate goal of my research is to inform health interventions and policy. I am a theory-driven social psychologist with a strong interest in translating social psychology into health behavioral change.
Publications
A Test of the Growth Mindset Compensatory Message in the Context of Youth Mental Health, International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology - August, 2024
Collaborators: Jeni Burnette, Co-Author; Whitney Becker, Co-Author; Levi Baker, Co-Author; Laura Widman, Co-Author
Impression management concerns influence preparation for hurricanes, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology - November, 2023
Collaborator: Joy Losee
A growth mindset intervention to improve mental health in adolescents during COVID-19, Social and Personality Psychology Compass - October, 2023
Collaborators: Jeni Burnette; Whitney Becker; Levi Baker; Jordyn McCrimmon; Joseph Billingsley
Social influences on protective decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic, Social and Personality Psychology Compass - June, 2023
Collaborator: Joy Losee
Examining the efficacy of STD testing public health messages tailored to youths’ regulatory focus, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied - 2022
Collaborators: Reina Evans-Paulson; Laura Array; Hannah Javidi
Is regulatory focus related to condom use, STI/HIV testing, and sexual satisfaction?, The Journal of Sex Research - May, 2022
Collaborators: Reina Evans-Paulson; Laura Widman; Hannah Javidi
Parent-child communication and adolescent sexual decision making: An application of family communication patterns theory, Journal of Family Psychology - April, 2022
Collaborators: Jeff Hurst; Laura Widman; Annie Maheux; Reina Evans-Paulson; Julia Brasileiro
Internal consent, affirmative external consent, and sexual satisfaction among young adults, The Journal of Sex Research - March, 2022
Collaborators: Hannah Javidi; Laura Widman; Reina Evans-Paulson
The need for safety and beliefs about guns - 2021
Collaborators: Gaby Pogge; Joy Losee; James Shepperd
Understanding the political divide in gun policy support - 2021
Collaborators: Joy Losee; Gaby Pogge; James Shepperd
Black-white racial disparities in COVID-19: Awareness and framing of decision-making rationales, Stigma and Health - 2021
Collaborators: Vanessa Volpe; Lori Hoggard; Nicole Kozak
Examining strategies to increase student evaluation of teaching completion rates, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education - 2021
Collaborator: James Shepperd
Redeveloping an online sexual health intervention for adolescents to allow for broader dissemination: Implications for HIV/STD prevention, AIDS Education and Prevention - 2021
Collaborators: Hannah Javidi; Laura Widman; Julia Brasileiro; Farhad Javidi; Arnav Jhala
The link between religiousness and prejudice: Testing competing explanations in an adolescent sample, Psychology of Religion and Spirituality - 2021
Collaborators: James Shepperd; Gaby Pogge; Colin Smith; Wendi Miller
Growth mindsets: Defining, assessing, and exploring effects on motivation for entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs, Current Psychology - August, 2021
Collaborators: Joseph Billingsley; Jeni Burnette; Jeffrey Pollack
Health information avoidance - 2020
Collaborators: Jenny Howell; James Shepperd
A Psychological approach to the gun divide in America, Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy - 2020
Collaborators: James Shepperd; Gaby Pogge; Joy Losee
Belief in a loving versus punitive God and behavior, Journal of Research on Adolescence - 2019
Collaborators: James Shepperd; Wendi Miller; Gaby Pogge; Greg Webster
Powerful audiences are linked to health information avoidance: Results from two surveys, Social Science and Medicine - 2019
Collaborator: James Shepperd
The role of powerful audiences in health information avoidance, Social Science and Medicine - 2019
Collaborator: James Shepperd
Gun attitudes on campus: United and divided by safety needs, Journal of Social Psychology - 2018
Collaborators: James Shepperd; Gaby Pogge; Joy Losee; Liz Redford
Many labs 2: Investigating variation in replicability across sample and setting, Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science - 2018
Collaborator: Richard Klein
The anticipated consequences of legalizing guns on college campuses, Journal of Threat Assessment and Management - 2018
Collaborators: James Shepperd; Joy Losee; Gaby Pogge; Liz Redford; Marie Crandall
Understanding the cognitive and affective mechanisms that underlie proxy risk perceptions among caregivers of asthmatic children, Medical Decision Making - 2018
Collaborators: James Shepperd; Thorsten Pachur; Erika Waters
Racial prejudice predicts less desire to learn about white privilege, Social Psychology - 2017
Collaborators: Array Conway; Gaby Pogge; Kate Ratliff
Education
Ph.D., Social Psychology, University of Florida
M.S., Social Psychology, University of Florida
B.A., Psychology, Furman University
Papers and Presentations
April, 2025
Oral Presentations
Autism: Examining Personality, Masking, and Mental Well-Being
Penn State Mont Alto Academic Festival
Mont Alto, PA, USA
April, 2025
Posters
Screen Time and Behavior Problems in Adolescents
Penn State Mont Alto Academic Festival
Mont Alto, PA, USA
February, 2025
Oral Presentations
Why do Powerful Audiences Prompt Health Information Avoidance?
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Denver, CO, USA
April, 2024
Posters
Relationship Between Autism Spectrum Disorder, Personality, and Other Factors
Penn State Mont Alto Academic Festival
Mont Alto, PA, USA
February, 2024
Oral Presentations
Testing Social Influence Interventions to Increase Health Protective Behavior during COVID-19
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
San Diego, CA, USA
February, 2023
Posters
Trust in healthcare and health information avoidance among LGBTQ+ individuals
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Atlanta, GA, US
December, 2022
Oral Presentations
Health Decision Making: It's not just personal, it's interpersonal
University of Dayton Social Psychology Brown Bag
Dayton, OH, US
April, 2022
Oral Presentations
The interpersonal nature of health decisions
Penn State Mont Alto Faculty Colloquium speaker series
Mont Alto, PA, USA
April, 2022
Posters
Trust in healthcare and health information avoidance among LGBTQ+ individuals
Penn State Mont Alto Academic Festival
Mont Alto, PA, USA
February, 2022
Posters
Growth mindsets of parenting ability and psychological flourishing
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
virtual conference
February, 2022
Posters
Implementing a growth mindsets mental health intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
virtual conference
April, 2021
Posters
The relationship between different insurance types and youth’s access of sexual health care services
NC State Undergraduate Research & Creativity Symposium
virtual conference
February, 2021
Posters
Developing and testing a growth mindset intervention to improve youth mental health
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
virtual conference
February, 2021
Posters
Social influences on protective decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
virtual conference
October, 2020
Posters
Mindsets of parenting: Precursors and predictors
Society for Southeastern Social Psychologists
Virtual conference
October, 2020
Posters
Testing a growth mindset intervention to improve youth mental health
Society for Southeastern Social Psychologists
virtual conference
February, 2020
Posters
Strategies to increase student evaluations of teaching completion rates
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
New Orleans, LA, USA
February, 2020
Posters
Testing a social norms intervention on health information avoidance
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
New Orleans, LA, USA
January, 2020
Oral Presentations
The interpersonal nature of health information decisions: Audience influence on health information avoidance
North Carolina State University Social and Behavioral Health Research Group speaker series
Raleigh, NC, USA
November, 2019
Posters
Audience influence on health information avoidance
Society for Judgment and Decision Making
Montreal, Canada
October, 2019
Oral Presentations
Audience’s capacity to harm influences health information avoidance
Society for Southeastern Social Psychologists
Johnson City, TN, USA
October, 2019
Oral Presentations
Distinguishing between different types of obligation in information avoidance
Johnson City, TN, USA
April, 2019
Oral Presentations
Audience influence on health information avoidance
Gainesville, FL, USA
February, 2019
Posters
Psychological reactance and avoidance of sexual risk information
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Portland, OR, USA
November, 2018
Posters
Impression management concerns influence preparation for hurricanes
Society for Judgment and Decision Making
New Orleans, LA, USA
October, 2018
Oral Presentations
Impression management concerns influence preparation for hurricanes
Society for Southeastern Social Psychologists
Raleigh, NC, USA
March, 2018
Oral Presentations
Impression management concerns influence preparation for hurricane Irma
Gainesville, FL, USA
February, 2018
Posters
Proactive impression management and avoidance of sexual risk information
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Atlanta, GA, USA
November, 2017
Oral Presentations
Power of the audience: Health insurers and employers influence health information decisions
Society for Southeastern Social Psychologists
Atlantic Beach, FL, USA
November, 2017
Posters
Understanding the cognitive and affective mechanisms that underlie proxy risk perceptions among caregivers of asthmatic children
Society for Judgment and Decision Making
Vancouver, Canada
March, 2017
Oral Presentations
Power of the audience: Audience effects and health information avoidance
Gainesville, FL, USA
January, 2017
Posters
Health information avoidance and audience effects
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
San Antonio, TX, USA
January, 2017
Posters
Motivations for gun ownership and attitudes toward campus carry
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
San Antonio, TX, USA
November, 2016
Oral Presentations
Audience effects and health information avoidance
Society for Southeastern Social Psychologists
Asheville, NC, USA
November, 2016
Posters
Audience effects and health information avoidance
Society for Judgment and Decision Making
Boston, MA, USA
March, 2016
Oral Presentations
Audience influence on avoiding health information: Connecting impression management and information avoidance
Gainesville, FL, USA
January, 2016
Posters
Views of God and the consequences for behavior
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
San Diego, CA, USA
October, 2015
Posters
Predictors of information avoidance
Society for Southeastern Social Psychologists
Winston-Salem, NC, USA
April, 2015
Oral Presentations
Affecting affect: The role of anticipated affect on information avoidance
Gainesville, FL, USA
February, 2015
Posters
An archival analysis of incomplete data from Project Implicit
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Long Beach, CA, USA
February, 2014
Posters
Connecting self-presentation and the chameleon effect
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Austin, TX, USA
April, 2013
Oral Presentations
Monkey see, monkey do…but why? Connecting self-presentation and the chameleon effect
Greenville, SC, USA
May, 2012
Posters
Adherence, expectations, and the placebo effect
Association of Psychological Science
Chicago, IL, USA
March, 2012
Posters
Shape bias and scale errors
Furman Engaged Conference
Greenville, SC, USA
July, 2011
Posters
Adherence, expectations, and the placebo effect
Furman University-Davidson College Summer Research Conference
Greenville, SC, USA