Psychology > Graduate Programs > Social / Personality
Social / Personality
Description of Research
Research in social psychology encompasses a number of different topics ranging from social relationships and emotions to cultural influences on social behavior to real world applications of theoretical and empirical advancements in social psychology. Below are faculty in the social / personality program and a brief description of their research interests.
Dr. Elaine Hatfield's current research interests are in integrating cross-cultural psychology with traditional social psychology) and in the topics of passionate love and sexual desire, emotional contagion, and equity theory and research.
Dr. Debra Lieberman is an Assistant Professor in the social psychology program. She earned her PhD at the University of California, Santa Barbara at the Center for Evolutionary Psychology. Currently, Dr. Lieberman is engaged in research investigating: (i) the evolved adaptations governing kin detection in humans and (ii) the programs that use kinship information to regulate kin-directed behaviors such as altruism and sexual avoidance. Additional research interests include social categorization, the domains of disgust including their neural correlates, morality/ moral sentiments, and altruism.
Dr. Charles W. Mueller is a Full Professor in social and clinical psychology in the Department of Psychology, University of Hawaii at Manoa. His research and applied work incorporates ideas and approaches from both areas of psychology. His primary research interests focus on applied social psychology with an emphasis on health (e.g. HIV prevention, psycho-social adjustment to living with HIV), aggression and violence (e.g. effects of family violence, innovative treatments, and externalizing behavior problems) and childrenís mental health service delivery (e.g. child and adolescent mental health systems improvement).
Social / Personality Faculty:
- Dr. Elaine Hatfield
- Dr. Debra Lieberman
- Dr. Charles W. Mueller
- Dr. Sam Shapiro
