Department of Psychology
Nicholas Scurich, Department Chair
4201 Social & Behavioral Sciences Gateway
949-824-5574
The Department of Psychology emphasizes the investigation of human behavior as it develops across the life span in diverse contexts. The faculty share a strong commitment to interdisciplinary research aimed at advancing our understanding of the determinants of human health, well-being, and functioning in a broad range of developmental, social, cultural, and environmental contexts. The faculty are also dedicated to research that has the potential to address important societal problems. Undergraduate students begin with basic course work in developmental psychology, health and preclinical (abnormal) psychology, and social psychology. Subsequent courses cover such topics as social, emotional, and cognitive development across the lifespan from infancy to old age; behavioral disorders and developmental psychopathology; counseling and therapy; cultural, social, and personality influences on behavior; attitude formation and change; cognition and emotion; health psychology; stress and coping; environmental psychology; and psychology and the law. Opportunities are available to work with faculty members on research in these and other areas. Obtaining research experience as an undergraduate also provides a valuable background for entry into many graduate programs.
Students receive a foundation that will enable them to pursue graduate work in psychology, public health, health services, social work, counseling, law, education, and related fields, or to work after graduation in both the private and public sectors. Field study opportunities exist in hospitals, community health clinics, counseling centers, legal settings, environmental programs, social service agencies, schools and after-school programs, child care settings, and a wide variety of other community programs that offer a broad range of services.
Students should be aware that psychology courses are offered in several different departments and programs at UCI. Students interested in developmental, clinical, social, emotional, health, cross-cultural, or environmental psychology, or in psychology and the law, are advised to consult the course listings for the Department of Psychology. These courses offer students a solid foundation in general psychology. Students interested in perception, sensorimotor integration, and mathematical psychology are advised to consult course listings for the Department of Cognitive Sciences.
Faculty
Jessica Borelli, Ph.D. Yale University, Professor of Psychology (developmental psychopathology, attachment, emotion, prevention on mental health problems in children and adolescents)
Elizabeth E. Cauffman, Ph.D. Temple University, Distinguished Professor of Psychology; Criminology, Law and Society; Education; School of Law (adolescent development, mental health, juvenile justice, legal and social policy)
Susan T. Charles, Ph.D. University of Southern California, Professor of Psychology (emotional processes across the adult life span, subjective experience and cognitive processes, health and emotion)
Chuansheng Chen, Ph.D. University of Michigan, Distinguished Professor of Psychology; Education (cross-cultural psychology, adolescent development, cognitive neuroscience, genes and behavior)
Thomas J. Crawford, Ph.D. Harvard University, Professor of Teaching Emeritus of Psychology (attitude theory and social problems research)
Amy Dent, Ph.D. Duke University, Associate Professor of Teaching of Psychology (meta- analysis, academic context and consequences of self-regulation, educational and developmental psychology of academic learning)
Pia Dietze, Ph.D. New York University, Assistant Professor of Psychology (social psychology, social class, economic inequality, social cognition, and intergroup relations)
Peter H. Ditto, Ph.D. Princeton University, Professor of Psychology; Logic and Philosophy of Science; Political Science (social psychology, judgment and decision making, political and moral reasoning)
C. David Dooley, Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles, Professor Emeritus of Psychology (community psychology, epidemiology, economic change)
Wendy A. Goldberg, Ph.D. University of Michigan, Professor Emerita of Psychology; Education (developmental psychology, work and family, infant sleep, transition to parenthood, autism)
Douglas A. Granger, Ph.D. University of California, Irvine, Professor Emeritus of Psychology (psychoneuroendocrinology, salivary bioscience, hormone-behavior relationships across the lifespan, in high- and low-risk populations)
Ellen Greenberger, Ph.D. Harvard University, Professor Emerita of Psychology (developmental psychology, social and cultural influences on adolescent and young adult development, family relationships and consequences throughout the lifespan)
Nancy Guerra, Ed.D. Harvard University, Professor Emerita of Psychology (children's aggression and behavior problems, prevention of youth violence, promotion of healthy youth development)
Sule Guney, Ph.D. University of New South Wales, Assistant Professor of Teaching of Psychology (judgment and decision making under risk and ambiguity, strategic decision making, cognitive psychology)
Jutta Heckhausen, Ph.D. University of Strathclyde, Distinguished Professor of Psychology; Education (life-span developmental psychology, motivation, individual agency and social context)
Larry D. Jamner, Ph.D. State University of New York at Stony Brook, Professor Emeritus of Psychology (health psychology, psychophysiology, pain, mHealth)
Tao Jiang, Ph.D. The Ohio State University, Assistant Professor of Psychology (relationships and health, stress and resilience, mindset interventions, psychoneuroimmunology)
J. Zoe Klemfuss, Ph.D. Cornell University, Associate Professor of Psychology; Language Science (narrative development, children's autobiographical memory, sociocontextual influences on children's narrative, memory and well-being, children's eyewitness abilities)
Kate Kuhlman, Ph.D. University of Michigan, Associate Professor of Psychology; Population Health and Disease Prevention (developmental psychopathology, psychoneuroimmunology, psychoneuroendocrinology, early life stress, and adolescent depression)
Linda J. Levine, Ph.D. University of Chicago, Professor Emerita of Psychology (bias in predicted and remembered emotion, memory and emotion, the development of children’s ability to regulate emotion)
Elizabeth F. Loftus, Ph.D. Stanford University, UCI Distinguished Professor of Psychology; Cognitive Sciences; Criminology, Law and Society; School of Law (cognitive psychology, human memory, psychology and law)
Angela F. Lukowski, Ph.D. University of Minnesota, Associate Professor of Psychology (contextual influences on cognitive development in infancy and early childhood)
Elizabeth Martin, Ph.D., University of Missouri, Professor of Psychology (adult psychopathology, schizotypy and schizophrenia, social anhedonia, emotional and social dysfunction)
Raymond W. Novaco, Ph.D. Indiana University, Professor Emeritus of Psychology (anger, violence, stress, trauma, and interventions)
Candice Odgers, Ph.D. University of Virginia, Professor of Psychology; Criminology, Law and Society; Informatics (developmental and quantitative psychology; social inequalities and child health; new technologies and adolescent development)
Paul Piff, Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, Associate Professor of Psychology (social psychology, group processes, altruism and cooperation, socioeconomic status, inequality, social emotion, moral judgment, ethics, uncertainty)
Joann Prause, Ph.D. University of California, Irvine, Professor of Teaching Emerita of Psychology (statistics, quantitative epidemiology, employment typology)
Sarah D. Pressman, Ph.D. Carnegie Mellon University, Professor of Psychology (health psychology, positive emotions, stress physiology, psychosocial effects on physiology and health)
Jodi A. Quas, Ph.D. University of California, Davis, Professor of Psychology; Criminology, Law and Society (memory development, children's involvement in the legal system)
Jenny K. Rinehart, Ph.D. University of New Mexico, Associate Professor of Teaching of Psychology (health psychology, clinical psychology, sexual victimization prevention, risk perception)
Karen S. Rook, Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles, Distinguished Professor Emerita of Psychology (gerontology, social relationships and health)
Jason Schiffman, Ph.D. University of Southern California, Director of Clinical Training and Professor of Psychology (identification and prevention of early psychosis, addressing issues of health disparities across racial/ethnic groups among individuals at clinical high-risk)
Stephen Schueller, Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, Professor of Psychology; Informatics (clinical psychology, depression, mHealth, technology, implementation science, treatment and prevention, positive psychology)
Nicholas I. Scurich, Ph.D. University of Southern California, Department Chair and Professor of Psychology; Criminology, Law and Society; School of Law (judgment and decision making, juridical proof, violence risk assessment)
Roxane C. Silver, Ph.D. Northwestern University, Distinguished Professor of Psychology; Health, Society, and Behavior; Population Health and Disease Prevention (coping with traumatic life events (personal losses and collective traumas), stress, social psychology, health psychology)
Oliver Sng, Ph.D. Arizona State University, Assistant Professor of Psychology (social psychology, evolutionary psychology, cultural psychology, stereotyping, behavioral ecology)
Daniel Stokols, Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Professor Emeritus of Urban Planning and Public Policy; Population Health and Disease Prevention; Psychology; Religious Studies
Julian F. Thayer, Ph.D. New York University, Distinguished Professor of Psychology (health psychology, psychopathology, health disparities, heart rate variability, emotions, stress)
Denise Werchan, Ph.D. Brown University, Assistant Professor of Psychology (Developmental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, sociocultural contexts, self-regulation, attention & learning)
DeWayne Williams, Ph.D. The Ohio State University, Assistant Professor of Psychology (health psychology, social psychology, social psychological and physiological mechanisms underpinning self-regulation, health, and health disparities)
Ilona S. Yim, Ph.D. University of Trier, Professor of Psychology (stress, pregnancy and postpartum depression, biopsychology of stress, developmental psychobiology)
Alyson K. Zalta, Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, Associate Professor of Psychology (clinical psychology, trauma, posttraumatic stress disorder, resilience, prevention, treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy)
Joanne F. Zinger, Ph.D. University of California, Riverside, Associate Professor of Teaching of Psychology (expressive writing, meta-analysis, positive psychology, health psychology, preventive medicine, educational psychology)
Affiliate Faculty
Isabel F. Almeida, Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles, Assistant Professor of Chicano/Latino Studies; Psychology (Latina pregnancy, reproductive health, pregnancy anxiety, stress, mental health, health psychology)
Drew Bailey, Ph.D. University of Missouri, Professor of Education; Cognitive Sciences; Psychology
Lawrence F. Cahill, Ph.D. University of California, Irvine, Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior; Psychology
Maritza Salazar Campo, Ph.D. New York University, Associate Professor of Teaching of Paul Merage School of Business; Psychology
Belinda Campos, Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, Professor of Chicano/Latino Studies; Family Medicine; Psychology (culture, relationships, positive emotion, health)
Gustavo Carlo, Ph.D. Arizona State University, Professor of Education; Psychology
Nadia Chernyak, Ph.D. Cornell University, Associate Professor of Cognitive Sciences; Logic and Philosophy of Science; Psychology (cognitive development, social cognition, prosocial behavior, moral cognition, agency and free will, conceptual development)
Greg Duncan, Ph.D. University of Michigan, UCI Distinguished Professor of Education; Economics; Psychology (economics of education, program evaluation, child development)
Jacquelynne S. Eccles, Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles, UCI Distinguished Professor of Education; Psychology
Michelle A. Fortier, Ph.D. University of Nebraska Lincoln, Professor of Nursing; Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care; Population Health and Disease Prevention; Psychology (pediatric pain, palliative care, pediatric psychosocial oncology, community engaged research, health equity, mobile health interventions)
E. Alison Holman, Ph.D. University of California, Irvine, Professor of Nursing; Psychology (acute stress, individual & collective trauma, media exposure to collective trauma, early predictors of trauma-related health problems, mental /physical health impacts of climate-driven disasters)
Michael A. Hoyt, Ph.D. Arizona State University, Chair and Professor of Population Health and Disease Prevention; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Psychology
Judith Kroll, Ph.D. Brandeis University, UCI Distinguished Professor of Education; Language Science; Psychology
Sarah R. Martin, Georgia State University, Assistant Professor of Medicine; Psychology
Madhu Reddy, Ph.D. University of California, Irvine, Professor of Informatics; Psychology (computer-supported cooperative work, human-computer interaction, health informatics, digital mental health)
Stephanie Reich, Ph.D. Vanderbilt University, Professor of Education; Informatics; Psychology
Sabrina E. Schuck, Ph.D. University of California, Riverside, Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics; Education; Psychology
Eric Spangenberg, Ph.D. University of Washington, M.B.A. Portland State University, Professor of Paul Merage School of Business; Psychology (sensory cues in the retail environment and the effects of self-prediction on behavior)
Mark Steyvers, Ph.D. Indiana University, Department Chair and Professor of Cognitive Sciences; Computer Science; Psychology (human-AI collaboration, higher-order cognition, learning, metacognition, hybrid human-AI systems, computational modeling)
Jane K. Stoever, J.D. Harvard University, Clinical Professor of School of Law; Psychology
William C. Thompson, Ph.D. Stanford University, Professor Emeritus of Criminology, Law and Society; Psychology; School of Law (psychology and law, criminal justice, forensic science, expert evidence, human judgment and decision making, use of social science in appellate litigation)
Deborah Lowe Vandell, Ph.D. Boston University, Chancellor's Professor Emerita of Education; Psychology
Mark J. Warschauer, Ph.D. University of Hawaii at Manoa, Professor of Education; Informatics; Language Science; Psychology
Michael Yassa, Ph.D. University of California, Irvine, James L. McGaugh Chair, Director of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory and Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior; Anatomy and Neurobiology; Neurology; Psychology
Courses
PSCI 163C. Human Neuropsychology. 4 Units.
A survey of human brain disorders using a clinical case study approach to illustrate fundamental issues in studying brain and behavior. Topics include sensory deficits, attentional neglect, amnesia, cortical organization, clinical psychopathology, and more.
Prerequisite: BIOL N110 or PSYC 9A or PSCI 11A.
Same as BIOL N173, PSYC 162N
PSCI 178S. Violence in Society. Units.
Current theory and research on aggression; anger and violence as problems in individual and social functioning. Process and functions of anger examined with regard to normal behavior and psychopathology. The determinants, prevalence, and implications of violence in society are analyzed.
Prerequisite: PSCI 9 or PSCI 11C or PSYC 7A or PSYC 9C.
PSCI 192V. Language and Literacy. Units.
Addresses the linguistic principles and processes that underlie oral and written language proficiency. Emphasis is on how to use phonology, morphology, orthography, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics to support literacy and oral language development for K-12 students.
PSCI 193B. Juvenile Delinquency. Units.
Patterns of delinquent behavior, theories that explain behavior, current research aimed at enhancing exploratory power. Attempts to prevent and control delinquency are put in historical perspective. Development of the current juvenile justice system and evolution of modern juvenile law.
Prerequisite: CLS C7.
PSCI 193C. Social Control of Delinquency. Units.
Assumes familiarity with theories of delinquency, the juvenile justice system, and elements of juvenile law. Explores socio-historical origins and evolution of juvenile justice, current research and policy on delinquency prevention and treatment, and future directions of law, policy, and practice.
<br/><strong>Advisory Prerequisites</strong>: Recommended: CLS C109.
Prerequisite: CLS C7 (may be taken concurrently).
PSCI 193E. Psychology and the Law. Units.
Psychological assumptions of the American legal system and mental health aspects of provision of criminal justice services. Civil commitment, insanity defense, competence to stand trial, jury selection, eyewitness identification. Use of police, courts, correctional institutions in prevention of behavior disorder.
Prerequisite: CLS C7 or CLS C101.
PSCI 193F. Family Law. Units.
Examines legal issues surrounding marriage, cohabitation, divorce, child custody and support, adoption, and the rights of parents and children in the family context. The findings of social science research are used to illuminate the legal issues.
Prerequisite: CLS C7 or CLS C101.
PSCI 193G. Eyewitness Testimony. Units.
Faulty eyewitness testimony is a major cause of wrongful convictions. Covers the fast-growing topic of eyewitness testimony and memory for real-world events, both how psychologists study eyewitness capacity, and how the legal system has dealt with eyewitness issues.
Prerequisite: SE 10.