My current research interests are in the following areas:

The Social-Cognitive Transactional Model of Shyness: A program of research investigating negative impressions formed of shy persons and the consequences of these impressions in perpetuating shyness and social anxiety in shy persons. Collaborators in this program include JCU undergraduates Dawn Loiacono and Nicole Smeader.

Protective Intolerance: A program of research proposing a new self-protection strategy. Protective Intolerance is the tendency for individuals to be intolerant of their own negative characteristics in others. This program has been pursued in collaboration with JCU undergraduate Christine Fako.

Control Motivation and Olfactory Sensitivity: A program of research investigating greater olfactory sensitivity in individuals with a high desire or need for control. This program is in collaboration with JCU undergraduate Lisa Justice.

An Attributional Model of Overachievement Behaviors: Overachievers, in this collaborative research program with Robert Arkin of Ohio State University, are defined as individuals who have a high need for successful outcomes (NSO) and high self-doubt (i.e., doubt that their ability is commensurate with past successes). According to this model, overachievers expend extreme amounts of effort in order to ensure success (and because they doubt they have the ability to achieve success in the absence of extreme effort). This extreme effort expenditure can obscure ability as a cause for success, thus perpetuating self-doubt and feeding the overachievement cycle further. Other collaborators include Kirsten Poehlmann of Ohio State, Kathy Oleson of Reed College, and JCU undergraduates Amy Koenig and Jennifer Sorby.