Psychology

111 Pryale Hall • (248) 370-2300 • Fax (248) 370-4612 (map)
www.oakland.edu/psychology

Chair:
Todd K. Shackelford, Ph.D.
112 Pryale Hall
248-370-2285
shackelf@oakland.edu

Professors emeriti:
Jean S. Braun, Ph.D., Wayne State University
Daniel N. Braunstein, Ph.D., Purdue University
Harvey Burdick, Ph.D., University of Minnesota
Christine H. Hansen, Ph.D., Michigan State University
Algea O. Harrison, Ph.D., University of Michigan
Ralph J. Schillace, Ph.D., University of Cincinnati
David W. Shantz, Ph.D., Purdue University

Distinguished Professor:
Todd K. Shackelford, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin

Professors:
Kevin Corcoran, Ph.D., University of Connecticut
Dean G. Purcell, Ph.D., University of Toronto
Robert B. Stewart, Jr., Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University
Jennifer Vonk, Ph.D., York University
Virgil Zeigler-Hill, Ph.D., University of Oklahoma

Associate professors:

Martha Escobar, Ph.D., State University of New York-Binghamton
Andrea T. Kozak, Ph.D., Western Michigan University
Mary B. Lewis, Ph.D., Ohio State University
Debra Q. McGinnis, Ph.D., University of Southern California
Michele Parkhill Purdie, Ph.D., Wayne State University
Lakshmi Raman, Ph.D., Ohio State University
Cynthia M. Sifonis, Ph.D., Texas A&M University
Kanako Taku, Ph.D., Nagoya University
Lisa L. M. Welling, Ph.D., University of Aberdeen
Keith L. Williams, Ph.D., University of Michigan

Assistant professors:
Melissa M. McDonald, P.h.D., Michigan State University
Matthew J. W. McLarnon, Ph.D., University of Western Ontario

Research areas and facilities

The Department of Psychology has graduate programs that are intended to provide graduate students with the knowledge, skills, and experiences necessary to become successful producers of psychological science. Psychology is a broad discipline that interfaces with the biological and social sciences and our program is organized around three concentrations that together encapsulate the breadth of psychological science: (1) Social-Personality Psychology; (2) Behavioral Health; and (3) Evolutionary, Comparative, and Cognitive Psychology. These concentrations represent broad areas that focus on phenomena from different orientations in moderately overlapping but distinguishable content areas. Students seeking the MS degree will be broadly exposed to the content and methods in multiple concentrations. Students seeking the Ph.D. degree will have similar broad exposure to multiple concentrations that will be extended by an intensive inquiry specialized in one concentration.

The Social-Personality Psychology concentration focuses on a range of topics including self-esteem, dark personality features (e.g., narcissism), prejudice, intergroup relations, resiliency, post-traumatic growth, social influence (e.g., obedience, conformity), alcohol use, physiological correlates of social behavior (e.g., hormonal variations), romantic relationships, mate choice, sexual violence, sexual risk-taking, infidelity, and jealousy.

The Behavioral Health concentration focuses on a range of topics including cardiovascular health, obesity, sexual aggression, sexual risk-taking, addictive behaviors, sleep, stress, trauma, and emotion regulation.

The Evolutionary, Comparative, and Cognitive Psychology concentration focuses on a range of topics including human and nonhuman cognition and behavior such as pro-sociality, cooperation, memory, concept formation, theory of mind, individual differences, behavioral endocrinology, mate choice, interpersonal relationships, mate guarding/jealousy, mate choice copying, person perception, preferences, attractiveness, human sexual behavior and animal/human interactions.

For current, detailed information on individual research efforts, please consult the faculty section of the Department of Psychology Web site at www.oakland.edu/psychology.

Programs

Doctoral

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology

Master’s

Master of Science in Psychology