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I grew up in Fort Lauderdale,
Florida. After high school, I left the
sunny confines of South Florida for Indiana
University in
Bloomington to earn my B.A. (double-majoring in psychology and journalism)
and Ohio State University in Columbus to earn my M.A. and Ph.D.
in social psychology. My first academic position was assistant
professor of psychology at Eastern
Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois (2001 through 2005); I am now
assistant professor of psychology at Union
College in
Schenectady, New York.
My style of teaching revolves around one word: think. As
such, I place a great emphasis on helping students understand concepts
and theories (mastering the "how" and the "why") rather
than just memorizing (just learning "what"). I expect my
students to think for themselves, developing their own novel, empirically
testable psychological hypotheses, generating their own cogent criticisms of
published research, and being able to apply theories to novel
circumstances. In short, I hope that my students will learn how to
think like psychologists.
Although you can learn more on my research-interests page,
my primary interests deal with attitudes (whether we like or dislike things)
and persuasion (how those attitudes can be changed). I have also
published papers on topics in the realms of political psychology, consumer
behavior, and the teaching of psychology.
When I'm not working on my classes or research, I enjoy being outside as much
as possible, whether it be hiking, playing tennis (poorly), or just walking
around campus or my neighborhood. I pay a little too much attention to
my favorite sports teams, the Miami Dolphins, the Indiana Hoosiers,
and the Ohio State Buckeyes. I thus have the obligatory distaste for the
New York Jets, the Purdue Boilermakers, and, most intensely, the M*ch*gan Wolverines.
Some of the most interesting moments of my life to this point have included
marrying my wonderful wife Ana, experiencing the Soviet Union just as the
policies of perestroika were taking root, spending two weeks in Japan with my
friend Masaki, defending my Ph.D. dissertation, and,
perhaps most bizarre, appearing on The Price is Right.
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