The Goz part...
 | Sam Gosling |
The guys who put the lab in Gozlab...
Graduate Students (click on their names to learn more)
| Hani Freeman |
| Amanda Jones |
| Diane Mollaghan |
| Nairán Ramírez-Esparza |
| Simine Vazire |
Some of our collaborators
| Ken Craik (UC Berkeley) |
| Oliver John (UC Berkeley) |
| Sei Jin Ko (U. Groningen) |
| Virginia Kwan (Princeton) |
| Scott Lilienfeld (Emory) |
| Thomas Mannarelli (INSEAD, Singapore) |
| Lori Marino (Emory) |
| Grace Moore (Idaho) |
| Jeff Potter (outofservice.com) |
| Alan Reifman (Texas Tech) |
| Richard Robins (UC Davis) |
| Andrew Robinson (Idaho) |
| Sanjay Srivastava (Oregon) |
| Bill Swann (UT Austin) |
Lab Alumni (keep in touch! Please drop me an email when you get a chance)
| Matthias Mehl (now at U. Arizona) |
| Jason Rentfrow (now at Cambridge University) |
| Lauren Altman (now in San Francisco, making the [construction] world a juster place) |
| Patricia Baker |
| Allison Bonburg |
| Jen Brelsford (now at U. Utah) |
| Keren Brooks |
| Alice Chuang |
| Erica Dolor |
| Garin Ekmekjian (now at Pepperdine) |
| Manjit Gill |
| Dorothea Ho |
| Linda Huang |
| Lane X. Johnson (now a licensed marriage & family therapist) |
| Beth Jones |
| Cohav Kimmel |
| Adam Klinger |
| Sei Jin Ko (now at U. Groningen) |
| Lawrence Lee |
| Monica Lee |
| Peter Lwin |
| Nick Martin (now at George Washington University) |
| Kevin Murray |
| Laura Naumann (now at UC Berkeley) |
| Sun No (now at U.Illinois) |
| Susan Orgera |
| Michelle Pryor (now at sprokkit.com) |
| Rachelle Robles (also spreading justice throughout the world, in New York, I think) |
| Jenny Vuong |
| Alex Wang |
| Elisa Wong |
| Mei-Ling Woo |
| Marisa Yee (another servant of justice, in San Francisco) |
Graduate Students
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
My research interests involve studying different aspects of personality in chimpanzees from a combination of comparative, evolutionary and welfare standpoints. Specifically, I am interested in: (1) investigating the evolution of individual personality traits through genetic and neuroanatomical (collected through non-invasive MRI scans) data in order to determine how it relates to patterns found in the human or non-human primate literature, (2) looking at whether or not relationships exists between health measures, such as blood chemistry levels and the strength and/or occurrence of different personality traits in chimpanzees, and (3) studying how the environment of captive chimpanzees can best be suited to fit individuals based on differences in personality.
Contact info
Hani Freeman
e-mail: hdfreeman@mail.utexas.edu
phone: 512-232-9596
mailing address:
The University of Texas at Austin
Department of Psychology
1 University Station A8000
Austin, TX 78712-0187
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
My research focuses on personality (or
temperament) as it exists in non-human animals, particularly companion animals.
Specifically, I am interested in (1) what temperament traits exist in non-human
animals, (2) how temperament shapes an animal's behavior, and (3) how we can
make reliable and valid measures of
traits from behaviors and reactions emitted by an animal.
We are currently examining existing dog temperament tests in order to develop a
statistically reliable and valid test. Such a test will enable us to answer many
important and intriguing questions about dog temperament. For example, how does
a dog's personality influence that dog's suitability for different jobs (e.g.,
guide work, police work, search-and-rescue work)? Do dogs' temperament traits
influence how people interact with them? Can the lay person accurately assess a
dog's temperament from observation of or interaction with the dog? Are there
biological correlates (e.g., physical appearance, Testosterone and Cortisol
levels) to dog temperament traits?
Results of our studies will have broad applications to comparative personality
theory, dog-human relationships, and animal welfare, among others.
Contact information
Amanda C. Jones
e-mail: acjones@mail.utexas.edu
phone: 512.471.0691
mailing address:
The University of Texas at Austin
Department of Psychology
1 University Station A8000
Austin, TX 78712-0187
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
My focal research question revolves around “why animals do what they do”. In the 1960’s Tinbergen suggested that we should attempt to answer this question on four different but complementary levels, evolution, ontogeny, mechanism and adaptive value. I am interested in combining an ethological and comparative psychological approach to elucidate both proximal and ultimate behavioral mechanisms that influence animal personality.
Currently my primary study species are companion animals, specifically dogs. I am interested in developing tools to assess personality in dogs. In particular, how an increased understanding of the manifestations of personality in dogs influences behavioral responses across situations and stimuli. With my broad background in the field of animal sheltering, I am especially interested in the practical application of these temperament tools in order to promote behavioral health and welfare.
Ontogeny and critical periods of socialization are also of interest, specifically inter-species relationships, i.e. dog and human, and how the role early experiences influence development of temperament in adulthood.
Other research interests include, but are not limited to: behavioral manifestations of stress, paedomorphism, and companion problem behavior.
My primary research interests focus on the bilingual world. More specifically I am interested in studying Spanish-English bilinguals. My interest in this topic was sparked when I arrived to Texas and noticed that bilinguals from Texas seemed to be very different from the bilinguals I know from my own country (Mexico). These bilinguals are capable of switching from one language to the other without a problem; they don’t have any accent when using English or Spanish and they adjust with ease to a Spanish and English context, behaving accordingly. For example, when with their families they demonstrate their Latin background but when at school they show their American heritage. This suggested to me that bilinguals have two personalities that emerge when they switch from one language to the other.
We have done a number of studies to test this idea. Specifically, bilinguals come to the lab and participate in two sessions: One session in English and one in Spanish. In each session they provide answers to personality questionnaires. The sessions are designed to trigger the different personalities using contextual variables related to either a Spanish or English world (e.g., language spoken by the experimenter and various decorative stimuli placed in the testing rooms).
I am also interested in how the personalities of bilinguals are perceived. For example, do other people perceive bilinguals differently when they speak one language or the other? To answer this question judges view videotapes of bilinguals speaking either Spanish or English and then evaluate their personalities.
So far, my findings suggest that the language we use is indeed related to our personalities. However, my studies have only scratched the surface of this topic and many fascinating questions remain to be answered.
Contact info
email: nairan@mail.utexas.edu
Phone: 512-471-0691
Address: Department of Psychology, A8000
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712
Website:
www.utpsyc.org/Nairan
The common themes in my research are: identifying the link between personality and behavior, and determining how best to assess someone's personality (both as a researcher and in everyday life). Specifically, I am interested in the differences between how we see ourselves and how others see us. Although there is a great deal of agreement among self- and informant-reports of personality, there are nevertheless systematic differences. Where do these differences come from? Who is more accurate and on what traits? Who can predict behavior best? In the future I plan to examine the effect of feedback on the accuracy of self-perceptions. Does knowing how others see us improve the accuracy of our self-perceptions?
I am also interested in how we form impressions
of others' personalities in our everyday lives. Are our snap judgments
(e.g., on the basis of someone's website) accurate? What can we learn
about people from their everyday behaviors? Other interests of mine
include: personality change and stability, person-environment fit, life
satisfaction, meta-perception, and many others (the list changes and grows all
the time). For more information, visit my website (link to www.simine.com)
or contact me.
email: simine@mail.utexas.edu
phone: 512-471-0691
address: Department of Psychology, A8000
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712