5 Faculty Descriptions and Publications
Justin Dainer-Best
Associate Professor in Psychology (he/him)
Education and Training
| Degree | Institution |
|---|---|
| B.A. | Haverford College |
| Ph.D. | The University of Texas at Austin |
Professor Dainer-Best is a clinical psychologist interested in how positive and negative emotions change the way people think about themselves and the world around them. More broadly, he is interested in the genesis and maintenance of depressed mood. His work focuses on identifying the best methods for understanding how people who are depressed and anxious think. Professor Dainer-Best’s research continues to ask questions about how people who are depressed describe themselves—and how to increase positive self-description. For instance, past work showed that adults with low mood will learn to describe themselves more positively after imagining future positive social situations. The Affective Science Lab uses clinical research methods to identify the factors underlying mood disorders. Work in the lab uses samples of adults, online and in person, across the range of depressive symptoms.
Laboratory website: https://affectlab.bard.edu/
Selected Publications
- Dainer-Best, J. & Rubin, M. (2024). Guided feedback in an online text-based game impacts activity choices. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 16, Article 100738. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadr.2024.100738
- Dainer-Best, J., Shumake, J.D., & Beevers, C.G. (2018). Positive imagery training increases positive self-referent cognition in depression. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 111, 72–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2018.09.010
- Beevers, C.G., Mullarkey, M.C., Dainer-Best, J., Steward, R.A., Labrada, J., Allen, J.J.B., McGeary, J.E., & Shumake, J.D. (2019). Association between negative cognitive bias and depression: A symptom-level approach. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 128(3), 212–227. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000405
Sarah Dunphy-Lelii
Associate Professor in Psychology (she/her)
Education and Training
| Degree | Institution |
|---|---|
| B.A. | Pennsylvania State University |
| M.A. | University of Michigan |
| Ph.D. | University of Michigan |
Professor Dunphy-Lelii’s undergraduate education focused on child cognitive development, after which she became project coordinator for the Cognitive Evolution Group at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette, studying cognition in chimpanzees. Professor Dunphy-Lelii then pursued graduate work with human preschoolers on very similar theoretical topics—for example, the ways that young individuals think about the minds of others, and how they reason about unseeable behaviors such as thoughts, beliefs, and desires. She became intrigued by how the specific case of autism might shed some light on these same topics—in particular, how different children learn to distinguish self from other in terms of perspective-taking, memory, and imitation. Professor Dunphy-Lelii spent recent sabbaticals in Kibale National Park, Uganda following wild chimpanzees; at Bard, her interests in young children’s social cognition, children with autism, and non-human primates influence her ongoing research and teaching.
Laboratory website: http://cdp.bard.edu
Selected Publications
- Dunphy-Lelii, S. & Mitani, J. (2019). Wild chimpanzees show a decrease in pant grunting over their first 6 years of life. Folia Primatologica, 90, 77–88.
- Dunphy-Lelii, S., Hooley, M., McGivern, L., Skouteris, H., & Cox, R. (2014). Can I reach that sticker? Preschoolers’ practical judgments about their own and others’ body size. Journal of Cognition and Development, 15, 584–598.
- Dunphy-Lelii, S., LaBounty, J., Lane, J., & Wellman, H. (2014). The social context of infant intention understanding. Journal of Cognition and Development, 15(1), 60–77.
Tom Hutcheon
Assistant Professor in Psychology (he/him/his)
Education and Training
| Degree | Institution |
|---|---|
| B.A. | Bates College |
| M.S. | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Ph.D. | Georgia Institute of Technology |
Professor Hutcheon’s research focuses on cognitive control, which is defined as the ability to se-lect relevant sources of information in the face of distracting or competing sources of information. As everyone has experienced, the efficiency of cognitive control varies. At times we find it easy to sit down at our computers and work on a paper. At other times we end up checking our email eve-ry three minutes. What causes this variability in performance? Professor Hutcheon’s research seeks to understand the mechanisms that support cognitive control, the factors that influence the efficien-cy of cognitive control, and how these are influenced by healthy aging. To address these issues, Professor Hutcheon uses a variety of behavioral and statistical techniques including computational modeling and response time distribution analyses.
Laboratory website: https://bardattentionandperformancelab.com/
Selected Publications
- David, A., Ingwu, J., Meselsohn, N., Retzloff, C., & Hutcheon, T. G. (in press). Precrastination across physical and cognitive tasks. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218241246972
- Hutcheon, T. G., McMahon, H., Retzloff, C., Samat, A., & Tinker, C. (2024). The attractiveness of face cues does not modulate the gaze cuing effect. Visual Cognition, 31(9), 655–670. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2024.2335585
- Hutcheon, T. G. (2022). What is cued by faces in the face-based context-specific proportion manipulation? Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 84, 1248–1263. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-022-02447-w
Elena Kim
Visiting Associate Professor in Psychology (she/her/hers)
Education and Training
| Degree | Institution |
|---|---|
| B.A. | American University of Central Asia |
| M.A. | Central European University |
| Ph.D. | University of Bonn |
Professor Kim is interested in the interface between psychology and gender studies with a focus on violence against women and crisis intervention for survivors of aggression. Topics such as child marriage and bride kidnapping practices in Kyrgyzstan, social norms underpinning violence against women, institutional organization of psychological service and sexual abuse have been at the center of Elena’s research and teaching. She has led funded projects investigating campus sexual harassment, intersections between gender violence and higher education, sexual and reproductive health, and perception of gender. Elena joins the Bard Psychology Program from American University of Central Asia (AUCA), where she has served as chair of the Department of Psychology; cochair and cofounder of the Center for Critical Gender Studies; and head of the Division of Social Sciences.
Selected Publications
- Kim, E., Molchanova, E., Orozalieva, R. (2021). “Bargaining with virginity-regulating practices in post-socialist Kyrgyzstan”. Central Asian Affairs.
- Kim, E. (2020). “Re-feminizing the post-soviet women: Identity, politics and virginity ceremonies in contemporary Kyrgyzstan”. Journal of Gender Studies, 29(6), 706–716. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2020.1758043
- Kim, E. and Karioris, F.G. (2020) “Bound to be Grooms: The Imbrication of Economy, Ecology, and Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan”. Gender, Place, and Culture, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2020.1829561
Kristin Lane
Associate Professor in Psychology (she/her/hers)
Education and Training
| Degree | Institution |
|---|---|
| B.A. | University of Virginia |
| M.S. | Yale University |
| Ph.D. | Harvard University |
| Post-Doctoral Fellow | Harvard University |
Professor Lane is interested in how social thought, feeling, and behavior operate in a social context. With robust empirical evidence from the last few decades demonstrating how much of mental life takes place outside our conscious awareness has come the realization that people may hold two sets of attitudes toward a given object. Professor Lane is interested in implicit attitudes and beliefs (those that exist outside the bounds of conscious awareness and cannot be verbally reported evidence). In particular, her research focuses on implicit attitudes toward and beliefs about members of different social groups (race, class, gender, etc.). She investigates the fundamental ways in which such attitudes, identities, and beliefs operate: How do they form, and how are they connected? At the same time, Professor Lane is interested in ways in which such cognitions operate in the real world, and how an understanding of them can be applied to domains outside of the lab. Recent research explores the role of implicit attitudes and stereotypes in the gender gap in science participation.
Laboratory website: https://psychexp.bard.edu/
Selected Publications
- Open Science Collaboration (2015). Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science. Science, 349(6251).
- Lane, K. A., Goh, J. X., & Driver-Linn, E. (2012). Implicit science stereotypes mediate the relationship between gender and academic participation. Sex Roles, 66, 220–234.
- Kang, J. & Lane, K.A. (2010). Seeing through colorblindness: Implicit bias and the law. University of California (Los Angeles) Law Review, 465–520.
Frank Scalzo
Associate Professor in Psychology (he/him/his)
Education and Training
| Degree | Institution |
|---|---|
| B.A. | St. Bonaventure University |
| M.A. | State University of New York at Binghamton |
| Ph.D. | State University of New York at Binghamton |
Prior Faculty Position: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
The Bard Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory provides research opportunities in several areas of neuroscience. These include invertebrate behavior, immunohistochemistry, behavioral pharmacology, neurobehavioral teratology, and neuroanatomy. Laboratory research integrates the research interests of students and faculty and is focused on understanding the behavioral and neurobiological effects of exposure to environmental and other chemical substances whose primary mechanism of action is through the nervous system. Research is conducted using developing zebrafish (Danio rerio) as an animal model. Zebrafish provide an excellent model system for investigating a variety of environmental and pharmacological manipulations on neurobehavioral development in part due to their rapid growth and transparency during the larval stage that allows for the visualization of neuronal and other structures. Current research is focused on understanding the functional role of n-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor systems in zebrafish and how these systems can be perturbed by environmental and chemical insults. Behavioral, anatomical, psychopharmacological and artificial intelligence techniques are used in these investigations.
Selected Publications
- Chen, B. & Scalzo, F. (2015). The effects of acute nicotine on larval zebrafish exploratory behavior in a complex environment. Presentation at Neurobehavioral Teratology Society, June 2015.
- Swain H.A., Sigstad, C. & Scalzo, F.M. (2006). Effects of dizocilpine (MK-801) on circling behav-ior, swimming activity and place preference in zebrafish. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 26, 725–729.
- Scalzo, F.M. & Levin, E.D. (2004). The use of zebrafish as a model system in neurobehavioral toxicology. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 26, 707–708.
Natalie Markowitz Wittlin
Assistant Professor in Psychology (she/her)
| Degree | Institution |
|---|---|
| B.A. | Barnard College |
| Ph.D. | Yale University |
| Post-Doctoral Fellow | Princeton University |
Professor Wittlin’s research explores how people experience both their own and other people’s genders, with a focus on affirmation and denial of identities. She has a particular interest in bodies and physical appearances and how they figure into gender-related psychological processes. Questions Professor Wittlin has explored in her research include: What stereotypes do cisgender people hold about transgender people’s appearances? How do cis people respond to feedback about the gendered nature of their own physical appearances? Does the mental health of trans youth change as they take steps to align their bodies with their identities through medical transition? Professor Wittlin conducts research at the intersections of social, clinical, and developmental psychology and has also worked in the fields of public health and education. Her research is both experimental and correlational, and she works with both adults and adolescents, collecting data online, as well as face-to-face.
Selected Publications
Wittlin, N. M., Gallagher, N. M., & Olson, K. R. (2024). Gender identity importance in cisgender and gender diverse adolescents in the US and Canada. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12485
Wittlin, N. M., LaFrance, M., Dovidio, J. F., & Richeson, J. A. (2024). US cisgender women’s psychological responses to physical femininity threats: Increased anxiety, reduced self-esteem. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2023.104547
Wittlin, N. M., Kuper, L. E., & Olson, K. R. (2023). Mental health of transgender and gender diverse youth. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 19, 207–232. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-072220-020326