Ph.D.
Social and Personality Psychology
Our Ph.D. program in Social and Personality Psychology is research-intensive, and designed as a five-year Ph.D. program to prepare students for scholarly careers in academic and other research settings. We train graduate students to become productive social psychologists who will contribute to the field through the advancement of theoretical understanding and empirical research in social psychology, and by effectively teaching courses within the domain of social psychology. Formal course requirements are minimized and collaborative research with one or more faculty is emphasized.
Preparing You For Success
We offer a robust, dedicated, and active program that leads to successful students. With four core faculty and a group of around 10 graduate students, the Social and Personality Psychology Program is relatively small by national standards, however, this allows for faculty and graduate students to develop deeply collaborative and productive working relationships.
Seminars are also small and highly productive. We are selective with graduate student admissions, and our students develop strong bonds with their mentors and cohort. By graduation, our students are well-prepared for the academic job market, as shown by the fact that most currently have a permanent or visiting faculty position.
- Hannah Buie, Ph.D. (2023), Assistant Professor of Psychology, Western Carolina University
- Dylan Horner, Ph.D. (2023), Assistant Professor of Psychology, Minot State University
- Harrison Schmidt, Ph.D. (2023), Assistant Professor of Psychology, Skidmore College
- Jake Taylor, Ph.D. (2023), Research Administration Coordinator, Memorial Hermann - Rockets Sports Medicine Institute
- Ciara Atkinson, Ph.D. (2022), Evaluation Specialist, University of Arizona Department of Campus Recreation
- Eva-Maria Stelzer, Ph.D. (2020), Research Analyst Health, Hubert Burda Media
- Isaac Young, Ph.D. (2020) visiting assistant professor, Beloit College, Wisconsin
- Peter Helm, Ph.D. (2019) postdoc, University of Missouri
- Uri Lifhsin, Ph.D. (2017) postdoc, IDC, Herzylia, Israel
- Colin Zestcott, Ph.D., (2017) Assistant Professor at College of St. Scholastica, Minnesota
- Advanced User Experience Researcher, State Farm
- Peter Leavitt, Ph.D., (2016) Assistant Professor at Indiana State University
- Elizabeth Focella, Ph.D., (2012) Senior Consultant at Opinion Dynamics
- Rebecca Covarrubias, Ph.D., (2012) Associate Professor at U.C. Santa Cruz
- Melissa Soenke, Ph.D., (2012) Associate Professor at Cal State Channel Islands
- Megan Robbins, Ph.D., (2011) Associate Professor at U.C. Riverside
- Dave Weise, Ph.D., (2011) Senior Lecturer and Psych Advisor at Texas Christian University
- Shannon Holleran, Ph.D., (2010) Lecturer, Owens Community College, Ohio
- Daniel "Spee" Kosloff, Ph.D., (2009) Associate Professor at Cal State Fresno
- Chad Forbes, Ph.D., (2009) Associate Professor, and Social Psychology Program Director at the University of Delaware
- Mark Landau, Ph.D., (2007) Full Professor at the University of Kansas
Although our program is relatively young, we also take great pride in the accomplishments of the alumni of our program, three of whom have garnered early career awards: APA (Mark Landau, PhD. in 2007), International Society for Self and Identity (Jamie Arndt, Ph.D. in 1999; Mark Landau), the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (Eddie Harmon-Jones, Ph.D. in 1995) and the Society for Psychophysiological Research (Eddie Harmon-Jones).
Updated: 05/25/23
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
The University of Arizona is a highly interdisciplinary environment, and the social and personality psychology students have a history of successful collaboration with students and faculty in the clinical and cognitive neuroscience psychology programs and in other departments on campus (e.g., Family Studies and Human Development, Communications, Management, Marketing, Public Health).
Our program is especially enhanced by clinical students who are mentored by our social faculty and by clinical faculty who mentor our social students. Whenever a social student is interested in psychophysiology, perception, clinical, or other topics in psychology, there is usually a great opportunity for collaboration with faculty from our other departmental programs.
Updated: 11/01/24