Matthias Mehl

Interim Associate Head
Interim Director, Graduate Studies
Professor, Social and Personality Psychology
Director, Naturalistic Observation of Social Interaction (NOSI) Laboratory
Mehl Headshot

Psychology 460 (Office)
Psychology 407 (Lab)

Pronouns:
He, Him, His

Research Interests: 

  • Psychological implications of our everyday lives in regards to personality expression, person perception, social interactions, as well as coping and health
  • Use of naturalistic observation as well as psychological text analysis.

Updated: 07/06/22

Selected Publications: 

  • Mehl, M. R. (2017). The Electronically Activated Recorder or EAR: A method for the naturalistic observation of daily social behavior. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26, 184-190. DOI: 10.1177/09637214166806
  • Mehl, M. R., Raison, C. L., Pace, T. W. W., Arevalo, J. M. G., & Cole, S. W. (2017). Natural language indicators of differential gene regulation in the human immune system. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114, 12554-12559. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1707373114
  • Mehl, M. R. & Conner, T. S. (Eds.) (2012). Handbook of research methods for studying daily life. Guilford Press: New York, NY.
  • Mehl, M. R., Robbins, M. L., & Deters, g. F. (2012). Naturalistic observation of health-relevant social processes: The Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) methodology in psychosomatics. Psychosomatic Medicine, 74, 410-417.
  • Mehl, M. R., Vazire, S., Holleran, S. E., & Clark, C. S. (2010). Eavesdropping on happiness: Well-being is related to having less small talk and more substantive conversations. Psychological Science, 21, 539–541.
  • Mehl, M. R., Vazire, S., Ramírez-Esparza, N., Slatcher, R. B., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2007). Are women really more talkative than men? Science, 317, 82.
  • Mehl, M. R., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2003). The sounds of social life: A psychometric analysis of students’ daily social environments and natural conversations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 857–870.  547–577.

 

Courses Taught:

  • PSY 101 - Introduction to Psychology (2011)
  • PSY 396H - Honors Proseminar (2023)
  • PSY 596A - Topics in Social Psychology: Personality & Social Behavior (2011)
  • PSYC 352 - Personality (2009)

*Year listed indicates when this individual last taught the specified course.

Updated: 07/10/24

Degree(s)

  • Diplom (~ M.A.), Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen, Germany (July 1998)
  • Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin (May 2004)