Research Team

Tara MacDonald, PhD

My research interests fall into three main categories:

1. Health Decision-making. For most of my career, I have been interested in the application of social psychological research to health, particularly the decision whether to use a condom. When asked about their intentions to have intercourse without a condom, university students typically report that they would not engage in these behaviours. Accordingly, one might expect that the incidence of these health-risk behaviours would be relatively low. Instead, the incidence continues to be alarmingly high. The goal of my research is to examine why people engage in these behaviours that contradict their attitudes and intentions, even when doing so can have powerful negative consequences. I have studied how different factors (e.g., alcohol intoxication, reduced cognitive capacity, sexual arousal, and anticipated negative emotions) affect the decision whether to use a condom.

2. Romantic Relationships. I have recently become interested in assessing how attachment anxiety and rejection interact to affect health outcomes. A number of graduate students and I have assessed how attachment anxiety and rejection interact to affect eating behaviour (with Sandra Marques), condom use behaviour (with Leigh Turner), body image (with Erica Refling) and conflict and decision-making (with Valerie Murphy).

3. Attitudes. I am particularly interested in assessing how attitudinal ambivalence affects the stability and malleability of attitudes. More specifically, I am interested in assessing the different consequences of holding cross-dimension ambivalence (when opposing evaluations occur along different dimensions) and within-dimension ambivalence (when the opposing evaluations occur along the same dimension).

Graduate Students

James Hillman

James is a doctoral candidate in Social Psychology at Queen’s University. His research interests cover three broad topics: belonging, narratives, and change. In terms of belonging, James is particularly interested in how people perceive and react to inconsistency with those around them. He has developed Social Verification Theory as a theoretical framework to understand how validation, dissonance, and conformity integrate with belonging needs. James is also interested in the study of narratives and change. His work on narratives explores how people’s perceptions of common narratives (whether true or not) may guide their expectations of change, and his work on the Improvement Bias examines how people expect improvement as a default for change over time.

Carina Pham

Carina is a doctoral student at Queen’s University. Her general research interests concern attitudinal ambivalence within relationships, self-esteem and coping with evaluative threat, and attachment theory. Carina completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology and Health, and a Master of Science in Social Psychology at Queen's University.

Vanessa Snead

Vanessa is a Master of Science Student in Social-Personality Psychology at Queen’s. She is predominantly interested in the implications of individual differences within romantic relationships. This has included conducting research on conditional forgiveness, texting style (during conflict), and the fear of being single. Prior to coming to Queen's, Vanessa completed a joint honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Social Development Studies (with a specialization in Individual Well-Being and Development) at the University of Waterloo.

Maxine Parker

Max is a Master of Science student at Queen’s University. She is interested in studying attachment anxiety in relationships and decision making. She completed a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in English at Carleton University.

Ruthie Stanley-Blackwell

Ruthie is a Master of Science Student in Social-Personality Psychology at Queen’s. She is primarily interested in studying the investment model and the role of attachment in romantic relationships. Prior to Queen's, Ruthie completed her Honours in Psychology with a Major in Art History and a Minor in Museum and Curatorial Studies at Mount Allison University

Acadia Bunin

Acadia is a Master of Science student in Clinical Psychology at Queen’s University. She is broadly interested in well-being, accessible wellness tools, and the promotion of positive mental health outcomes. More specifically, she aims to explore how introspective processes such as adaptive self-reflection can impact resilience and coping (within long and short-term contexts). Acadia completed her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at Mount Allison University.