Steven M. Graham
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My primary research interests relate to cognitive processes in relationships with other people. Broadly, I am interested in both the content and organization of mental representations of other people. Moreover, I am interested in the ways in which features of these representations relate to interpersonal perception and behavior. My dissertation research focused on the extent to which security and trust in one’s relationships relate to how one organizes information about relationship partners in memory.
In a number of studies using a variety of methodologies (i.e., self-reports, response-latency tasks, card-sort tasks, trait listing tasks), I have demonstrated that (a) people who characteristically find it difficult to trust others (e.g., those high in anxious attachment or those low in trait self-esteem) tend to segregate partner positives and negatives in memory, accessing primarily positive or primarily negative partner information at any given time, and that (b) those in insecure relationships (regardless of their own trait characteristics) have this same tendency.
In the near future, I plan to extend this program of research in several ways. First, I intend to investigate some of the consequences of segregating versus integrating positive and negative partner information in memory. As one example, I predict that those who segregate partner positives and negatives in memory will both forgive partner transgressions too easily (if the partner does something to activate the positive store of knowledge about that partner), and find their own forgiveness to be tenuous. Second, I intend to investigate the efficacy of interventions designed to increase integration of positive and negative thoughts about partners. These interventions may take the form of explicit instructions to write about links between partner positives and negatives or implicit pairings of partner positives and negatives. If such interventions are demonstrably effective in the laboratory, this will be a first step toward clinical interventions for use in relationships counseling. Finally, I intend to explore the generality of these phenomenon by examining whether it applies in other types of relationships (e.g., work relationships).
Primary Interests:
- Applied Social Psychology
- Close Relationships
- Emotion, Mood, Affect
- Ethics and Morality
- Group Processes
- Helping, Prosocial Behavior
- Interpersonal Processes
- Organizational Behavior
- Person Perception
- Personality, Individual Differences
- Self and Identity
- Social Cognition
Journal Articles:
- Burgess, C. A., Kirsch, I., Shane, H., Niederauer, K. L., Graham, S. M., & Bacon, A. (1998). Facilitated communication as an ideomotor response. Psychological Science, 9, 71-74.
- Clark, M. S., & Graham, S. M. (2005). Do relationship researchers neglect singles? Can we do better? Psychological Inquiry, 16, 131-136.
- Clark, M. S., Lemay, E. P., Graham, S. M., Pataki, S. P, & Finkel, E. J. (in press). Ways of giving benefits in marriage: Norm use and attachment related variability. Psychological Science.
- Graham, S. M. (2006). Understanding the applicability of social psychology to everyday life: The benefits of a semiweekly journal assignment. Teaching of Psychology, 33, 54-55.
- Graham, S. M., & Clark, M. S. (2007). Segregating positive and negative thoughts about partners: Implications for context-dependence and stability of partner views. Current Research in Social Psychology, 12, 124-133.
- Graham, S. M., & Clark, M. S. (2006). Self-esteem and organization of valenced information about others: The "Jekyll & Hyde"-ing of relationship partners. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 652-665.
- Graham, S. M., Huang, J. Y., Clark, M. S., & Helgeson, V. H. (2008). The positives of negative emotions: Willingness to express negative emotions promotes relationships. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 394-406.
- Lambert, N. M., Fincham, F. D., Braithwaite, S. R., Graham, S. M., & Beach, S. R. H. (2009). Can prayer increase gratitude? Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 1, 139-149.
- Lambert, N. M., Graham, S. M., & Fincham, F. D. (2009). A prototype analysis of gratitude: Varieties of gratitude experiences. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1193-1207.
Other Publications:
- Clark, M. S., Graham, S. M., & Grote, N. K. (2002). Bases for giving benefits in marriage: What is ideal? What is realistic? What really happens? In P. Noller & J. Feeney. (Eds.), Research on marriage. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Graham, S. M. (2007). Facial expression of emotion. Sage Encyclopedia of Social Psychology.
- Graham, S. M. (2007). Negative-state relief model. Sage Encyclopedia of Social Psychology.
- Graham, S. M. (2004). Instructor's manual for Carver & Scheier, Perspectives on Personality, 5th Edition. New York: Allyn & Bacon.
- Graham, S. M., & Clark, M. S. (2008). Friendship. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (2nd ed.).
- Graham, S. M., Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (2007). Instructor's manual for Carver & Scheier, Perspectives on Personality, 6th Edition. New York: Allyn & Bacon.
Courses Taught:
- Close Relationships
- Introductory Psychology
- Laboratory in Social and Personality Psychology
- Psychology of Religion
- Self and Identity
- Social Psychology
Steven M. Graham
Department of Psychology
New College of Florida
5800 Bay Shore Road
Sarasota, Florida 34243
United States of America
- Phone: (941) 487-4551