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Social Psychology Program
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Research Interests

My research focuses on close relationships and their underlying mechanisms. In the past few years I've investigated the psychological aspect of behavioral systems, especially the attachment, care giving, and sexual mating systems.

I'm expanding this work by using neuroimaging techniques, physiological measures, and endocrine markers to examine a diverse range of correlates and underpinnings of socially significant behavioral systems. In my work I explore the associations between a person's attachment style (relationship style) and goals and behaviors in the caregiving and sexual domains (e.g., ability to provide and receive compassionate care; interest in short- vs. long-term mating strategies).

I'm also exploring the effects of increasing people's sense of attachment security on their tendency to engage in pro-social behavior, their altruistic and sexual attitudes, and their goals, as well as their attentional strategies.

In a separate line of research, I'm involved in a multi-center research project, combining Eastern and Western ideas about attention and emotion regulation that will evaluate meditation training as a method of fostering attentional stability, emotional balance, and compassion.

Selected Publications

 

Gillath, O., Bahns, A. J., Ge, F., & Crandall, C. S., (in press). Shoes as a source of first impressions. Journal of Research in Personality.

Collins, T. J., & Gillath, O. (2012). Attachment, Breakup Strategies, and Associated Outcomes: The Effects of Security Enhancement on the Selection of Breakup Strategies. Journal of Research in Personality, 46, 210-222.

Schoemann, A. M., Gillath, O., & Sesko, A. K. (2012). Regrets, I have had a Few: Effects of dispositional and manipulated attachment on regret. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships,1, 1-25.

Gillath, O., & Canterberry, M. (2012). Neural correlates of exposure to subliminal and supraliminal sexual cues. SCAN, 65, 1-13.

Gillath, O., Landau, M. J., Selcuk, E., & Goldenberg, J. L. (2011). Effects of death salience and participant sex on cognitive, physiological, and behavioral responses to sexual stimuli. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 1219-1224.  

Gillath, O., Sesko, A. K., Shaver, P. R., & Chun, S. D. (2010). Attachment, authenticity, and honesty: Dispositional and experimentally induced security can reduce self- and other-deception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 841-855.

Gillath, O., & Hart, J. J. (2010). The effects of psychological security and insecurity on political attitudes and leadership preferences. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 122-134.

Gillath, O., Hart, J., Noftle, E. E., & Stockdale, G. D. (2009). Development and validation of a state adult attachment measure (SAAM). Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 362-373.

Gillath, O., Giesbrecht, B., & Shaver, P. R. (2009). Attachment, attention, and cognitive control: Attachment style and performance on general attention tasks. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 647-654.

Gillath, O., McCall, C., Shaver, P. R., & Blascovich, J. (2008). What can virtual reality teach us about prosocial tendencies in real and virtual environments? Media Psychology, 11, 259-282.

Gillath, O., Mikulincer, M., Birnbaum, G., & Shaver, P. R. (2008). When sex primes love: Subliminal sexual priming motivates relational goal pursuit. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1057-1069.

Gillath, O., Selcuk, E., & Shaver, P. R. (2008). Moving toward a secure attachment style: Can repeated security priming help? Social and Personality Psychology Compass 2/4, 1651-1666, doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00120.x

Gillath, O., Shaver, P. R., Baek, J. M., & Chun, S. D. (2008). Genetic correlates of adult attachment style. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1396-1405.

Gillath, O., Mikulincer, M., Birnbaum, G., & Shaver, P. R. (2007). Does subliminal exposure to sexual stimuli have the same effects on men and women? Journal of Sex Research, 44, 1-11.

Gillath, O. & Shaver, P. R. (2007). Effects of attachment style and relationship context on selection among relational strategies. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 968–976.

Gillath, O. Mikulincer, M., Fitzsimons, G. M., Shaver, P. R., Schachner, D. A. & Bargh, J. A. (2006). Automatic activation of attachment-related goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 1375-1388.

Gillath, O., Shaver, P. R., Mikulincer, M., Nitzberg, R. E., Erez, A., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2005). Attachment, caregiving, and volunteering: Placing volunteerism in an attachment-theoretical framework. Personal Relationships, 12, 425-446.

Gillath, O., Bunge, S. A., Shaver, P. R., Wendelken, C., & Mikulincer, M. (2005). Attachment-style differences in the ability to suppress negative thoughts: Exploring the neural correlates. Neuroimage, 28, 835-847.