Faculty Research Interests

(a work in progress)

Dr. Deborah Deckner

My predominant research interests center around early social and communication development, both oral and written, among typically developing children and children with developmental disorders.  I have been fortunate enough to be involved in a long standing longitudinal investigation of early communication and social development housed at Georgia State University which has most recently yielded two publications in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (Adamson, Bakeman, Deckner, & Romski, 2009 and Adamson, Deckner, & Bakeman, in press).  Additionally, I have done work on the role of early shared reading experiences in the development of vocabulary and emergent literacy (Deckner, Adamson, & Bakeman, 2006 and McArthur, Adamson, & Deckner, 2005).  This is a research arena that I would dearly like to return to when…hahaha, time permits. Currently, I am working on a manuscript with my CSU colleague, Dr. Samuel Maddox, commemorating the 50^th anniversary of the establishment of the first Presidential Cabinet on Mental Retardation.

I am also very interested in the impact of early non-parental care on infant and preschoolers’ social and cognitive development and have had the chance recently to be involved in an investigation pertaining to the accessibility of child care for members of the Clayton State University community. 

Finally, I am interested in mentoring student research through the use of public release data sets, which offers investigation of a huge range of topics.  I love playing with data and teaching students the joys of unlocking the story behind the numbers.

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Dr. Kitty Deering

I began my research career with an interest in child development and family systems. My masters thesis examined psychological adjustment to diabetes in childhood and adolescence; and my doctoral dissertation explored correlates of favoritism in families. I am currently collaborating with a psychology professor at Emory to study adult attachment styles and the influence of culture on attachment patterns.

I am a clinical psychologist, on the adjunct faculty at the Emory University School of Medicine where I supervise psychology interns and psychiatric residents who are learning to do psychotherapy. I have published several articles on training and supervision. I practice at the Atlanta VA Medical Center, and I have also published several articles on the diagnosis and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder in combat veterans. Another keen area of interest and publication for me is fostering effective communication between health care professionals and clients.

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Dr. Erica Gannon

My training is in the area of Counseling Psychology, so much of the focus of my teaching is in the area of clinical applications, with a particular interest in counseling theories.

My research interests have been primarily in the area of the teaching of psychology, and I have published and done presentations on the subject of active learning in college courses. More recently, I have completed a small-scale study on ways to improve student writing in psychology; as a former English minor, improving student writing is a passion of mine! I have also recently begun working with a high-school level psychology instructor on a program to pair high school psychology students with undergraduate psychology majors as mentors.

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Dr. Brian Goldman

My research primarily concentrates on the role of authenticity and self-esteem dynamics in broad aspects of people’s psychological and interpersonal functioning. I have contributed to several published works on self-esteem (e.g., Goldman, 2006; Foster, Kernis, & Goldman, 2007; Kernis, Abend, Goldman, Shrira, & Paradise, 2005) that demonstrate the importance of examining both the level of people’s self-esteem and the degree that their feelings of self-worth are fragile (e.g., unstable, contingent) or secure (e.g., stable, non-contingent). Along with Dr. Michael Kernis, I proposed a multi-component perspective of authenticity (Goldman & Kernis, 2002) and subsequently co-created the Authenticity Inventory-3 (AI-3) to assess individual differences in people’s dispositional authenticity. Our research has been featured in Psychology Today magazine and empirical findings from the AI have been published in a variety of academic journal/book chapters. Research stemming from our use of the AI-3 measure links authenticity to diverse phenomena including parenting styles, personality integration, defensiveness, mindfulness, coping styles, goal pursuits, self-esteem, social role functioning, and romantic relationship adjustment (see Kernis & Goldman, 2006 for review). In research conducted at Clayton State University I have collaborated with Dr. Samuel Maddox and a variety of undergraduates on several studies which examined the role of people’s authenticity and self-esteem dynamics in accounting for their well-being in general (e.g., life satisfaction) and in specific dimensions of their adjustment (e.g., sexual satisfaction). In addition, we have examined ethnic/race based differences in people’s self-esteem dynamics and their authenticity. More recently, we have been examining the contribution that authenticity and self-esteem dynamics make toward protecting people’s well-being during experiences of self-threat.

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Dr. Donna McCarty, Department Head

My major research interest is memory. I am currently interested in pursuing a follow-up study using a methodology I created to explore the impact of deeply held belief systems on memory (recognition and recall) for information that runs counter to those belief systems.

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Dr. Samuel Maddox

My training in Clinical and Community Psychology is represented in diverse research interests. Since my publication of “School Bonding in Children and Adolescents” (Maddox & Prinz, 2003) I have consistently examined how students’ (elementary through college-age) connection to their school impacts their psychological functioning. In addition, I extensively examine factors affecting children’s development including several projects examining the impact of a Math Intervention on children with prenatal exposure to alcohol which ultimately led to the development of a training DVD for math educators. I am in the process of co-authoring manuscripts with several fellow faculty members including Dr. Eric Bridges on African American children’s perception of school, Dr. Deborah Deckner to commemorate the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s initiation of the Presidential Cabinet on Mental Retardation and Brian Goldman on the contribution of race to self-characteristics and psychological functioning. I am also mentoring a MALS graduate student in the preparation of a manuscript on Educational Reform in America.

My active research/intervention projects include directing the outcome evaluation of the Clayton County Adult Felony Drug Court Program to examine its effectiveness and impact on the community. As part of my private practice I implement evidence-based treatment for children with emotional and developmental difficulties and provide educational consultation to ensure the needs of children with exceptionalities are addressed within the school system. I am participating in a DVD lecture series on child psychological assessment for Oakstone Publishing. Finally, I am serving as a faculty Alternative Spring Break Facilitator in which I accompany selected CSU students to Washington D.C. to provide community service to address the problem of homelessness. As always, throughout these activities I have been eager to work with both CSU undergraduate and graduate students to promote their interest and involvement in community-based research.

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Dr. Antoinette Miller, Coordinator

At one time, my research interests focused upon the psychophysiological (EEG and ERP) correlates of memory, memory distortion, and deception.

Since coming to CSU, I have broadened my focus to include a variety of pedagogical and instructional matters.  I have worked in the areas of accessibility, Universal Design for Instruction, active learning, and problem-based learning.  Recently I published several problem-based learning activities in psychology (specifically cognitive neuroscience and brain and behavior) and am currently working on similar projects in abnormal and general psychology.

I am also working on a chapter for House and Psychology, which is part of a forthcoming series by Wiley Publishers relating psychological concepts to pop culture (including House, M.D.).

Most recently, I began a collaboration with other faculty in the department, developing a study in memory distortion.  I'm looking forward to getting back to my roots!

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Dr. Mario Norman

I perceive professorship in a multicultural context, which is important in my research interests and my style of teaching. In this sense, I view education and research in its personal, social, historical, and political framework. My focus of research primarily revolves around multiculturalism as it relates to resilience, privilege, stress, coping strategies, self, racial identity, etc. I am interested in helping students gain better awareness of self as it pertains to their interactions with people of diverse backgrounds.

As our world become more diverse, many will increase their contact with members of diverse cultures. With this understanding, it is my belief that research in cross-cultural studies can aid in improving the understanding of one another.

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Dr. J. Celeste Walley-Jean

My primary research interests center around aggression in interpersonal relationships (i.e., interpersonal violence). I’m particularly interested in the use and experience of aggression in the interpersonal relationships of African American dating couples. Additionally, I focus on African American women’s use and experience of aggression. I also investigate cognitive factors that may be linked to the use and experience of aggression (e.g., motivations and justifications for aggression). Recently, I had an article published in the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma on this specific topic (Walley-Jean & Swan, 2009).

My secondary area of research concerns the experience of anger in African Americans. I am also specifically interested in perceptions of African American women, particularly the stereotype of the “angry, Black woman.” Because there has been little empirical research on African American women’s experience of anger, this line of research is potentially extremely fruitful. I recently published an article on this topic entitled, “Debunking the myth of the ‘angry, Black woman’: An exploration of anger in young African American woman” (Walley-Jean, 2009) in Black Women, Gender, and Families.

Similar to my dissertation which focused on empirically validating a novel treatment for maladaptive anger, it is my hope to (eventually) use the knowledge gained from my primary and secondary research interests to develop and empirically validate culturally-sensitive treatments for maladaptive anger and aggressive behavior for African Americans.

I am committed to having participation from and mentoring “junior scientists (i.e., students ) in my own research. Additionally, I am devoted to the mentorship of students in their own research endeavors. I LOVE research and I want to continue to help de-mystify the process for students. Finally, I am dedicated to helping them explore their own research questions with as much enthusiasm as I have for my own line of research.

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