Jennifer P. Peluso

Instructor
Ph.D. Emory University
Research Area: Cognitive

Contact Information:
Office: 225 Behavioral Science
Telephone: (561) 297-2522
Fax: (561) 297-2160
E-mail: jpeluso@fau.edu

General Research Interests

My area is cognitive psychology and I am currently interested in three lines of research that all stem from an interest in individual differences in cognition. First, I conduct research examining how emotional valence affects memory. I've been investigating what people remember about emotional and non-emotional photographs (how much and what type of details are recalled) to try to understand how emotion might influence autobiographical memory. In a second line of research, I've been examining how individual differences in locus of control and intrinsic motivation might be related to academic success in college undergraduates. Thus, I've been collecting data to look at the relationships among Need for Cognition--intrinsic motivation to engage in elaborative cognition/processing--and Academic Locus of Control and measures of academic behaviors in undergrads (e.g., reported procrastination, attendance, grades, etc.). A third line of research I've been conducting centers on the "Repressive Defensiveness" coping style and its relationship to the accessibility of certain kinds of autobiographical memories. I've also been looking at other personality constructs that might be related to accessibility. Theoretically, this line is the most applied, and it is guided by a much more constructivist/Adlerian/systems view of cognition in the context of the whole person/personality.

Representative Publications

Available soon

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