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Professor Craig A. Anderson |
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Background (click here to download Professor Anderson's vita in pdf format.) |
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Craig A. Anderson received his B.A. in psychology and sociology from Butler University in 1976. His M.A. in psychology from Stanford University was awarded in 1978; Lee Ross was his M.A. advisor. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University in 1980, with J. Merrill Carlsmith serving as his dissertation advisor. |
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Professor Anderson was an Assistant (1980-1985) and Associate (1985-1988) Professor at Rice University, and a Visiting Professor at Ohio State (1984-1985). He joined the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1988 and became Full Professor there in 1992. He has served on Faculty Councils at Rice (1987-1988) and at Missouri (1995-1996). He also served as Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Psychology at Missouri from 1988-1996, and as Director of Graduate Admissions from 1988-1991. He was Faculty Advisor to Psi Chi (1991-1996) and to the Graduate Association of Students in Psychology (1992-1996). He also served as President, and incorporated the Stephen's Elementary Parents' Organization, 1994-1995. He joined the Iowa State
University faculty in 1999, as Professor and Chair of the Department of
Psychology. In 2004, Professor Anderson was presented with the "Iowa
State University Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement in
Research." In 2005, he was awarded the title "Distinguished Professor,"
the highest faculty honor given by Iowa State University. |
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Professor Anderson was a founding member of the Society of Southwestern Social Psychologists and served as its President in 1986-1987. He also played an important role in the growth and development of Social Psychologists in Texas (SPIT), and was a founding member of Social Psychologists Around Missouri (SPAM; "Missouri" was later changed to "Midwest"). He is currently on the Executive Council of the International Society for Research on Aggression (1997-2006). |
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Professor Anderson's teaching and research awards include: |
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Professor Anderson's public policy contributions include: |
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Professor Anderson has been awarded "Fellow" status in the following organizations: |
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Research Interests |
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My main research interests are in social and personality psychology, with a strong emphasis on cognitive psychology. Most of my current research focuses on aggression. Most of the current aggression research focuses on the potentially harmful effects of exposure to violent video games . Other aggression research under way in my lab includes work on jealousy, attribution and appraisal processes, temperature effects, and effects of violent media of various types. For example, we have shown that hot temperatures increase aggressive behavior under some circumstances, in both laboratory and field settings. This research has also shown that global warming will likely produce substantial increases in violent crime. Other research has shown how life experiences influence the way people think about guns, which in turn influences the effects of weapon primes on aggressive thoughts and behavior. |
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In addition, my students and other colleagues and I have been working on a model designed to integrate aggression/violence findings from a variety of research paradigms. The model includes individual difference and situational input variables. It also integrates affective and instrumental aggression. Click on the following links to access major articles on this model: Annual Review, Handbook, Media book, Good & Evil. |
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In related work (some published, some in progress), we have been trying to more clearly identify components of Aggressive Personality. We have shown, for instance, that aggressive people have two different hostility-related biases: they expect other people to behave more aggressively than do non-aggressive people; they "see" more aggression in on-going dyadic interactions than do non-aggressive people. Current work includes research on the relations among various trait aggressiveness factors, attitudes towards aggression, and the Big Five personality structure. |
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I continue to publish occasionally on attributional style and depression, loneliness, and shyness. I have two 1999 book chapters in this area, one with one of my clinical colleagues (Debi Bell-Dolan, click here ), the other with a former graduate student of mine (Jody Dill, click here ). Other work on this topic can be found at my recent publications web page, including a cross-cultural study of attributional style and depression that appeared in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin in 1999. |
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I also continue to work in social cognition, usually in the aggression domain but also in the social judgment/human inference area and in the attribution area. For instance, James Benjamin, Bruce Bartholow and I published a priming article in which we argue that the weapons effect (a classic in social psychology) is due in part to the capacity of weapons to prime aggressive thoughts. We recently completed several follow-up studies examining the moderating role of individual differences in knowledge structures concerning weapons on the weapons priming effect. |
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Another research interest of mine concerns the external validity of laboratory paradigms. Brad Bushman, Jim Lindsay, and I have been examining the external validity of laboratory research from an empirical perspective. In brief, we have been comparing effect sizes obtained in lab versus field settings, and have found considerable convergence, both within the aggression domain, and across a wide variety of psychological research domains. Some of this work appeared in Review of General Psychology (1997). The most recent appeared in Current Directions in Psychological Science (1999). |
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In all of these research interests, my focus has been on studying basic psychological processes underlying significant human problems. Thus, even though most of my research is not strictly "applied" psychology, all of it has important implications for improving the human condition in contemporary society. Indeed, the potential applicability of research findings is what largely determines my choice of research topics. |