What is S&P psychology?
Social and personality psychology investigate the interplay between stable individual differences (e.g., personality traits) and situational social factors, aiming to understand how people perceive themselves and others, form relationships, develop attitudes, construct identities, and regulate behavior across contexts.
How can I learn more about S&P Psychology at TAMU?
For more information about the area, please contact the area head, Joshua Hicks (joshua.hicks@tamu.edu).
How do TAMU S&P psychologists create meaningful change?
At Texas A&M University, our social and personality psychology researchers are making a real difference in the world by advancing scientific knowledge and creating practical solutions to life's most important challenges. Their work helps individuals, families, and communities thrive across many areas of human experience.
Allegra Midgette’s research on moral development across cultures is shaping how families and educators foster character strengths like kindness, collaboration, and critical thinking in children. Vani Mathur’s groundbreaking work on the social dimensions of pain has influenced national health policy and is improving community-based care for people living with chronic pain. Brandon Schmeichel’s studies on motivation, emotion, and self-control shed light on how people can better manage impulses and achieve personal goals. Rachel Smallman’s work on counterfactual thinking (thoughts of ‘if only’) help individuals learn from past experiences to improve future behaviors and help them live healthier lives. Meanwhile, Matt Vess, Rebecca Schlegel, and Joshua Hicks explore the deep psychological processes tied to existential concerns (e.g., mortality awareness), authenticity, and meaning in life, helping individuals navigate questions of identity, purpose, and resilience.
Together, these scholars are expanding our understanding of human nature and translating their discoveries into tangible benefits for society; from fostering moral development in youth to improving health care and advancing our understanding of how people resolve fundamental existential issues integral to the human experience.
Allegra Midgette conducts research on moral development across cultures. She collaborates with Children’s Museum Houston in designing programming and exhibits aimed at helping families foster children’s character, including values such as kindness, collaboration, and critical thinking.
Vani Mathur is a pain scientist. Her work has changed our understanding of pain by showing how the social environment shapes the nervous system’s pain response. This work has impacted national health policy and priorities. Currently, she and her students are focused on meaningful change to benefit people living with chronic pain in our local community. They work with community partners to improve knowledge and treatment of pain through an integrated community of care.
Brandon Schmeichel is a social psychologist who studies motivation, emotion, and self-control. He is particularly interested in impulses, how they arise, and when and how to override them.
Matt Vess is a social psychologist who studies the psychological processes linked to existential concerns about mortality, meaning, identity, and authenticity.
Rebecca Schlegel is a social psychologist who studies issues related to self/identity, authenticity, and meaning in life. Much of her work has focused specifically on the idea of a “true self” and the ways in which people use beliefs surrounding their avowed true self to imbue their life with meaning.
Joshua Hicks is a social and personality psychologist who studies many existential issues including what factors contribute to the experience of meaning in life and the feeling of “knowing” oneself.
We cannot be more proud of our S&P team of stellar psychologists and all the work they do in their research and fields. Gig em!