Broadly speaking, I am interested in uncertainty, perceived control, goal pursuit, and psychological well-being. Much of my research examines the cognitive and affective consequences of causal uncertainty (CU), or doubts about one’s understanding of why things happen. CU is unpleasant and undermines a person’s sense of control. To avoid these outcomes, people will try to improve their understanding of the social world. These attempts have implications for information processing and psychological well-being.

Primary Interests:

Emotion, Mood, Affect
Life Satisfaction, Well-Being
Person Perception
Persuasion, Social Influence
Social Cognition

Emotion, Mood, Affect
Life Satisfaction, Well-Being
Person Perception

Persuasion, Social Influence
Social Cognition

Research Group or Laboratory:

Centre for Research in Social Psychology
Interactive Map

Journal Articles:

Tobin, S. J., Capuozzo, K. I., & Raymundo, M. M. (2012). The effects of primed causal uncertainty and causal importance on persuasion, Social Influence. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/15534510.2012.667572
Tobin, S. J., & Raymundo, M. M. (2010). Causal uncertainty and psychological well-being: The moderating role of accommodation (secondary control). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 371-383. doi: 10.1177/0146167209359701
Tobin, S. J., & Raymundo, M. M. (2009). Persuasion by causal arguments: The motivating role of perceived causal expertise. Social Cognition, 27, 105-127. doi: 10.1521/soco.2009.27.1.105
Tobin, S. J., & Weary, G. (2008). The effects of causal uncertainty, causal importance, and initial attitude on attention to causal persuasive arguments. Social Cognition, 26, 44-65. doi: 10.1521/soco.2008.26.1.44
Tobin, S. J., & Weary, G. (2003). An on-line look at automatic contrast and correction of behavior categorizations and dispositional inferences. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 1328-1338. doi: 10.1177/0146167203254611
Tobin, S. J., Weary, G., Brunner, R. P., Gonzalez, J., & Han, H. A. (2009). Causal uncertainty and stereotype avoidance: The role of perceived category fit. Social Cognition, 27, 917-928. doi: 10.1521/soco.2009.27.6.917
Weary, G., Jacobson, J. A., Edwards, J. A., & Tobin, S. J. (2001). Chronic and temporarily activated causal uncertainty beliefs and stereotype usage. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 206-219. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.81.2.206
Weary, G., Reich, D. A., & Tobin, S. J. (2001). The role of contextual constraints and chronic expectancies on behavior categorizations and dispositional inferences. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 62-75. doi: 10.1177/0146167201271006
Weary, G., Tobin, S. J., & Reich, D. A. (2001). Chronic and temporary distinct expectancies as comparison standards: Automatic contrast in dispositional judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 365-380. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.80.3.365

Other Publications:

Tobin, S. J. (2012). Attribution. In V.S. Ramachandran (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Human Behavior, 2nd Edition, vol. 1, pp. 236-242. Academic Press.
Weary, G., Tobin, S. J., & Edwards, J. A. (2010). The causal uncertainty model revisited. In R. M. Arkin, K. C. Oleson, & P. J. Carroll (Eds.), Handbook of the Uncertain Self. (pp. 78-100). New York: Psychology Press.

Courses Taught:

Psychological Approaches to Complex Problems
Social and Organisational Psychology
Topics in Social Psychology

Psychological Approaches to Complex Problems
Social and Organisational Psychology

Topics in Social Psychology

Stephanie J. Tobin
School of Psychology
McElwain Building
University of Queensland
St. Lucia, QLD 4072
Australia