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Stephanie J. Tobin

I am interested in 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. This can lead to negative affect, attempts to improve one's understanding, and avoidant coping. Secondary control can help people cope with CU. There are bidirectional associations between affect and secondary control, meaning that mood manipulations can be used to boost secondary control.

I am also interested in social networking activities and their association with basic need satisfaction, meaning, mindfulness, and absorption in experiences.

Lastly, I study how exposure to other people's goal strivings and outcomes affects our own goals.

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:

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

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

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