Research Projects
Sept. 12-Present Development of a Shame-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Group Treatment
Collaborators: Laura Crocker (UIUC)
Howard Berenbaum (UIUC)
Jeanne Gabriele (G.V. Sonny Montgomery VA Medical Center)
Kim L. Gratz (University of Mississippi Medical Center)
Research Goals: develop and implement a novel, shame-focused treatment that utilizes
cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques; test the feasibility and effectiveness of this
treatment in multiple settings
Aug. 11-May 12 Influences of Narcissism on Student Group Functioning & Individual Achievement
Supervisor: Edelyn Verona
Research Goals: examine the influence of dimensions of narcissism on group dynamics
across time, among students completing a semester-long project; compare group-
versus individual-achievement across group members with and without elevated
narcissistic traits
Mar. 11-Feb. 12 Trauma, Shame, & Psychopathology
Supervisor: Howard Berenbaum
Collaborator: Melissa Milanak
Research Goals: examine the roles of shame aversion and shame-proneness in post-traumatic stress; consider the utility of a revised, expanded version of the Life Events Checklist in research on traumatic experiences.
Jan. 10-Apr. 12 Physical and Emotional Pain in Self-Injurious Behavior
Supervisor: Howard Berenbaum
Collaborators: Robert Motl (Kinesiology and Community Health)
Brent W. Roberts (Social-Personality-Organizational Psychology)
Research Goals: investigate punishment-deservingness and self-conscious emotions
as motivational factors for self-injurious behavior; examine thresholds and
endurance for physical and emotional pain among individuals engaging in
self-injurious behavior.
Jan. 10-Apr. 12 Effortful Control in Adaptive and Maladaptive Personality
Supervisor: Brent W. Roberts (Social-Personality-Organizational Psychology)
Collaborators: Yusuke Takahashi (Social-Personality-Organizational Psychology)
Patrick Hill (Social-Personality-Organizational Psychology)
Research Goals: examine levels of effortful control in undergraduates as well as in
clinical and community samples of individuals who demonstrate elevations in
borderline, antisocial, and/or obsessive-compulsive personality disorders.
Sept. 09-Jul. 12 Emotion Regulation in Dialectical Behavior Therapy Group Treatment
Supervisor: Edelyn Verona
Collaborator: Naomi Sadeh
Research Goals: assess changes in emotion regulation strategy use and effectiveness
among individuals with borderline features who are engaging in dialectical behavior
therapy group skills training.
Jan. 08-Feb. 12 Conscientiousness & Self-Conscious Emotions
Supervisor: Brent W. Roberts (Social-Personality-Organizational Psychology)
Collaborator: Jennifer V. Fayard (Social-Personality-Organizational Psychology)
Research Goals: investigate the connections between adaptive- and maladaptive-
range personality, focusing on conscientiousness and obsessive-compulsive
personality disorder; examine the unique relationships of shame and guilt to this
personality dimension at various levels.
Jan. 08-May 10 Emotion Regulation in Personality Pathology
Supervisor: Howard Berenbaum
Research Goals: investigate early- and late-stage emotion regulation in various
personality disorders.
Nov. 06-May 10 Shame, Personality, and Psychopathology
Supervisor: Howard Berenbaum
Research Goals: propose an innovative operationalization of shame (i.e. shame
aversion) and examine the role of shame-related constructs in personality pathology
using both self-report (questionnaire and interview) and peer-report measures;
investigate differential relationships of shame and guilt to personality pathology.
Collaborators: Laura Crocker (UIUC)
Howard Berenbaum (UIUC)
Jeanne Gabriele (G.V. Sonny Montgomery VA Medical Center)
Kim L. Gratz (University of Mississippi Medical Center)
Research Goals: develop and implement a novel, shame-focused treatment that utilizes
cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques; test the feasibility and effectiveness of this
treatment in multiple settings
Aug. 11-May 12 Influences of Narcissism on Student Group Functioning & Individual Achievement
Supervisor: Edelyn Verona
Research Goals: examine the influence of dimensions of narcissism on group dynamics
across time, among students completing a semester-long project; compare group-
versus individual-achievement across group members with and without elevated
narcissistic traits
Mar. 11-Feb. 12 Trauma, Shame, & Psychopathology
Supervisor: Howard Berenbaum
Collaborator: Melissa Milanak
Research Goals: examine the roles of shame aversion and shame-proneness in post-traumatic stress; consider the utility of a revised, expanded version of the Life Events Checklist in research on traumatic experiences.
Jan. 10-Apr. 12 Physical and Emotional Pain in Self-Injurious Behavior
Supervisor: Howard Berenbaum
Collaborators: Robert Motl (Kinesiology and Community Health)
Brent W. Roberts (Social-Personality-Organizational Psychology)
Research Goals: investigate punishment-deservingness and self-conscious emotions
as motivational factors for self-injurious behavior; examine thresholds and
endurance for physical and emotional pain among individuals engaging in
self-injurious behavior.
Jan. 10-Apr. 12 Effortful Control in Adaptive and Maladaptive Personality
Supervisor: Brent W. Roberts (Social-Personality-Organizational Psychology)
Collaborators: Yusuke Takahashi (Social-Personality-Organizational Psychology)
Patrick Hill (Social-Personality-Organizational Psychology)
Research Goals: examine levels of effortful control in undergraduates as well as in
clinical and community samples of individuals who demonstrate elevations in
borderline, antisocial, and/or obsessive-compulsive personality disorders.
Sept. 09-Jul. 12 Emotion Regulation in Dialectical Behavior Therapy Group Treatment
Supervisor: Edelyn Verona
Collaborator: Naomi Sadeh
Research Goals: assess changes in emotion regulation strategy use and effectiveness
among individuals with borderline features who are engaging in dialectical behavior
therapy group skills training.
Jan. 08-Feb. 12 Conscientiousness & Self-Conscious Emotions
Supervisor: Brent W. Roberts (Social-Personality-Organizational Psychology)
Collaborator: Jennifer V. Fayard (Social-Personality-Organizational Psychology)
Research Goals: investigate the connections between adaptive- and maladaptive-
range personality, focusing on conscientiousness and obsessive-compulsive
personality disorder; examine the unique relationships of shame and guilt to this
personality dimension at various levels.
Jan. 08-May 10 Emotion Regulation in Personality Pathology
Supervisor: Howard Berenbaum
Research Goals: investigate early- and late-stage emotion regulation in various
personality disorders.
Nov. 06-May 10 Shame, Personality, and Psychopathology
Supervisor: Howard Berenbaum
Research Goals: propose an innovative operationalization of shame (i.e. shame
aversion) and examine the role of shame-related constructs in personality pathology
using both self-report (questionnaire and interview) and peer-report measures;
investigate differential relationships of shame and guilt to personality pathology.
Other Research Experiences
Aug. 10-June 10 Initiation-Termination Worry Model Research
Supervisor: Howard Berenbaum
Collaborator: Philip Chow
Responsibilities: conduct structured clinical interviews for Axis I disorders; manage
computer programming and task-related data analysis; literature review and
manuscript preparation.
Sept. 09-May 10 Conditioning Beliefs Research
Supervisor: Howard Berenbaum
Responsibilities: use MatLab to program noise-image pairing tasks to condition and
test associations between image categories and general negative beliefs; train
undergraduates in the use of the computer tasks.
Apr. 09-Present Emotion & Behavior Laboratory – Narcissism, Psychopathy, & Aggression Research
Supervisor: Edelyn Verona
Collaborator: Naomi Sadeh
Responsibilities: conduct assessments with criminally-involved individuals; train
graduate and undergraduate students in interview assessment techniques (SCID-I,
PCL: SV); literature review, data analysis, and manuscript preparation for a study
considering the parallels between dimensions of narcissism and facets of
psychopathic personality in terms of their relationships to each other and to external
correlates.
Supervisor: Howard Berenbaum
Collaborator: Philip Chow
Responsibilities: conduct structured clinical interviews for Axis I disorders; manage
computer programming and task-related data analysis; literature review and
manuscript preparation.
Sept. 09-May 10 Conditioning Beliefs Research
Supervisor: Howard Berenbaum
Responsibilities: use MatLab to program noise-image pairing tasks to condition and
test associations between image categories and general negative beliefs; train
undergraduates in the use of the computer tasks.
Apr. 09-Present Emotion & Behavior Laboratory – Narcissism, Psychopathy, & Aggression Research
Supervisor: Edelyn Verona
Collaborator: Naomi Sadeh
Responsibilities: conduct assessments with criminally-involved individuals; train
graduate and undergraduate students in interview assessment techniques (SCID-I,
PCL: SV); literature review, data analysis, and manuscript preparation for a study
considering the parallels between dimensions of narcissism and facets of
psychopathic personality in terms of their relationships to each other and to external
correlates.
