Clinical Associate Professor

Ph.D. Washington State University, 2005

Contact Information

Email: deeposey@wsu.edu
Office: Johnson Tower 233C
Phone: (509) 335-8427

Classes Taught

• Psychology 210: Psychology as a Science
• Psychology 311: Elementary Statistics
• Psychology 328: Self Control

Secondary Interests

• Self-Regulated Learning
• Rubric Development
• Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Training
• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

In my research, I focus on strategies for teaching and learning that improve student performance in their college courses. I’ve looked at the use of rubrics for improving students’ writing, the relationship between statistics anxiety and performance in our statistics course, whether statistics anxiety is related to teacher/student rapport, and whether the “flipped” classroom format enhances student learning. Additionally, I’m very active in The Society for the Teaching of Psychology (Div. 2 of the APA). I’ve served on three STP presidential task forces, including the task force for Psychological Literacy, Statistical Literacy, and Skills Development of Psychology Students. I’ve been honored by the College of Arts and Science with the award for Excellence in Teaching by Clinical Faculty.

Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs
Regents Professor of Psychology

Ph.D. Harvard University, 1974

Contact Information

Email: fkmcs@wsu.edu
Office: Johnson Tower 214
Phone: (509) 335-5581
Websites: Operant Conditioning Lab

Classes Taught

• Psychology 198: Honors Introductory Psychology
• Psychology 390: Operant Behavior
• Psychology 470: Motivation
• Psychology 591: Theories of Learning
• Psychology 593: Experimental Analysis of Behavior

Research Interests

• Habituation
• Operant and Classical Conditioning
• The Matching Law
• Behavioral Contrast
• Within-Session Changes in Responding

I have investigated the matching law, behavioral contrast, and the participation of women in psychology. My current research examines systematic changes in the ability of reinforcers to support responding (changes in reinforcer value). Response rates are not constant within sessions when animals respond on operant or classical conditioning procedures. Instead, responding usually starts slowly, increases to a peak, and then decreases within the session. These systematic changes in response rate occur mainly because the value of the reinforcer changes with its repeated delivery across the session. The changes in reinforcer value are, in turn, produced by sensitization and habituation to the sensory properties of the reinforcer. I believe that sensitization-habituation may eventually provide the key to understanding the termination of many behaviors that are currently attributed to different mechanisms. For example, the termination of feeding is usually attributed to satiation; the termination of running to fatigue; the termination of videogame playing to boredom; and the termination of drug taking to achieving the desired high. Arguing, instead, that all of these behaviors stop in part because of habituation to the sensory properties of their reinforcers suggests a common theoretical explanation for the behaviors, as well as entirely new methods for controlling these behaviors in practice.

Selected Publications

McSweeney, F.K., & Swindell, S. (1999). General-process theories of motivation revisited: The role of habituation. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 437-457.

McSweeney, F.K., & Weatherly, J.N. (1998). Habituation to the reinforcer may contribute to multiple-schedule behavioral contrast. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 69, 199-221.

McSweeney, F.K., Hinson, J.M., & Cannon, C.B. (1996). Sensitization-habituation may occur during operant conditioning. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 256-271.

Professor
Director of Clinical Training, Former Department Chair

Ph.D. Clark University, 1989

Contact Information

Email: david.marcus@wsu.edu
Office: Johnson Tower 209
Phone: (509) 335-7750

Classes Taught:

• Psychology 348: Forensic and Legal Psychology
• Psychology 520: Empirical Approaches to Adult Psychotherapy
• Psychology 533: Adult Psychopathology

Research Interests

Currently, my primary research interests include: (a) psychopathy; (b) other “dark” personality traits such as sadism and spitefulness; and (c) the relative importance of common versus specific factors in psychotherapy.  Much of my research on psychopathy is focused on the measurement of psychopathic personality traits, including studies that have used Meehl’s taxometric method to examine whether psychopathy and related disorders (e.g., antisocial personality disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, conduct disorder) exist along a continuum or are discrete, qualitatively distinct conditions.  In other words, this research is interested in the question of whether there are “psychopaths” who are uniquely different from others or whether psychopathy is a dimensional construct.  I am also interested in the behavioral correlates of psychopathic personality traits, such as the association between psychopathy and risky sexual behavior. My other area of research uses meta-analytic methods to examine whether various psychological treatments yield similar outcomes (“Dodo bird effect”), whether adding specific components to treatments improves outcomes, and the role of therapist allegiance in psychological assessment and treatment.

Selected Publications (2013-present)

Psychopathy and externalizing behaviors

Fanning, J. R., Marcus, D. K., & Coccaro, E. F.  (in press).  Evidence for the taxonic latent structure for DSM-5 intermittent explosive disorder in adults.  Psychological Medicine.

Marcus, D. K., *Eichenbaum, A. E., *Anderson, A. E., *Zimmerman, J. A., *Nagel, M. G., Zeigler-Hill, V., Watts, A. L., Lilienfeld, S. O.  (2019).  Construction and preliminary validation of Triarchic Psychopathy Scales from the HEXACO-100.  Psychological Assessment, 31, 961-973.

*Eichenbaum, A. E., Marcus, D. K., & French, B. F.  (2019).  Item response theory analysis of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised.  Assessment, 26, 1046-1058.

Marcus, D. K., *Robinson, S. L., & *Eichenbaum, A. E. (2019).  Externalizing behavior and psychopathy: A social relations analysis. Journal of Personality Disorders, 33, 310-325.

*O’Connell, D. C., & Marcus, D. K.  (2019).  The association between psychopathy and sadism.  Aggression and Violent Behavior, 46, 109-115.

*Anderson, A. E., & Marcus, D. K. (2019).  A bifactor model of meanness, coldheartedness, callousness, and sadism.  Personality and Individual Differences, 137, 192-197.

*Preszler, J., Marcus, D. K., Edens, J. F., & McDermott, B. E.  (2018).  Network analysis of psychopathy in forensic inpatients.  Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 127, 171-182.

Marcus, D. K., *Sawaqdeh, A., *O’Connell, D.,& Lilienfeld, S. O.  (2018).  Identifying careless responding bias with the Psychopathic Personality Inventory—Revised (PPI-R) validity scales.  Assessment, 25, 31-39.

*O’Connell, D., & Marcus, D. K. (2016). Psychopathic personality traits predict positive attitudes toward sexually predatory behaviors in college men and women Personality and Individual Differences, 94, 372-376.

Marcus, D. K., & *Norris, A. L.  (2014).  A new measure of attitudes toward sexually predatory tactics and its relation to the triarchic model of psychopathy.  Journal of Personality Disorders  28, 247-261.

Marcus, D. K., *Fulton, J. J., & Edens, J. F.  (2013).  The two-factor model of psychopathic personality: Evidence from the Psychopathic Personality Inventory.  Personality Disorders:  Theory, Research, and Treatment, 4, 67-76.

Other Dark Personality Features

Marcus, D. K., *Preszler, J., & Zeigler-Hill, V.  (2018).  A network of dark personality traits: What lies at the heart of darkness?  Journal of Research in Personality, 73, 56-62.

Zeigler-Hill, V., & Marcus, D. K. (2016).  The Dark Side of Personality.  In V. Zeigler-Hill & D. K. Marcus (Eds.), Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Marcus, D. K., & Zeigler-Hill, V.  (2015).  A big tent of dark personality traits. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 9, 434-446.

*Grafeman, S. J., Barry, C. T., Marcus, D. K., & *Leachman, L. L.  (2015).  Interpersonal perception of narcissism in an at-risk adolescent sample: A social relations analysis.  Journal of Research on Adolescence, 25, 92-100.

Zeigler-Hill, V., Noser, A. E., Roof, C., Vonk, J., & Marcus, D. K.  (2015).  Spitefulness and moral values.  Personality and Individual Differences, 77, 86-90.

Marcus, D. K., Zeigler-Hill, V., Mercer, S., & *Norris, A. L.  (2014).  The psychology of spite and the measurement of spitefulness.  Psychological Assessment, 26, 563-574.

Psychotherapy Research

*Lui, J. H. L., Barry, C. T., & Marcus, D. K. (2019).  A short-term intervention for adolescents with callous-unemotional traits and emotion-processing deficits.  Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 38, 475-500. 

*Lui, J. H. L., Marcus, D. K., & Barry, C. T. (2017).  Evidence-based apps? A review of mental health mobile applications in a psychotherapy context.  Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 48, 199-210.

Marcus, D. K., *Bell, E. C., & Mercer, S. H. (2015).  Adding components improves treatment outcomes: Reply to Flückiger et al. (2015)” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 83, 443-444.

Marcus, D. K., *O’Connell, D., *Norris, A. L., & *Sawaqdeh, A.  (2014).  Is the Dodo bird endangered in the 21st century?  A meta-analysis of treatment comparison studies.  Clinical Psychology Review, 34, 519-530.

Misc Taxometrics

Rufino, K. A., Marcus, D. K., Ellis, T. E., & Boccaccini, M. T.  (2018).  Further evidence that suicide risk is categorical:  A taxometric analysis of data from an inpatient sample.  Psychological Assessment, 30, 1541-1547.

*Norris, A. L.. Marcus, D. K., & Green, B. A.  (2015).  Homosexuality as a discrete class.  Psychological Science, 26, 1843-1853.

 Marcus, D. K., *Sawaqdeh, A., & Kwon, P.  (2014).  The latent structure of generalized anxiety disorder in midlife adults.  Psychiatry Research, 215, 366-371.

*Eichner, K. V., Kwon, P. & Marcus, D. K.  (2014).  Optimists or optimistic? A taxometric study of optimism. Psychological Assessment, 26, 1056-1061.

*Denotes student authors

Professor

Ph.D. Duke University, 1981

Contact Information

Email: hinson@wsu.edu
Website: Affective and Cognitive Influences of Decisions (ACID) Lab

Classes Taught

• Psychology 311: Elementary Statistics in Psychology
• Psychology 401: Historical Development of Psychology
• Psychology 504: History of Psychology

Research Interests

• Affective and non-affective factors in decision making
• Sleep deprivation effects on cognition

In general terms my research examines relations between hot (affective) and cold (rational) cognitive processes in decision making. I have previously studied how situational constraints (task demands) and individual constraints (personality traits or biological differences) affect hot and cold cognition and contribute to suboptimal decision making. More recent research examines cognitive control and memory processes involved in decision making. Our interdisciplinary research group has a research focus on how sleep deprivation affects cognitive control processes that are essential for decision making.

Selected Publications

Kurinec, C. A., Whitney, P., Hinson, J. M., Hansen, D. A., Van Dongen, H. P. A. (2021). Sleep deprivation impairs binding of information with its context. Sleep, Volume 44, Issue 8, August 2021, zsab113, https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsab113.

Whitney, P., Hinson, J. M., & Nusbaum, A. T. (2019) A dynamic attentional control framework for understanding sleep deprivation effects on cognition. In: Hans P.A. Van Dongen, Paul Whitney, John M. Hinson, Kimberly A. Honn, and Michael W. L. Chee, editors: Sleep Deprivation and Cognition, Vol 246, Oxford: Elsevier Science; p. 111-126. doi:10.1016/bs.pbr.2019.03.015

Hinson, J. M., Whitney, P., Wilson, C. G., & Nusbaum, A. T. (2019). Working memory loads differentially influence frame-induced bias and normative choice in risky decision making. PLOS ONE, Mar 28;14(3):e0214571. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214571. eCollection 2019.

Honn, K. A., Hinson, J. M., Whitney, P., & Van Dongen, H. P. A. (2018). Cognitive flexibility: a distinct element of performance impairment due to sleep deprivation. Accident Analysis & Prevention, Mar 14. pii: S0001-4575(18)30070-8. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2018.02.013. [Epub ahead of print]

Satterfield, B. C., Hinson, J. M., Whitney, P., Schmidt, M. A., Wisor, J. P., & Van Dongen, H. P. A. (2018). Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) genotype affects cognitive control during total sleep deprivation, Cortex, 99, 179-186. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.11.012. [Epub ahead of print]

Whitney, P. Hinson, J. M., Satterfield, B. C, Grant^, D. A., Honn, K. A., & Van Dongen, H. P. A. (2017). Sleep deprivation diminishes attentional control effectiveness and impairs flexible adaptation to changing conditions, Scientific Reports, 7, 16020. 10.1038/s41598-017-16165-z Epub 2017 Nov 22.

Wilson, C. G., Nusbaum, A. T., Whitney, P., and Hinson, J. M. (2017). Age differences in cognitive flexibility when overcoming a pre-existing bias through feedback. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, Nov 21: 1-9. doi/full/10.1080/13803395.2017.1398311. [Epub ahead of print]

Whitney, P.M., Hinson, J. M., Jackson, M., & Van Dongen, H. P. A. (2015). Feedback blunting: Total sleep deprivation impairs decision making that requires updating based on feedback. Sleep, 38, 745-754. doi: 10.5665/sleep.4668.