Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Washington State University
College of Arts and Sciences Department of Psychology

Alexander Spradlin

Scholarly Assistant Professor

Ph.D. Washington State University

Contact Information

Email: a.spradlin@wsu.edu
Office:VCLS 208 B, Vancouver
Phone: (360) 546-9354
Website: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alexander_Spradlin

Classes Taught

  • Psychology 311: Elementary Statistics in Psychology
  • Psychology 312: Experimental Methods in Psychology
  • Psychology 321: Personality
  • Psychology 324: Psychology of Gender
  • Psychology 328: Self-Control
  • Psychology 350: Social Psychology
  • Psychology 401: Historical Development of Psychology
  • Psychology 470: Motivation

Research Interests

  • Cannabis, stress, and coping
  • Interpersonal relationships and technology
  • Empathy and prosocial behavior

My research is at the intersection between social/personality psychology and health psychology. Generally, I am interested in stress coping, including how coping strategies are learned and utilized over time and how dispositional characteristics influence coping behavior and effectiveness. To date, I have focused primarily on the short- and long-term effects of the use of cannabis and the use of technology for dealing with stress and other elements of negative affect. I also have a strong interest in quantitative methods, including psychometrics, SEM, MLM, and longitudinal analyses.

Recent Publications

Spradlin, A., Mauzay, D., & Cuttler, C. (2019). A response to the commentary by Storch and Kay: Gaps in knowledge on the treatment of cannabis users with OCD [invited response article]. Addictive Behaviors, 93, 265-266. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2017.07.029

Cuttler, C., Spradlin, A., Nusbaum, A. T., Whitney, P., Hinson, J., & McLaughlin, R. J. (2019). Joint effects of stress and chronic cannabis use on prospective memory. Psychopharmacology, 236, 1973-1983. doi: 10.1007/s00213-019-5184-9

Spradlin, A. & Cuttler, C. (2019). Problems associated with using cannabis to cope with stress. Cannabis, 2, 29-38. doi: 10.26828/cannabis.2019.01.003

Spradlin, A., Cuttler, C., Bunce, J. P., & Carrier, L. M. (2019). #Connected: Social networking sites may facilitate face-to-face relationships for introverts. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8, 34-40. doi: 10.1037/ppm0000162

Cuttler, C., Spradlin, A., & McLaughlin, R. J. (2018). A naturalistic examination of the perceived effects of cannabis on negative affect. Journal of Affective Disorders, 235, 198-205. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2018.04.054

Nusbaum, A. T., Whitney, P., Cuttler, C., Spradlin, A., Hinson, J. M., & McLaughlin, R. J. (2017). Altered attentional control strategies in chronic cannabis users. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 181, 116-128. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.09.019

Cuttler, C., Spradlin, A., Nusbaum, A. T., Whitney, P., Hinson, J., & McLaughlin, R. J. (2017). Blunted stress reactivity in chronic cannabis users. Psychopharmacology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1007/s00213-017-4648-z

Cuttler, C., & Spradlin, A. (2017). Measuring cannabis consumption: Development and validation of the Daily Sessions, Frequency, Age of Onset, and Quantity of Cannabis Use Inventory (DFAQ-CU). PLoS ONE, 2(5): e0178194. doi: 1 0.1371/journal.pone.0178194

Spradlin, A., Mauzay, D., & Cuttler, C. (2017). Symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder predict cannabis misuse. Addictive Behaviors, 72, 159-164. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2017.03.023

Mauzay, D., Spradlin, A., & Cuttler, C. (2016). Devils, witches, and psychics: The role of thought-action fusion in the relationships between obsessive-compulsive features, religiosity, and paranormal beliefs. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 11, 113-120. doi: 10.1016/j.jocrd.2016.10.003

Carrier, L. M., Spradlin, A., Bunce, J. P., & Rosen, L. D. (2015). Virtual empathy: Positive and negative impacts of going online upon empathy in young adults. Computers in Human Behavior, 52, 39-48. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2015.05.026

Jones, R. E., Spradlin, A., Robinson, R. J., & Tragesser, S. L. (2014). Development and validation of the opioid prescription medication motives questionnaire: A four-factor model of reasons for use. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 28, 1290-1296. doi: 10.1037/a0037783