Mark A. Barnett, Ph. D.

Research Interests

Research interests generally concern individuals' social-emotional responses to others.  Recent studies have examined (a) the factors associated with individuals’ willingness to engage in various minor moral and legal violations and (b) antisocial and prosocial teasing in children.  Other areas of study have included the factors that influence the development and expression of prosocial emotions (e.g., empathy) and behaviors (e.g., sharing), sex-role stereotyping and sex differences, perceptions of parental discipline, and the factors that affect observers' perceptions of other individuals and their behaviors.

Representative Publications/Presentations

Barnett, M. A., Vitaglione, G. D., Bartel, J. S., & Sanborn, F. W. (2000). Perceptions of self-oriented and other-oriented "everyday" helpers. Current Psychology, 19, 87-109.

Quackenbush, S. W., & Barnett, M. A. (2001). Recollection and evaluation of critical experiences in moral development: A cross-sectional examination. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 23, 55-64.

Vitaglione, G. D., & Barnett, M. A. (2003). Assessing a new dimension of empathy: Empathic anger as a predictor of helping and punishing desires. Motivation and Emotion, 27, 301-325.

Barnett, M. A., Bartel, J. S., Sanborn, F. W., Burns, S. R., & Wilds, S. J. (2003). Volunteering to assist the homeless: Public service announcements and Individual differences. Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 12, 205-219.

Barnett, M. A., Burns, S. R., Sanborn, F. W., Bartel, J. S., & Wilds, S. J. (2004). Antisocial and prosocial teasing among children: Perceptions and Individual differences. Social Development, 13, 292-310.

Barnett, M. A., Sanborn, F. W., & Shane, A. C. (2005). Factors associated with individuals' likelihood of engaging in various minor moral and legal violations. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 27, 77-84.

Barnett, M. A. (2007). Moral development. In R.Baumeister & K. Vohs (Eds.), Encyclopedia of social psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Student Involvement

Graduate and undergraduate research assistants attend a weekly research meeting and are actively involved in all phases of group projects (e.g., study design and development of materials, data collection and analysis, write-up for presentation and/or publication).  Undergraduate assistants typically present the results of a group project at the Department's Annual Undergraduate Research Convocation.

Current Graduate Students

• Natalie Brown
• Jennifer Livengood
• Tammy Sonnentag