Faculty

"I study the social psychology of health behavior. My broad goals are to develop theory regarding health behavior decision-making and provide information about the fundamentals of social psychology that can be translated into practical application. I mostly investigate social-cognitive factors of health behavior decision-making across the different stages of behavior, giving primary attention to elucidating the distinct set of factors that guide decisions about behavior maintenance and delineating the underlying role of self-concept. Most recently, I have been focusing on the sources of behavior-specific identities (e.g., self-identity as a "smoker"), with particular interest in the relationship between these identities and perceptions of the typical person who engages in the associated behavior. This is segueing into more basic research on the sources, maintenance, and action of the self-concept. My research to date consists of experimental and survey studies in laboratory and community settings. I have an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach."

"'What's it worth?' That question summarizes my research interests. The worth or value I'm interested in is not finding the price, but the value that people place on a good (or avoiding a bad). It's important to distinguish, too, the difference between a value in exchange and a value in use. My current investigation is on the value people place on reducing their risk of death from natural or man-made disasters. Within business and management topics, I'll be exploring the impacts of business regulation, and how non-profit and public sector work is valued."

Judith Thorn's general interests include signal transduction, the cytoskeleton, endocytosis, cell movements, development, dog behavior and training, and animal assisted therapy.