Research

Research Image

Research of Consequence
The Department prides itself on its significant contribution to Mason’s designation as an R1 university. Research by faculty and students in the department has earned national respect, as demonstrated by awards, extramural grant funding, publications, and conference presentations. The department takes particular pride in the substantial level of high-impact research conducted by our faculty, as indicated by publications in leading journals, high citation rates, numerous media commentaries by faculty, and millions of dollars per year in funding from federal and state agencies as well as industry partners.

The Psychology Department has a focus on conducting research of consequence.  This research can be  basic or applied, experimental or correlational, but all with an eye toward producing new knowledge that helps better understand and improve people’s experience.

Our research is often multi-disciplinary. Psychology itself has many different dimensions and sub-disciplines, each of which contributes to our overall understanding of what humans do in various situations, as well as how and why they do it. Our faculty engage in both discipline-specific and multidisciplinary research within and outside of the field of psychology. Several of our faculty are strongly engaged in the University’s primary multidisciplinary research centers and institutes, including the Center for Adaptive Systems of Brain-Body Interactions, the Center for Advancing Human-Machine Partnership , the Institute for Biohealth Innovation, the Institute for Digital Innovation, and the Institute for a Sustainable Earth. This level of involvement across the university speaks to the nature of psychology as a “hub” discipline that often helps connect research from other disciplines.

In all of our work, the Psychology Department at George Mason University supports practice-informed research and research-informed practice. Engaging in practice-informed research ensures that we can help address problems of significance. Supporting and promoting research-based practice is how research can have a positive impact on the world around us. It is important that students understand the real-world application of the work they will do in the program, so that they can bring this knowledge to bear in their professional and personal lives.  You can read more about the specific research in the department by viewing faculty’s individual webpages or concentration-specific pages through the links on the side of the page.