Ronnie Janoff-Bulman

Emeritus Faculty
Ronnie Janoff-Bulman
Contact
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RESEARCH FOCUS

During the first half of my career I focused on victimization and trauma. Growing out of an interest in attribution theory, my research explored how survivors understand and account for their victimization. Common responses across victim populations ultimately led me to develop a new theory of trauma based on the concept of shattered assumptions.

In the second half of my career my focus shifted to morality, particularly the motivations underlying different moral perspectives and their implications for broader social regulation. I developed a comprehensive map of the moral domain and most recently explored the intersection of morality and politics, specifically the moral underpinnings of political ideologies.

  • Editor Psychological Inquiry: An International Journal for the Advancement of Psychological Theory — 2010–2016
  • Final Grant Moral regulation: A dual system perspective. Funded by the National Science Foundation (June 2011–May 2014; $299,997).

 

PUBLICATIONS

BOOKS

  • Janoff-Bulman, R. (2023). The Two Moralities: Conservatives, Liberals, and the Roots of Our Political Divide. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
  • Janoff-Bulman, R. (1992). Shattered Assumptions: Towards a New Psychology of Trauma. NY: Free Press. (Paperback, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2010) — Google Scholar: over 10,500 citations

SELECTED ARTICLES & CHAPTERS

  • Janoff-Bulman, R., & Carnes, N. C. (2013). Surveying the moral landscape: Moral motives and group-based moralities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 17, 219-236.
  • Janoff-Bulman, R., Sheikh, S., & Hepp, S. (2009). Proscriptive versus prescriptive morality: Two faces of moral regulation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 521-537.
  • Janoff-Bulman, R. (1989). Assumptive worlds and the stress of traumatic events: Applications of the schema construct. Social Cognition, Special Issue: Social Cognition and Stress, 7, 113-136.
  • Janoff-Bulman, R., Timko, C., & Carli, L. (1985). Cognitive biases in blaming the victim. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 21, 161-177.
  • Janoff-Bulman, R. (1979). Characterological versus behavioral self-blame: Inquiries into depression and rape. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1798-1809.
  • Brickman, P., Coates, D., & Janoff-Bulman, R. (1978). Lottery winners and accident victims: Is happiness relative? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36,917-927.
  • Visit my personal website for a comprehensive selection.

Research Areas

Social Psychology