Dr. John D. Edwards
My "basic" research interest is attitudes: how they are formed, their components, functions, structures, properties and ways to measure them, and the factors that influence both persuasion and resistance to attitude change. Current studies deal with the relationship between attitudes and other constructs including knowledge, values, self-concepts, personality traits, and general ideologies, especially religiosity and secular humanism. These relationships are examined within the General Attitude Bonding Model applied to understand why people believe as they do. Another area of basic research examines an attitude dimension I have called "propriety," the prescriptive/proscriptive beliefs about proper behavior in relation to moral judgments. Another topic involves visual imagery of an attitude object as an additional form of mental representation along with the traditional cognitive, affective, and behavioral components. Other current studies are exploring brain hemisphere interaction in relation to attitude properties and resistance to change. The attitude objects we study always consist of targets of prejudice (e.g., ethnic groups, atheists) and controversial social issues (e.g., abortion, death penalty).
My "applied" research interests are in applying social psychological perspectives to educational issues. The emphasis is on integrating various theories to provide a conceptual framework for evaluating the operations and outcomes of educational programs. This complements my basic research by testing the impact of educational interventions on attitudes and related constructs such as knowledge and values. One example is an evaluation of how experiential learning in a field setting can transform a student's attitudes and actions through a process of cognitive/affective reflection.
Primary Interests:
- Applied Social Psychology
- Attitudes and Beliefs
- Ethics and Morality
- Person Perception
- Persuasion, Social Influence
- Prejudice and Stereotyping
Books:
- Edwards, J., Tindale, R.S., Heath, L., & Posavac, E.J. (1990). Social influence processes and prevention. New York: Plenum.
- Heath, L., Tindale, R.S., Edwards, J.,Posavac, E.J., Bryant, F.B., Henderson-King, E., Suarez-Balcazar, Y. & Myers, J. (Eds.), (1994). Applications of cognitive heuristics and biases to social issues. New York: Plenum.
- Ottati, V., Tindale, R. S., Edwards, J., Bryant, F., Heath, L., O'Connell, D. C., Suarez-Balcazar, Y., & Posavac, E. J. (Eds.). (2002). The social psychology of politics. New York: Kluwer/Plenum.
- Tindale, R. S., Posavac, E. J., Edwards, J. D., Heath, L., Bryant, F., Myers, J., Suarez-Balcazar, Y., & Henderson-King, E. (Eds.). (1998). Applications of theory and research on small groups to social issues. New York: Plenum.
Other Publications:
- Edwards, J. (1990). Frameworks for applying social psychological processes to social issues. In J. Edwards, R.S. Tindale, L. Heath, & E.J. Posavac (Eds.) Social influence processes and prevention. New York: Plenum.
- Edwards, J., Alarian, H., Harrison, P., & Abraham, N. (2010). Brain bi-laterality, relgiosity, and outgroup prejudice. Presented at the Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science, Boston, MA.
- Edwards, J. D. (2016). Content Analysis of Social Science Codes of Ethics: Implications for SPSSI. Presented at the 2016 Conference of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Minneapolis, MN.
- Edwards, J. D. (2014). Applying Value-Instrumentality Attitude Theory to Evaluating Undergraduate Psychology Programs. Presented at the 86th Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
- Edwards, J. D. (2014). Comparing the 27 Types of Positive, Negative, and Neutral Attitude Structures. Presented at the 15th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Austin, TX.
- Edwards, J. D., & Colville, T. S. (2016). Mentally Simulated Interactions and Quadripartite Attitudes toward Stigmatized Categories of People. Presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Diego, CA.
- Edwards, J. D., & Fiedorowicz, L. (2008). Sense of propriety as a correlate of the actual, ideal, and ought components of attitudes toward social issues. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Albuquerque, NM.
- Edwards, J. D., Fiedorowicz, L., & Abraham, N. (2012). Secular Humanist Ideology versus Religiosity as Correlates of Attitudes toward Social Issues. Presented at the 84th Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association. Chicago, IL.
- Edwards, J. D., & Harrison, P. R. (2014) Bridging the Prejudice Gap with Visual Imagery. Presented at the 10th Biennial Convention of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Portland, OR.
- Edwards, J. D., & Harrison, P. R. (2014). Relations between Brain Hemisphere Laterality and Attitude Favorability and Structure. Presented at the 26th Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science. San Francisco, CA.
- Edwards, J. D., & Harrison, P. R. (2012). Measuring the Four Mental Representations of Attitudes: Visual Images, Cognitions, Feelings, and Behaviors. Presented at the 67th Annual Conference of the American Association of Public Opinion Researchers, Orlando, FL.
- Edwards, J.D. & Harrison, P.R. (2011). In the mind's eye: The visual image component of attitudes. Presented at the 83rd Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
- Edwards, J., Fiedorowicz, L., & Suzuki, H. (2008). Prescriptive beliefs, sense of propriety, and feelings about social issues. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
- Edwards, J. & Sandberg, L. (2007). Opinion extremity as a function of bonding social issues to self-concepts. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research. Anaheim, CA.
- Fiedorowicz, L., & Edwards, J. (2010). Religious beliefs as predictors of explicit and implicit attitudes toward African-Americans and homosexuals. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Las Vegas, NV.
- Ottati, V., Edwards, J., & Krumdick, N. (2005). Attitude theory and research: Intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary connections. In D. Albarracin, B. T. Johnson, & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), The handbook of attitudes. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Dr. John D. Edwards
28011 Old Glenview Road
Apt. 219
Wilmette, Illinois 60091
United States of America
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- Mobile: 224-661-5382