Jennifer Taber

RESEARCH AREA:

• Psychological Science - Social
• Psychological Science - Health

Does Dr. Taber plan to recruit a doctoral student for the next incoming class?

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

My research is focused on understanding and promoting health behaviors. My research goals include understanding why people may not hold accurate perceptions of their disease risk, when and why risk perceptions predict behavior, and how to intervene to increase the likelihood that providing risk information will lead to behavior change. Another research interest is understanding and reducing defensive responses to threat through strategies such as self-affirmation. I am also interested in identifying and targeting motives unrelated to health – in particular affective motives – that may facilitate or interfere with health behaviors. In general, I apply social psychological theory to a variety of health contexts (e.g., health information avoidance, physical activity promotion, interpretation of numeric risk information). 

Postdoctoral Training: National Cancer Institute, Behavioral Research Program https://staffprofiles.cancer.gov/brp/prgmStaffProfile.do?contactId=16796178&bioType=flw

Courses Frequently Taught:

• Health Psychology (undergraduate)
• Social Psychology (graduate)
• Psychology of Risk Communication (graduate seminar)
• Emotions, Culture & Health (undergraduate, Florence Summer Institute)

Selected Publications:

Dr. Taber's Google Scholar profile has an up-to-date list of of her publications. 

• O’Brien, A.G., Meese, W.B., Taber, J.M., Johnson, A.E., Hinojosa, B.M., Burton, R., Ranjan, S., Rodarte, E.D., Coward, C., Howell, J.L. (2024). Why do people avoid health risk information? A Qualitative Analysis. SSM – Qualitative Research in Health, 6, 100461.
• Foust, J.L. & Taber, J.M. (2023) Information avoidance: Past perspectives and future directions. Perspectives on Psychological Science. Advance online publication, October 11, 2023.
• Taber, J.M., Updegraff, J.A., Sidney, P.G., O’Brien, A.G., & Thompson, C.A. (2023). Experimental Tests of Hypothetical Monetary Lottery Incentives on Unvaccinated Adults’ COVID-19 Vaccination Intentions. Health Psychology, 42(1), 33-45.
• Simonovic, N., Taber, J. M., Scherr, C.L., Dean, M. Hua, J., Howell, J.L., Chaudhry, B.M., Wain, K.E., & Politi, M. (2023). Uncertainty in healthcare and health decision making: Five methodological and conceptual research recommendations from an interdisciplinary team. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 46(4), 541-555.
• Thompson, C.A., Mielicki, M.K., Rivera, F., Fitzsimmons, C.J., Scheibe, D.A., Sidney, P.G., Taber, J.M., & Waters, E.A. (2023). Leveraging Math Cognition to Combat Health Innumeracy. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 18(1), 152-177.
• Taber, J.M., Aspinwall, L.G., Drummond, D. Stump, T.K., Kohlmann, W., & Leachman, S.A. (2020). Priority of risk (but not perceived magnitude of risk) predicts improved sun-protection behavior following melanoma genetic counseling. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 55(1), 24-40.
• Taber, J.M., McQueen, A. Simonovic, N.*, Waters, E.A. (2019). Adapting a self-affirmation intervention for use in a mobile application: Smokers who self-affirm report greater intentions to smoke. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 42(6), 1050-1061.
• Segar, M.L., Taber, J.M., Thai, C.L., Patrick, H., & Oh, A. (2017). Rethinking Physical Activity Communications: Using Focus Groups to Understand Women’s Goals, Values, and Beliefs to Improve Public Health. BMC Public Health, 17(1), 462.
• Taber, J.M. & Klein, W.M.P. (2016). The role of conviction in personal risk perceptions: What can we learn from research on attitude certainty? Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 10(4), 202-218.
• Taber, J.M., Leyva, B., & Persoskie, A. (2015). Why do people avoid medical care?: A qualitative study using national data. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 30(3), 290-297.