Robin R. Vallacher
Department of Psychology
Florida Atlantic University
777 Glades Road
Boca Raton, Florida 33431-0991
U.S.A.
Home Page
Phone: (561) 297-3371
Fax: (561) 297-2160
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Broadly defined, my work centers on the dynamic properties of complex human experience at different levels of social reality. The specific topics currently under investigation include the emergence and maintenance of self-concept coherence, the intrinsic dynamics of self-evaluation and social judgment, the dynamics of self-regulation and action planning, the coordination of behavior and internal states in social interaction, intractable conflict, and societal change. These topics are investigated with laboratory experiments utilizing time-series data and by means of computer simulations (cellular automata, attractor neural networks, coupled dynamical systems). I’m also interested in evolutionary psychology, in part because of its intrinsic interest, but also because of its resonance with basic dynamic processes (e.g., nonlinearity, phase transitions, emergence). Although my primary concern is identifying basic principles of human experience, my research within the dynamical perspective has direct implications for application. Four current research agendas in particular have an applied focus. (1) The dynamics of protracted (seemingly intractable) conflict; (2) Self-reflection dynamics and maladjustment; (3) Disruptions in social coordination; (4) Catastrophic societal transitions.
 Books:
 Nowak, A., & Vallacher, R. R. (1998). Dynamical social psychology. New York: Guilford Press.
- Vallacher, R. R., & Nowak, A. (Eds). (1994). Dynamical systems in social psychology. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
- Wegner, D. M., & Vallacher, R. R. (1977). Implicit psychology: An introduction to social cognition. New York: Oxford University. Press.
Journal Articles:
- Nowak, A., Vallacher, R. R., Tesser, A., & Borkowski, W. (2000). Society of self: The emergence of collective properties in self-structure. Psychological Review, 107, 39-61.
- Rudich, E., & Vallacher, R. R. (1999). To belong or to self-enhance? The motivational bases for choosing interaction partners. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 1387-1404.
- Vallacher, R. R. (2007). Local acts, global consequences: A dynamical systems perspective on torture. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 13, 1-6.
- Vallacher, R. R., & Nowak, A. (1997). The emergence of dynamical social psychology. Psychological Inquiry, 8, 73-79.
- Vallacher, R. R., Nowak, A., Froehlich, M., & Rockloff, M. (2002). The dynamics of self-evaluation. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6, 370-379.
- Vallacher, R. R., Read, S. J., & Nowak, A. (2002). The dynamical perspective in personality and social psychology. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6, 264-273.
Other Publications:
- Nowak, A., & Vallacher, R. R. (1998). Toward computational social psychology: Cellular automata and neural network models of interpersonal dynamics. In S. J. Read & L. C. Miller (Eds.), Connectionist models of social reasoning and social behavior (pp. 277-311). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
- Nowak, A., Vallacher, R. R., & Zochowski, M. (2002). The emergence of personality: Personal stability through interpersonal synchronization. In D. Cervone & W. Mischel (Eds.), Advances in personality science (Vol. 1, pp. 292-331). New York: Guilford Press.
- Vallacher, R. R. & Nowak, A. (2007). Dynamical social psychology: Finding order in the flow of human experience. In A. W. Kruglanski & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (2nd ed, pp. 734-758). New York: Guilford Publications.
- Vallacher, R. R. & Nowak, A. (2006). Coherence in human experience and psychological science. In P. Van Lange (Ed.), Bridging social psychology: The benefits of transdisciplinary approaches (pp. 77-82). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Vallacher, R. R., & Nowak, A. (2000). Landscapes of self-reflection: Mapping the peaks and valleys of self-evaluation. In A. Tesser, R. Felson, & J. Suls (Eds.), Psychological perspectives on self and identity (pp. 35-65). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
- Vallacher, R. R., & Nowak, A. (1999). The dynamics of self-regulation. In R. S. Wyer, Jr. (Ed.), Advances in social cognition (Vol. 12, pp. 241-259). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
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