Updated: September 2006

Educational Background

UCLA 1978-1983 - Ph.D., Social Psychology
CSU, Long Beach 1975-1978 - MA, Psychology
Loyola Marymount Univ. 1971-1975 - BA, Psychology

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Employment History

1996-present - Professor of Psychology, Pomona College
1998-2001 - Chair of Psychology
1988-1996 - Associate Professor of Psychology, Pomona College
1982-1988 - Assistant Professor of Psychology, Pomona College
1988-present - Adjunct Professor of Psychology, Claremont Graduate University

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Grants and Awards

2006-2009 National Science Foundation Grant : Threat Orientation Model: Dispositional and Situational Influences on Reactions to Potential Threats

2002-2003 National Science Foundation Grant : Restoring Assumptions of Safety and Control Following the 2001 Terrorist Attacks

1998 Haynes Research Grant

1997 Mellon Grant (with Drs. Marcus-Newhall and Costanzo)

1996 Mellon Grant (with Drs. Marcus-Newhall and Costanzo)

1994 Parsons Foundation Research Grant

1993 Hewlett Foundation Grant (with Dr. Marcus-Newhall)

1992 American Foundation For AIDS Research (AmFAR) Grant

1992 Irvine Foundation Grant

1992 Hughes Medical Institute Summer Research Grant

1991 Haynes Research Grant

1990 Pew Foundation Grant

1989 Hughes Medical Institute Summer Research Grant

1989 Ford Foundation Research and Teaching Grant

1988 Pew Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship

1988 Sloan New Liberal Arts Grant

1987 Mortar Board Professor of the Month, Pomona College

1985 Haynes Foundation Summer Fellowship

1984 Sloan Grant

1982-present Pomona College Research Grants

1982 Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Grant

1978 Graduate Dean's List of University Scholars, CSU, Long Beach

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Publications

Thompson, S. C. (1975). Detection of social cues: A signal detection theory analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 4, 452-455.

Thompson, S. C. (1981). A complex answer to a simple question: Will it hurt less if I can control it? Psychological Bulletin, 90, 89-101.

Thompson, S. C. & Kelley, H. H. (1981). Judgments of responsibility for activities in close relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 469-477.

Taylor, S. E., Wood, J., & Thompson, S. C. (1981). Psychological control. In B. Wolman (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Neurology, Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology. New York: Van Nostrand, Reinhold.

Taylor, S. E., & Thompson, S. C. (1982). Stalking the elusive "vividness" effect. Psychological Review, 89, 155-181.

Thompson, S. C. (1985). Finding positive meaning in an event and coping. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 6, 279-295.

Graham, M., Thompson, S. C., & Yonekura, M. L. (1987). Factors affecting psychological adjustment to a fetal demise. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 157, 254-257.

Thompson, S. C., Cheek, P. & Graham, M. (1988). The other side of perceived control: Disadvantages and negative effects. In S. Oskamp & S. Spacapan (Eds.), The Social Psychology of Health (pp. 69-93). Beverly Hills: Sage.

Collins, R. L., Taylor, S. E., Wood, J. V., & Thompson, S. C. (1988). The vividness effect: Elusive or illusory? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 24, 1-18.

Thompson, S. C., & Janigian, A. (1988). Life schemes: A framework for understanding the search for meaning. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 7, 260-280.

Thompson, S. C., Sobolew-Shubin, A., Graham, M., & Janigian, A. (1989). Psychosocial adjustment following a stroke. Social Science and Medicine, 28, 239-247.

Thompson, S. C., Bundek, N. I., & Sobolow-Shubin, A., (1990). The caregivers of stroke patients: An investigation of factors associated with depression. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 20, 115-129.

Thompson, S. C., Nanni, C., & Schwankovsky, L. (1990). Patient-oriented interventions to improve communication in a medical office visit. Health Psychology, 9, 390-404.

Thompson, S. C. & Spacapan, S. (1991). Perceptions of control in vulnerable populations. Journal of Social Issues, 47, 1-21.

Thompson, S. C. (1991). Intervening to enhance perceptions of control. In C. R. Snyder & D. Forsyth (Eds.), Handbook of social and clinical psychology (pp. 607-623). New York: Pergamon Press.

Thompson, S. C. (1991). The search for meaning following a stroke. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 12, 81-96.

Thompson, S. C., & Stoutemeyer, K. (1991). Water use as a commons dilemma: The effects of education that focuses on long-term consequences and individual action. Environment and Behavior, 23, 314-333.

Thompson, S. C., & Pitts, J. S. (1992). In sickness and in health: Chronic illness and marriage. In S. Spacapan and S. Oskamp (Eds.), Helping and being helped (pp. 115-151). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Thompson, S. C., Sobolew-Shubin, A., Galbraith, M. E., Schwankovsky, L., & Cruzen, D. (1993). Maintaining perceptions of control: Finding perceived control in low-control circumstances. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 293-304.

Thompson, S. C. (1993). Cognitive coping: Research and implications. In Turnbull, A. P., Patterson, J. M., Behr, S. G., Murphy, O. L., & Marquis, S. J. (Eds.), Cognitive Coping in Families Who Have a Member with a Developmental Disability. Theoretical and Empirical Implications and Directions. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.

Thompson, S. C., & Sobolew-Shubin, A. (1993). Perceptions of overprotection in ill adults. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 23, 85-97.

Thompson, S. C., Schwankovsky, L., & Pitts, J. (1993). Counselling patients to make lifestyle changes: The role of physician self-efficacy, training and beliefs about causes. Family Practice, 10, 70-75.

Thompson, S. C., & Sobolew-Shubin, A. (1993). Overprotective relationships: A nonsupportive side of social networks. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 14, 363-383.

Mio, J. S., Thompson, S. C., & Givens, G. H. (1993). The commons dilemma as metaphor: Memory, influence, and implications for environmental conservation. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 8, 23-42.

Thompson, S. C. (1993). Perspectives on the search for meaning. Contemporary Psychology, 38, 567-568. (Book review.)

Thompson, S. C. (1993). Naturally-occurring perceptions of control: A model of bounded flexibility. In G. Weary, F. Gleicher, & K. Marsh (Eds.), Control Motivation and Social Cognition. (pp. 74-93). New York: Springer-Verlag

Thompson, S. C. (1993). Successful adjustment to chronic illness: Expanding the focus to include aging and physical outcomes. The Health Psychologist, 15, 3-4.

Thompson, S. C. & Pitts, J. (1993). Factors that are related to a person's ability to find meaning following a diagnosis of cancer. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, 11, 1-21.

Thompson, S. C., Pitts, J., & Schwankovsky, L. (1994). Preferences for involvement in medical decision making: Situational and demographic influences. Patient Education and Counseling, 22, 133-140.

Thompson, S. C., Nanni, C., & Levine, A. (1994). Primary versus secondary and disease versus consequence-related control in HIV-positive men. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 540-547.

Thompson, S. C. G., & Barton, M. A. (1994). Ecocentric and anthropocentric attitudes toward the environment. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 14, 149-157.

Thompson, S. C., & Collins, M. A. (1995). Applications of perceived control to cancer: An overview of theory and measurement. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, 13, 11-26.

Thompson, S. C., & Collins, M. A. (1995). Applications of perceived control to cancer: An overview of theory and measurement. In B. Curbow, & M. R. Somerfield (Eds.), Psychosocial Resource Variables in Cancer Studies: Conceptual and Measurement Issues. New York: Haworth Press.

Davis, C. G., Lehman, D. R., Wortman, C. B., Silver, R. C., & Thompson, S. C. (1995). The undoing of traumatic life events. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 109-124.

Thompson, S. C., Medvene, L. J., & Freedman, D. (1995). Caregiving in the close relationships of cardiac patients: Exchange, power, and attributional perspectives on caregiver resentment. Personal Relationships, 2, 125-142.

Banks, W. P. & Thompson, S. C. (1996). The mental image of the human body: Implications of physiological mental models for our understanding of health and illness. In J. S. Mio & A. N. Katz (Eds.). Metaphor: Implications and Applications. Hillsdale, NH: Erlbaum.

Thompson, S. C., Anderson, K., Freedman, D., & Swan, J. (1996). Illusions of safety in a risky world: A study of college students' condom use. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 26, 189-210.

Thompson, S. C., Collins, M. A., Newcomb, M. D., & Hunt, W. (1996). On fighting versus accepting stressful circumstances: Primary and secondary control among HIV-positive men in prison. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 1307-1317.

Thompson, S. C., Nanni, C., & Levine, A. (1996). The stressors and stress of being HIV-positive. AIDS Care, 8, 5-14.

Thompson, S. C., & Swan, J. (1996). Preventing AIDS. Theories and methods of behavioral interventions. Archives of Sexual Behavior. (Book review).

Rickabaugh, C., & Thompson, S. C. (1996). Of optimism, learned helplessness, and yearning for control: Two views on personal control. Contemporary Psychology. (Book review).

Thompson, S. C., & Oskamp, S. (1996). Understanding and promoting HIV-preventive behavior: An overview. In S. Oskamp & S. C. Thompson (Eds.), Safer Sex and Drug Use: Understanding and Preventing HIV Risk Behavior. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Thompson, S. C. (1996). Maintaining meaning; Keeping control. Coping.

Thompson, S. C. (1996). Barriers to maintaining a sense of meaning and control in the face of loss. Journal of Personal and Interpersonal Loss, 1, 333-358.

Thompson, S. C., Kohles, J. C., Otsuki, T. A., & Kent, D. R. (1997). Perceptions of attitudinal similarity in ethnic groups in the US: Ingroup and outgroup homogeneity effects. European Journal of Social Psychology, 26, 815-826.

Thompson, S. C., Armstrong, W., & Thomas, C. (1998). Illusions of control, underestimations, and accuracy: A control heuristic explanation. Psychological Bulletin, 123, 143-161.

Thompson, S. C. (1998). Blockades to finding meaning and control. In J. Harvey (Ed.), Perspectives on Loss: A sourcebook. Death, dying, and Bereavement (pp. 21-34). Taylor & Francis.

Thompson, S. C., Thomas, C., Rickabaugh, C. A., Tantamjarik, P., Otsuki, T., Pan, D., Garcia, B. F., & Sinar, E. (1998). Primary and secondary control over age-related changes in physical appearance. Journal of Personality, 66, 585-607.

Thompson, S. C., Kent, D. K., Thomas, C., & Vrungos, S. (1999). Real and illusory control over exposure to HIV in college students and gay men. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 29, 1128-1150.

Thompson, S. C. (1999). Illusions of control: How we overestimate our personal influence. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8, 187-190.

Thompson, S. C., & Wierson, M. (2000). Enhancing perceived control in psychotherapy. In R. C. Snyder and R. E. Ingram (Eds.) The Handbook of Psychological Change: Psychotherapy Processes and Practices for the 21st Century (pp. 177-197). New York: Wiley.

Thompson, S. C., Kyle, D. J. (2000). The role of perceived control in coping with the losses associated with chronic illness. In J. H. Harvey & E. D. Miller (Eds), Loss and Trauma: General and Close Relationship Perspectives (pp. 131-145). Philadelphia, PA: Bruner/Mazel.

Marcus-Newhall, A., Thompson, S., & Thomas, C. (2001). Examining a gender stereotype: Menopausal women. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 31, 698-719.

Thompson, S. C., Galbraith, M., Thomas, C., Swan, J., Vrungos, S. (2002). Caregivers of stroke patient family members: Behavioral and attitudinal indicators of overprotective care. Psychology & Health, 17, 297-312.

Thompson, S. C., Kyle, D., Swan, J., Thomas, C. & Vrungos, S. (2002). Increasing condom use by undermining perceived invulnerability to HIV. AIDS Education and Prevention, 14, 505-514.

Thompson, S. C. (2002). The role of personal control in adaptive functioning. In C. R. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.) Handbook of Positive Psychology (pp. 202-213). London: Oxford University Press.

Thompson, S. C. (2004). Illusions of control. In R. F. Pohl (Ed.), Cognitive Illusions. London: Psychology Press.

Thompson, S. C., Kyle, K., Osgood, A., Quist, R. M., Phillips, D. J., & McClure, M. (2004). Illusory control and motives for control: The role of connection and intentionality. Motivation and Emotion, 28, 315-330.

Thompson, S. C., Schlehofer, M. M., & Bovin, M. J. (2006). The measurement of threat orientations. American Journal of Health Behavior, 30, 147-157.

Thompson, S. C., Schlehofer, M. M., Bovin, M. J., Dougan, B. T., Montes, D., & Trifskin, S. (2006). Dispositions, control strategies, and distress in the general public after the 2001 terrorist attack. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 19, 143-159.

Thompson, S. C., & Schlehofer, M. M.  (2007).  The many sides of control motivation:  Motives for high, low, and illusory control. In J. Shah & W. Gardner (Eds.)  Handbook of motivation science.  New York:  Guilford Publications.

Thompson, S. C., Nierman, A., Schlehofer, M. M., Carter, E., Bovin, M. J., Wurzman, L., Tauber, P., Trifskin, S., Marks, P., Sumner, J., Jackson, A., & Vonasch, A.  (2007).  How do we judge personal control?  Unconfounding contingency and reinforcement.  Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 29, 75-84.

Thompson, S. C. (2007).  The role of personal control in adaptive functioning.  In S. J. Lopez (Ed.) Handbook of positive psychology, 2nd edition.   London: Oxford University Press.  

Thompson, S. C., & Schlehofer, M. M.  (2007).  Perceived control.  In M. Gerrard and K.D. McCaul (Eds.), A web-based health lexicon.  National Cancer Institute.

Nierman, A. J., Thompson, S. C., Bryan, A., & Mahaffey, A. L.  (in press). Gender role beliefs and attitudes toward lesbians and gay men in Chile and the U.S.  Sex Roles:  A Journal of Research.

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Editorial and Reviewing Experience

Consulting Editor for Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and the Journal for Personality and Social Psychology, 2003 to present

"Perceived control in vulnerable populations" Journal of Social Issues issue, edited by S. Spacapan and S. C. Thompson.

Oskamp, S., & Thompson, S. C. (Eds.) (1996). Safer Sex and Drug Use: Understanding and Preventing HIV Risk Behavior. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Reviewer for:
American Psychologist
Basic and Applied Social Psychology
Health Psychology
Journal of Applied Social Psychology
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Journal of Research in Personality
Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology
Motivation and Emotion
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Psychological Bulletin
Psychological Review
Psychology and Aging
Sex Roles

Reviewer for conference proposals: APA Division 38, APA Division 7, International Conference on Personal Relationships, APA Division 8.

Reviewer for the SPSSI Dissertation Award, 1995.

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Invited Addresses

"Interpersonal relationships and coping with chronic illness" presented at the UCLA Health Psychology Lecture Series, September, 1989.

"The unsupportive side of social relations: Overprotection and conflict" presented at the Claremont Applied Psychology Symposium, February, 1990.

"Psychosocial adjustment to chronic illness" presented at the USC Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, March, 1990.

"Cognitive coping: Research and implications" presented at the Beach Center for the Study of Families and Disability Conference, Lawrence, KS, June, 1991.

"Living with cancer: Perceptions of control" presented at California State University, Long Beach, October, 1991.

"Naturally occurring perceptions of control: Realism, optimism, and flexibility" presented at the UC, Santa Barbara Psychology Department Social Area Seminar, October, 1991.

"Naturally occurring perceptions of control: Realism, optimism, and flexibility" presented at the UCLA Health Psychology/Behavioral Medicine Seminar, November, 1991.

"Perceived control: Lessons from HIV, Stroke, and Cancer Patients" presented at the USC Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, March, 1993.

"Living with HIV disease in the community and in prison: Maintaining a sense of control" at the CSU, Fullerton Symposium on Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, November, 1993.

"'They are all alike' versus 'United we stand': Outgroup and ingroup homogeneity effects" at the USC Social Psychology Brown Bag, February, 1994.

"Control over sudden cardiac death: Is this what the public wants?" American Heart Association Conference on Public Access Defibrillation, Washington DC, December, 1994.

"'Just do it" versus 'Let it be': Control, acceptance, illusion, and reality" presented at the Portland State University Psychology Department, November, 1995.

"Health Psychology and Coping"  Talk given at Loma Linda Psychology Department, 1/02.

"Benefits of Positive Illusions:  Using Enhanced Control to Reduce Defensiveness"  Invited presentation at the Southern California Positive Psychology Conference, 4/02.

"The Costs and Benefits of Perceived Control"  Invited presentation at the Human Ecology and Behavior School of UC, Irvine, 5/02.

"Saving Johnson's Pasture"  Talk given at Environment Quality Commission Conference, Claremont Colleges, 4/02.

Invited Address at Rand Corporation, Maintaining a Sense of Control in the Face of Threat.  April, 2003.

Invited Address at California State University, Long Beach, Psychology Department:  The Long-Term Effects of a Terrorist Attack on the General Public:  Restoring Adaptive Assumptions After September 11th,  October, 2003.

Invited Address at California State University, Northridge, Psychology Department,  The Long-Term Effects of a Terrorist Attack on the General Public:  Restoring Adaptive Assumptions After September 11th,  May, 2004.

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Professional Affiliations

American Psychological Association
American Psychological Society
Division 8 of American Psychological Association
Society for Experimental Social Psychology
Division 9 of American Psychological Association
Division 34 of American Psychological Association
Division 38 of American Psychological Association
Western Psychological Association

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