Statement of Interests

As a researcher and teacher, I have always worn two hats. On the one hand, the cornerstone of any potentially applicable science rests on the efforts of basic scientists, who test theoretically derived hypotheses. On the other hand, it's essential to keep a window to the world outside our laboratories; it is only in the helter-skelter world outside that we learn of the limitations of the effects that we find in our laboratories, and of the potential applications of our basic science for conceiving of social problems and working to ameliorate them.

For example, my early basic research on interpersonal conflict and the ways by which offenders use language to extricate themselves from the negative identity implications of their bad behavior led to subsequent experimental and nonexperimental research on the ways that politicians exploit language when confronted with real or alleged personal or professional misconduct, and on the consequences of their efforts to engage in the sociolinguistics of damage control.

To cite another example, our recent work on the phenomenology of forgiveness has revealed that forgiveness is a complex, multidimensional phenomenon that involves affective, cognitive, and behavioral changes, and our findings are germane to basic research questions about the relation between cognition and affect, and about psychological changes that unfold over time. As important, our enhanced understanding of the phenomenon of forgiveness in the aftermath of harm-doing enables us to form collaborations with advocates of victim-offender mediation, a community based alternative to retributive justice. What psychological and behavioral changes are associated with victims' satisfaction with victim-offender mediation, and what aspects of the complex dynamics of victim-offender mediation are associated with what kinds of affective, cognitive, and behavioral benefits to victims of crime?

Kurt Lewin, in many respects the father of contemporary social psychology, once asserted that "a science that produces nothing but books will not suffice." Whether addressing the psychological underpinnings of successful energy conservation programs, patient education programs, political socialization in the public schools, or restorative justice and forgiveness, I have worked to combine the best that basic and applied research have to offer researchers who want to give psychology away to those who would benefit most from our generosity.

Selected Publications

Gonzales, M. H., Riedel, E., Avery, P.G., & Sullivan, J. L. (2001). Rights and obligations in civic education: A content analysis of the National Standards for Civics and Government. Theory and Research in Social Education, 29 (1), 109-128.

Rudman, L. A., Gonzales, M. H., & Borgida, E. (1999). Mishandling the gift of life: Noncompliance in renal transplant patients. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 4, 835-852.

Gonzales, M. H., Manning, D. J., & Haugen, J. A. (1992). Explaining our sins: Factors influencing offender accounts and anticipated victim responses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 958-971.

Gonzales, M. H., Kovera, M. B., Sullivan, J. L., & Chanley, V. (1995). Private reactions to public transgressions. Predictors of evaluative responses to allegations of political misconduct. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21,136-148.

Chanley, V., Sullivan, J. L., Gonzales, M. H., & Kovera, M. B. (1994). Lust and avarice in politics: Damage control for four politicians accused of wrongdoing (or, politics as usual). American Politics Quarterly, 22, 297-333.

Williamson, I., & Gonzales, M. H. (2003). The Phenomenology of Forgiveness: Validation of a Measure of the Forgiveness Experience. Manuscript under review.