Julie Longua Peterson, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Chair, Institutional Review Board
Affiliated Faculty, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Location
Julie Longua Peterson is a Professor of Psychology and an affiliated faculty in the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. Dr. Peterson is also the principal investigator of the Self and Close Relationships Lab. Her program of research investigates the ways in which explicit (conscious, controlled) and implicit (unconscious, automatic) self and relationship processes influence how people navigate positive and negative interpersonal events (e.g., acceptance, rejection, discrimination). Her research uses experimental, observational, and experience sampling methodologies to explore these themes. Julie's courses include Introduction to Psychology, Social Psychology, Research Methods, Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies, and a seminar in the Social Self.
Credentials
Education
Research
Selected publications
*Denotes undergraduate student co-author
Kellogg, D., DeHart, T., Peterson J.L., Hamilton, H.R. (2023). Dating during the time of COVID-19: Risk perceptions and political ideology. Social and Personality Psychology Compass http://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12840
Peterson, J.L., Hamilton, H.R., DeHart, T., Kellogg, D., & Morgan, M. (2023). Love Sick: Attachment Anxiety and COVID-era Romantic Encounters in College Students. Emerging Adulthood http://doi.org/10.1177/216769682311771
Hamilton, H., Peterson, J.L. & DeHart, T (2022). COVID-19 in college: Risk perception and planned protective behavior. Journal of American College Health http://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2022.2071623
Hamilton, H., DeHart, T., Burrows, T., & Peterson, J.L. (2022). Do I like you? Effects of daily negative events and implicit self-esteem on daily implicit partner regard. Social Psychological and Personality Science. http://doi.org/10.1177/19485506211070511
Peterson, J.L., DeHart, T., Bellows, A.*, Guigere, B.*, & Sherman, J. (2019). Partner self-esteem and interpersonal risk: Rejection from a low self-esteem partner constrains connection and increases depletion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 80, 17-30.
Peterson, J.L., Giguere, B.*, & Sherman, J.* (2017). Social connection and social networking: Daily conflict increases nightly Facebook use among avoidant participants. Self and Identity, 16, 215-230, DOI: 10.1080/15298868.2016.1247011.
Peterson, J.L., Belows, A.* & Peterson, S.* (2015). Promoting connection: Perspective-taking improves relationship closeness and perceived regard in participants with low implicit self-esteem. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 56, 160-164.
DeHart, T., Peterson, J.L., Richeson, J.A., & Hamilton, H. (2014). A diary study of daily perceived mistreatment and alcohol consumption in college students. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 36, 443-451.
Peterson, J.L. & DeHart, T. (2014). In defense of (self) love: An observational study on narcissists’ negative behavior during romantic relationship conflict. Self and Identity, 13,477-490.
Peterson, J.L. (2014). Explicit thoughts of security activate implicit self-doubt in anxiously attached participants. Personal Relationships, 21, 206-224.
Peterson, J.L. & DeHart, T. (2013). Regulating connection: Implicit self-esteem predicts positive nonverbal behavior during romantic relationship-threat. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 99-105.
DeHart, T., Longua, J.E., & Smith, J. (2011). To enhance or protect the self?: The complex role of explicit and implicit self-esteem. In Mark Alicke and Constantine Sedikides (Eds.), The Handbook of Self-Enhancement and Self-protection. New York: Guilford Press.
Longua, J.E., DeHart, T., Tennen, H., & Armeli, S. (2009). Personality moderates the interaction between positive and negative daily events predicting negative affect and stress. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 547-555.
Other scholarly activity
RESEARCH RELATED PRESS
Stand Up Science (March 2019). Academic presenter and panelist for Stand Up Science, an event tailored to bringing science and comedy together for the public. http://www.shanemauss.com/club-dates-1/2019/2/26/portland-me
News Center Now WCHS (January 2019). Interviewed for piece on new Gillette commercial confronting toxic masculinity. http://og5w.cctv1718.com/news/2019/une-professor-weighs-viral-gillette-ad
“Supreme Court Nomination: Reaction to the Latest News in the Brett Kavanaugh Confirmation Process” (September 24, 2018). Academic panelist for the Main Public Broadcasting Network’s (MPBN) Maine Calling http://www.mainepublic.org/post/supreme-court-nomination-reaction-latest-news-brett-kavanaugh-confirmation-process
“Why Can’t We Admit When We’re Wrong?” (July 24, 2018). Academic panelist for MPBN’s Maine Calling. http://www.mainepublic.org/post/why-cant-we-admit-when-were-wrong
“Narcissism: Understanding Narcissistic Personality Disorder” (May 24, 2018). Academic panelist for MPBN’s Maine Calling. http://www.mainepublic.org/post/narcissism-understanding-narcissistic-personality-disorder
Implicit Bias: Explained (March 2018). Panelist at Maine Science Festival (MSF) session on implicit bias and the impact of bias on daily interactions. http://www.mainesciencefestival.org/speakers/julie-peterson/
New York Magazine (February 2017). Interviewed for “Psychologists Explain Why IKEA Is a Relationship Death-Trap” http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2017/02/why-so-many-couples-fight-at-ikea.html
Seattle Met magazine (May 2016). Interviewed about narcissism in politics for “Will Donald Trump and his Bullying Win Over Washington Republicans?” http://www.seattlemet.com/articles/2016/4/22/will-donald-trump-s-bullying-pulpit-win-over-washington-republicans
SELF magazine (May 2015). Interviewed for “How to be vulnerable: Why letting your guard down can help you make time for cultivating closer relationships”
Research reviewed in Psychology Today blog post (October, 2014): Narcissists Need to Love Themselves More, Not Less: Why they react to conflict very differently than others, and why it matters. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201410/narcissists-need-love-themselves-more-not-less
“Why We Keep Things” (September, 2014). Academic panelist for MPBN Maine Calling http://news.mpbn.net/post/why-do-we-keep-stuff
“From self portrait to selfie: Need to be seen” (July, 2014). Discussed the self-portrait and resurgence of the “selfie” as an academic panelist for the SELF/selfie exhibition at Engine Art Gallery, Biddeford, ME.
Funded grants
Center for Excellence in Aging and Health (CEAH) grant (2019) “The Self and Daily Life in Older Adults.”
UNE Mini-Grant (2012). “Self-esteem, Belonging, and Daily Events: Regulating Connection in Response to Day-to-Day Interactions”
UNE Mini-Grant (2011). “You Love Me, I Love Me: Acceptance Reduces the Need to Self-Protect in Response to Threat”
Research interests
My research focuses on both self-regulatory processes in daily life and how feelings of (in)security influence close relationships. Specifically, I have explored the effects of explicit and implicit self-esteem and narcissism on behavioral response to;romantic relationship conflict, how positive relationship events differentially impact people with high (vs. low) felt security, and how individual differences in self-esteem and attachment style moderate responses to daily events and connection seeking behavior. More recently I have been exploring 1.) how identity threats, such as sexism and heterosexism, impact decision making and relationship closeness; 2.) how perceptions of a partner's self-worth guide relationship regulation processes.