My research activities include interdisciplinary work in political psychology, communication, and cross-cultural psychology as well as basic psychological research in social cognition and attitudes. In exploring these issues, I have adopted an information processing approach that incorporates the role of affect and nonverbal cues (e.g., a candidate's facial expression) into an overall model of social judgment and decision making (Iyengar & Ottati, 1994; Ottati & Wyer, 1990, 1993; Wyer & Ottati, 1993).

I am involved in a variety of programs of research. These include (1) processing style in political attitude formation tasks, (2) the unique role of episodic affect as a determinant of political attitudes, (3) persuasive communication, (4) metaphor and communication, (5) the distinction between corrected and uncorrected social judgments, (6)communication and stigma reduction, (7) cross-cultural and basic research concerning stereotypes and perceived group variability,(8) cross-cultural research on subjective culture, and (9) unconscious evaluation.

Primary Interests:

Applied Social Psychology
Attitudes and Beliefs
Causal Attribution
Communication, Language
Intergroup Relations
Interpersonal Processes
Judgment and Decision Making
Person Perception
Persuasion, Social Influence
Political Psychology
Prejudice and Stereotyping
Social Cognition

Applied Social Psychology
Attitudes and Beliefs
Causal Attribution
Communication, Language
Intergroup Relations
Interpersonal Processes
Judgment and Decision Making

Person Perception
Persuasion, Social Influence
Political Psychology
Prejudice and Stereotyping
Social Cognition

Books:

Ottati, V., Tindale, R. S., Edwards, J., Bryant, F. B., Heath, L., O’Connell, D. C., Suarez-Balcazar, Y., Posavac, E. J. (Eds.). (2002). The social psychology of politics (Social Psychological Applications to Social Issues, Vol. 5). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

Journal Articles:

Lee, Y., & Ottati, V. (1995). Perceived in-group homogeneity as a function of group membership salience and stereotype threat. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 612-621.
Ottati, V., Graesser, A., & Rhoads, S. (1999). The effect of metaphor on processing style in a persuasion task: A motivational resonance model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 688-697.
Ottati, V., & Isbell, L. (1996). Effects of mood during exposure to target information onsubsequently reported judgments: An on-line model of misattribution and correction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 39-53.
Ottati, V., Terkildsen, N., & Hubbard, C. (1997). Happy faces elicit heuristic processing in a televised impression formation task: A cognitive tuning account. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 1144-1156.

Other Publications:

Ottati, V. (2001). The psychological determinants of political judgment. In A. Tesser & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology: Intraindividual Processes (615-634), Oxford: Blackwell.
Ottati, V., Bodenhausen, G., Newman, L. (2005). Social psychological models of mental illness stigma. In P. Corrigan, P. (Ed.), On the stigma of mental illness: Practical strategies for research and social Change (99-128). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Ottati, V., Edwards, J., Krumdick, N. (2005). Attitudes and attitude change: Intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary applications. In D. Albarracin, B.T. Johnson, & M.P. Zanna (Eds.), The handbook of attitudes (707-742). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Courses Taught:

Attitudes and Persuasive Communication
Cognitive Social Psychology
Consumer Psychology
Decision Making
Mass Communication and Politics
Personality Psychology
Political Psychology
Social Psychology
Voting Behavior

Attitudes and Persuasive Communication
Cognitive Social Psychology
Consumer Psychology
Decision Making
Mass Communication and Politics

Personality Psychology
Political Psychology
Social Psychology
Voting Behavior

Victor Ottati
Department of Psychology
Loyola University Chicago
1032 W. Sheridan Road
Chicago, IL 60660
United States

Phone: (773) 508-3024