Fellow, Society of Behavioral Medicine; Member, Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research; Fellow, APA Division 38 (Health); APA Meritorious Research Service Citation; APA Nathan Perry Award; NIH Director's Award; University of Utah College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Superior Research Award

My research focuses on the cognitive, motivational, and social processes underlying health threat appraisal and coping. My research program has followed three tracks: first, a line of experimental laboratory research that examines threat appraisal in a highly controlled setting; second, controlled prospective research on the psychological aspects of risk factor screening (e.g. cholesterol testing); third, applied observational research at the clinical and population levels concerning genetic testing for cancer susceptibility genes (e.g. BRCA1 mutations).

Within these three tracks of health psychology research, our work has focused on appraisal processes, social comparison, motivated processing of threat-related information, and biases in long-term memory. We are especially interested in the role of denial and defensiveness in individual's reactions to negative health events. My most recent work has utilized national surveys to examine these issues among physicians and the public.

Primary Interests:

Applied Social Psychology
Communication, Language
Emotion, Mood, Affect
Health Psychology
Interpersonal Processes
Motivation, Goal Setting
Persuasion, Social Influence

Applied Social Psychology
Communication, Language
Emotion, Mood, Affect
Health Psychology

Interpersonal Processes
Motivation, Goal Setting
Persuasion, Social Influence

Books:

Croyle, R. T. (Ed.). (1995). Psychosocial effects of screening for disease prevention and detection. New York: Oxford University Press.
Miller, S. M., Bowen, D. J., Croyle, R. T., & Rowland, J. H. (Eds.). (2009). Handbook of cancer control and behavioral science: A resource for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Nelson, D. E., Hesse, B. W., & Croyle, R. T. (2009). Making data talk: Communicating public health data to the public, policy makers, and the press. New York: Oxford University Press.

Journal Articles:

Barger, S. D., Kircher, J. C., & Croyle, R. T. (1997). The effects of social context and defensiveness on the physiological responses of repressive copers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 1118-1128.
Botkin, J. R., Smith, K. R., Croyle R. T., et al. (2003). Genetic testing for a BRCA1 mutation: Prophylactic surgery and screening behavior in women two years post testing. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 118, 201-209.
Croyle, R. T. (2008). The National Cancer Institute's transdisciplinary centers initiatives and the need for building a science of team science. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 35, S90-S93.
Croyle, R. T., Loftus, E. F., Barger, S. D., Sun, Y. C., & Hart, M. (2006). How well do people recall risk factor test results? Accuracy and bias among cholesterol screening participants. Health Psychology, 25, 425-32.
Croyle, R. T., Smith, K. R., Botkin, J. R., Baty, B., Lerman, C., Goldgar, D., Ward, J., Flick, B., & Nash, J. (1997). Psychological responses to BRCA1 mutation testing: Preliminary findings. Health Psychology, 16, 63-72.
Croyle, R. T., Sun, Y., & Louie, D. (1993). Psychological minimization of cholesterol test results: Moderators of appraisal in college students and community residents. Health Psychology, 12, 503-507.
Lerman, C., Croyle, R. T., Tercyak, K. P., & Hamann, H. (2002). Genetic testing: Psychological aspects and implications. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70, 784-797.
Nelson, D. E., Kreps, G. L., Hesse, B. W., Croyle R. T., et al. (2005). The Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS): Development, design, and dissemination. Journal of Health Communication, 9, 443-460.
Smith, K. R., Ellington, L., Chan A. Y., Croyle, R. T., & Botkin, J. R. (2004). Fertility intentions following testing for a BRCA1 gene mutation. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, 13, 733-470.
Sun, Y., & Croyle, R. T. (1995). Level of health threat as a moderator of social comparison preferences. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 25, 1937-1952.
White, P. H., Sanbonmatsu, D. M., & Croyle, R. T. (2002). Test of socially motivated underachievement: "Letting up" for others. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 162-169.

Other Publications:

Croyle, R. T., Sun, Y., & Hart, M. (1997). Processing risk factor information: Defensive biases in health-related judgments and memory. In K. J. Petrie & J. A. Weinman (Eds.), Perceptions of Health and Illness. Amsterdam: Harwood.

Robert T. Croyle
National Cancer Institute
Executive Plaza North
6130 Executive Boulevard, Room 6138
Rockville, MD 20852
United States

Phone: (301) 594-6776
Fax: (301) 594-6787