Biological and Health Program
AREAS OF Research Concentration
Psychoneuroimmunology and Behavioral Oncology
Manuck, Marsland, Klein
Research has generated support for the possibility that cancer prevention efforts may be facilitated through understanding their psychosocial determinants (behavioral oncology), and that stress and other psychosocial variables may affect disease processes in cancer and other conditions, in part, through nervous system and hormonal modulation of immune function (psychoneuroimmunology). Faculty in the Biological and Health Psychology program are leaders in these growing fields of investigation. Ongoing research examines the effects of stress and emotion on immune function and inflammatory processes; the role of individual differences in moderating susceptibility to infectious disease; the relationship between autonomic function and immune parameters; the potential impact of inflammation on cognitive function; the relationship between emotional and cognitive factors and cancer prevention; and the effects of stress management interventions in asthma and pediatric cancer.
Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine
Gianaros, Jennings, Kamarck, Manuck, Matthews
There is now a substantial body of evidence supporting the importance of psychosocial processes in the development of cardiovascular disease, including heart disease, hypertension, and stroke. Faculty in the Biological and Health Psychology program at the University of Pittsburgh have played a central role in the development of this literature and this field, and in support of these efforts, we bring to bear state-of-the-art methods involving vascular and brain imaging, as well as laboratory, ambulatory, and nocturnal psychophysiology. Ongoing research examines the effects of social-environmental stress (including occupational stress, marital stress, socioeconomic status and discrimination stress) on risk for early signs of cardiovascular disease; the role of negative emotion (depression, hostility) in cardiovascular risk and the neurophysiologic pathways that may account for these effects; the role of chronic sleep disturbance on nocturnal physiology and biological risk factors for heart disease; the effects of hypertension and vascular disease on cognitive function; and the relationship between physiologic stress reactivity and vascular disease in adolescents, and middle aged and older adults.
Addictive Behaviors and Psychopharmacology
Caggiula, Donny, Perkins, Sayette, Shiffman
Drug use constitutes an important behavioral influence on health. People engage in these behaviors despite their negative health consequences for complex reasons that are important to understand if we are to develop effective prevention and treatment strategies. Contemporary thinking about drug use and drug dependence emphasizes the interaction between genetic, pharmacological, psychological and environmental influences, suggesting that a broad and multidisciplinary approach is important. Faculty in the Biological and Health Psychology program are therefore engaged in a wide range of research activities that include the contextual/social, pharmacological and behavioral factors that modulate the effects of nicotine/tobacco and alcohol; the phenomenon of drug craving and its psychological, social and neurobiological determinants; individual differences in responses to smoking and nicotine that may relate to vulnerability to dependence; behavioral and pharmacological approaches to treatment; methods for assessing drug use in the natural environment. Recent work has also applied several of these areas of interest to eating and obesity research, as well as the relationship between weight-gain and smoking cessation.
HEALTH NEUROSCIENCE AND Neurobehavioral Genetics
Erickson, Gianaros, Jennings, Manuck, Roecklein
Health Neuroscience and Neurobehavioral Genetics are thematic research concentrations that focus on understanding the brain mechanisms that link genetic, physiological, and social factors to health and disease. Students who pursue this concentration will be encouraged to complete additional training in neuroscience, human functional and structural neuroimaging, and behavioral genetics, as a basis for investigating topics encompassed by the other research concentrations in the Biological and Health program. Ongoing Health Neuroscience and Neurobehavioral Genetics research by faculty at the University of Pittsburgh includes studies of how genetic variation among individuals interacts with environmental factors to affect behavioral and brain phenotypes; how the brain orchestrates physiological responses to acute psychological stress; how changes in brain morphology relate to forms of chronic stress and psychosocial factors implicated in disease risk and resilience; how genetic factors and heritable dimensions of personality influence how the brain processes emotional information; how genetic factors interact with environmental light parameters to predict behavior including circadian rhythms and mood; how lifestyles influence cognition, brain function, and brain morphology in old age; how health-related interventions can prevent or reverse cognitive impairment in old age; and how the brain changes in structure and function with the progression of cardiovascular disease. Students who wish to pursue training in Health Neuroscience and Neurobehavioral Genetics are encouraged to jointly apply for admission into the graduate training program of the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (www.cnbc.cmu.edu).
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN HEALTH
Cheong, Kamarck, Klein, Matthews, Sayette
Health outcomes across a wide continuum from health behaviors to end-of-decision making are greatly influenced by social psychological processes such as self-evaluation, social cognition, social influence, group dynamics, and relationships. Many theories in social psychology and in related disciplines have been tested and applied in a health context. Research findings not only elucidate many of the psychosocial mechanisms underlying health outcomes, but also shed light on how social psychological factors can be modified to encourage risk-reducing behavior and ultimately decrease morbidity and mortality. Faculty in the Biological and Health Psychology program are engaged in research investigating social psychological determinants of health-related decisions and behaviors, addiction, and cardiovascular disease. Research foci include how social interactions and perceived discrimination are related to subclinical markers for cardiovascular disease; the link between socioeconomic status and emotion (and implications of this relationship for disease endpoints); the extent to which self-related processes such as self-affirmation and social comparison influence health decisions; how various health-related cognitions (e.g., perceptions of demand and control, risk perceptions, perceptions of social norms and costs/benefits) may be related to health behaviors such as risky sexual behaviors and substance use and to physiological markers of disease; and the role of substance use in group interaction and functioning.