Natalie J. Shook

Ph.D.

Professor

Director, Biobehavioral Research Lab

She/Her/Hers

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I am an experimental social psychologist. The goal of my research is to understand psychosocial factors that influence psychological and physical health, as well as social attitudes. I am particularly interested in negative cognitive processes that underlie depression, anxiety, and pain, and the extent to which mindfulness may improve these conditions. I also study psychological disease avoidance processes (e.g., disgust, germ aversion) and how they shape health, social, and political attitudes and behaviors. Finally, I am interested in mental and physical health disparities experienced by different racial/ethnic, age, sexual, and gender identity groups.

Visit the Shook Lab website.

Research/Scholarship Interests

• Mindfulness
• Mental health
• Healthy aging
• Pain
• Health disparities

Honors & Awards

• 2017: Faculty Award for Distinction in Mentoring of Undergraduates in Research
• 2017: Outstanding Service Award from the McNair Scholars Program
• 2015: Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Researcher Award

Selected Publications

View Dr. Shook’s full publication list on Google Scholar.

(* graduate student advisee; ** undergraduate student advisee)

**Gibb, A., *Wilson, J., *Ford, C. G., & Shook, N. J. (2022). Does mindfulness reduce negative interpretation bias? Cognition and Emotion, 36, 284-299.

*Lee, J., *Ford, C. G., *McCluskey, D. L., *Hopkins, P. D., McNeil, D. W., & Shook, N. J. (2022). Testing the effectiveness of Brief Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depression-Revised: Changes in depression, anxiety, dysfunctional attitudes, and mindfulness. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment.

*Sevi, B., & Shook, N. J. (2021). The relation between disgust sensitivity and risk-taking propensity: A domain specific approach. Judgment and Decision Making, 16, 950-968.

*Haliwa, I., *Wilson, J., *Lee, J., & Shook, N. J. (2021). Predictors of change in mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Affective Disorders, 291, 331-337.

*Wilson, J., *Sevi, B., Strough, J., & Shook, N. J. (2021). Age differences in risk taking: Now you see them, now you don’t. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition.