Randy McCarthy
Research Interests
I have two main programs of research.
First, I study “every day” prosocial behaviors such as giving and receiving apologies, sharing compliments, offering social support, etc. These behaviors are important for understanding how people manage their social interactions so they can be happier and more socially connected.
Second, I study the way people explain social interactions. A strong focus of this research has been on the way people make sense of interpersonal transgressions and how this sense-making process is related to feelings of regret and desires for apologies.
Learn more about my research by going to my Google scholar profile
Representative Publications
- McCarthy, R. J. & Wilson, J. P. (2023). Perpetrators’ and Victims’ Folk Explanations of Aggressive Behaviors and Desires for Apologies. Collabra: Psychology, 9(1), 84918.
- McCarthy, R. J. (in press). Do perpetrators and victims rely on different information when judging whether aggressive behaviors are justified? Aggressive Behavior.
- McCarthy, R. J. & Wilson, J. P. (in press). Perpetrators’ Folk Explanations of Their Regretted and Justified Aggressive Behaviors. The Journal of Social Psychology.
- McCarthy, R. J., Jensen, A. P., Wilson, J. P., & Rivers, A. K. (2022). Perpetrators’, Victims’, and Witnesses’ Folk Explanations of Aggressive Behaviors. Psychological reports, 00332941221123781.
- Milner, J. S., Crouch, J. L., McCarthy, R. J., Ammar, J., Dominguez-Martinez, R., Thomas, C. L., & Jensen, A. P. (2022). Child physical abuse risk factors: A systematic review and a meta-analysis. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 101778.
- McCarthy, R. J., Rivers, A. K., Jensen, A. P., Pawirosetiko, J. S., & Erickson, J. M. (2022). Is the victim-perpetrator asymmetry stronger in situations where blame is being assigned?. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 101, 104333.
- McCarthy, R. J., Erickson, J. M., Hu, X., Pawirosetiko, J. S., Tarleton, H. L., Thomas, C. L., Tillery, M. G., & Sagarin, B. J. (2021). Broad agreement, but notes of caution with the implications of Sakaluk's (2020) critique of Wisman and Shrira (2020). Archives of Sexual Behavior, 50, 773-777.
- McCarthy, R.J. (2020). OSF | commentary on Wisman & Shrira (2020)
- McCarthy, R. J., & Rivers, A. K. (2021). Does trait hostility moderate the asymmetry in victim-perpetrator perceptions of aggressive behaviors? Psychological Reports.
- McCarthy, R. J., Gervais, W., Aczel, B., Al-Kire, R. L., Baraldo S. M., Baruh L., Basch, C., Baumert, A., Behler, A., Bettencourt, A., Bitar, A., Bouxom, H., Buck, A., Cemalcilar, Z., Chekroun, P., Chen, J. M., del Fresno- Díaz, A., Ducham, A, Edlund, J. E.,…Zogmaister, C. (2021). A multi-site collaborative study of the hostile priming effect. Collabra: Psychology, 7, 18738. https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.18738
- McCarthy, R. J., Skowronski, J. J., Verschuere, B., Meijer, E. H., Jim, A., Hoogesteyn, K., Orthey, R., …. Yildiz, E. (2018). Registered Replication Report: Srull & Wyer (1979). Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 1(3), 321-336.
- McCarthy, R., et al. (2018). An Investigation of Abstract Construal on Impression Formation: A Multi-Lab Replication of Mccarthy and Skowronski (2011). International Review of Social Psychology, 15, 1-6. doi:10.5334/irsp.133
- McCarthy, R. J. (2017). Due diligence: Revisiting the heat-aggression association hypothesis. Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology, 2, 216-227,
- McCarthy, R. J., & Elson, M. (2017). A Conceptual Review of Lab-Based Aggression Paradigms. Collabra: Psychology, 4(1), 1–12, doi:10.1525/collabra.104
- McCarthy, R. J., & Chartier, C. R (2017). Collections2: Using “Crowdsourcing” within Psychological Research. Collabra: Psychology, 3(1), 1-6, doi:10.1525/collabra.107
- McCarthy, R. J. (2017). Experiencing Instigations and Trait Aggression Contribute to Harsh Parenting Behaviors. Psychological Reports, 120, 1078-1095. doi:10.1177/0033294117711934
- McCarthy, R. J., Skowronski, J. J., Crouch, J. L., & Milner, J. S. (2017). Parents’ spontaneous evaluations of children and symbolic harmful behaviors toward their child. Child Abuse & Neglect, 67, 419-428. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.02.005
- McCarthy, R. J., Miron, L. R., Milner, J. S., Coley, S. L., Ormsby, L., & Oliver., M. (2016). When does child maltreatment occur? Daily variations in child maltreatment among families served by the United States Air Force Family Advocacy Program. Military Behavioral Health, 364-372. doi:10.1080/21635781.1181586
- McCarthy, R. J., Wagner, M. F., Basham, A, & Jones, C. (2016). Individual Differences in Parents’ Impressions of Children and Child Physical Abuse: A Meta-Analysis. Psychology of Violence, 6, 485-496. doi:10.1037/vio0000028
- Coley, S. L., McCarthy, R. J., Milner, J. S., Ormsby, L., & Travis, W. J. (2016). Intimate partner maltreatment recidivism in United States Air Force Families. Military Medicine, 181, 926-930. doi:10.7205/MILMED-D-15-00333
- Zengel, B., McCarthy, R. J., Skowronski, J. J., & Ambler, J. (2016). Spontaneous trait inference and spontaneous trait transference are both unaffected by prior evaluations of informants. The Journal of Social Psychology, 157, 382-387. doi:10.1080/00224545.2016.1192099
- McCarthy, R. J., Coley, S. C., Wagner, M. F., Zengel, B., & Basham, A. (2016). Does playing video games with violent content temporarily increase aggressive inclinations? A pre-registered experimental study. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 67, 13-19. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2015.10.009
- McCarthy, R. J., Crouch, J. L., Basham, A., Milner, J. S., & Skowronski, J. J. (2016). Validating the Voodoo doll task as a proxy for aggressive parenting behaviors. Psychology of Violence, 6, 135-144.
- McCarthy, R. J. (2014). Close replication attempts of the heat priming-hostile perception effect. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 54, 165-169.
- McCarthy, R. J., Crouch, J. L., Skowronski, J. J., Milner, J. S., Hiraoka, R., Rutledge, E., & Jenkins, J. (2013). Child physical abuse risk moderates spontaneously inferred traits from ambiguous child behaviors. Child Abuse & Neglect, 37, 1142-1151. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.05.003
- Crawford, M. T., McCarthy, R. J., Kjaerstad, H. L., & Skowronski, J. J. (2013). Inferences are for doing: The impact of approach and avoidance states on the generation of spontaneous trait inferences. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39, 267-278. doi:10.1177/0146167212473158
- McCarthy, R. J., & Skowronski, J. J. (2011). Level of construal affects the impact of central traits on impression formation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 1304-1307. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.05.017
- McCarthy, R. J., & Skowronski, J. J. (2011). The interplay of controlled and automatic processes in the expression of spontaneously inferred traits: A PDP analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 229-240. doi:10.1037/a0021991
- McCarthy, R. J., & Skowronski, J. J. (2011). What will Phil do next? The influence of spontaneous trait inferences on behavior predictions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 321-332. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.10.015
Contact
Assistant Professor, Social and Industrial / Organizational Psychology
rmccarthy3@niu.edu
PM 307