Marie-Joelle Estrada, Ph.D.

Research Interests

I am a social psychologist with a primary interest in interpersonal relationships – specifically romantic relationship initiation and progression over time. My general interest within this area began by trying to understand how romantic relationships differ from other close relationships and why some relationships succeed while others fail. I address these general questions within two main lines of research. The first addresses the nature of romance, specifically how romantic actions differ from expressions of affection and love, the use of romance in relationship initiation and maintenance, and people’s different motivations for behaving romantically. The second line of research examines biases in how partners perceive one another and how their biased perceptions affect the trajectory of the relationship. I examine these biases as in terms of separation of partner specific idealization from generalized romantic idealization, and also as stemming from personality variables such as narcissism and attachment style.

Publications/Manuscripts

Journal Articles

• Leary, M.R., Estrada, M.J., & Allen, A.B. (2009). The Analogue-I and the Analogue-Me: The Avatars of the Self. In V.S.Y. Kwan & L. Gaertner (Eds.), Two Sides to Every Self Process (Special issue of Self and Identity; pp. 147-161). New York: Psychology Press.
• Smith, S.M., Fabrigar, L.R., Powell, D.M., & Estrada, M.J. (2007). The role of information-processing capacity and goals in attitude-congruent selective exposure effects. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 948-960.
• Fabrigar, L.R. & Estrada, M.J. (2006). The Multitrait-Multimethod matrix and convergent validity. In N.J. Salkind (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics. (pp. 666-669). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Rusbult, C.E., Kumashiro, M., Wolf, S. & Estrada M.J. (2004). The Michelangelo Phenomenon. In E. Finkel & K. Vohs (Eds.), Self and relationships: Connecting intrapersonal and interpersonal processes. (pp. 317-341). New York, NY: Guilford.

Additional Information

Teaching Experience

• PSY 101,  Introduction to Psychology
• CSP/PSY 267,  Psychology of Gender
• PSY 280, Clinical Psychology
• PSY 283, Behavioral Medicine