Social Psychology Network

Maintained by Scott Plous, Wesleyan University

Philip J. Cozzolino

Philip J. Cozzolino

My main research program is focused on the motivated social-cognitive processes on which individuals rely to make sense of themselves and the world. Within this research focus, I explore the varied ways in which individuals attempt to find a balance between satisfying internal needs and motives, while also satisfying and living up to the obligations of external social demands. At its core, my main research interest is understanding how individuals handle the psychological tension between maintaining an ‘authentic self’ (a self that is holistic and complex, which integrates one’s most personal desires and goals with external duties), versus maintaining a ‘symbolic self’ (a self that is less complex and often biased, predominately influenced by external sources and expectations). I have explored these self-based social-cognitive processes across a range of domains, including the creation and adherence to worldviews and values at the individual level, and the expectations and consequences of liberty, equality, and fairness at the social level. I am particularly interested in how individuals can foster an authentic self so that they might pursue more meaningful, healthy, and efficacious lives.

Primary Interests:

  • Attitudes and Beliefs
  • Causal Attribution
  • Ethics and Morality
  • Group Processes
  • Helping, Prosocial Behavior
  • Intergroup Relations
  • Motivation, Goal Setting
  • Political Psychology
  • Self and Identity
  • Social Cognition

Research Group or Laboratory:

Journal Articles:

  • Blackie, L. E. R., & Cozzolino, P. J. (2011). Of blood and death: A test of dual-existential systems in the context of prosocial intentions. Psychological Science, 22, 998-1000.
  • Cozzolino, P. J. (2011). Trust, cooperation, and equality: A psychological analysis of the formation of social capital. British Journal of Social Psychology, 50, 302-320.
  • Cozzolino, P. J. (2006). Death contemplation, growth, and defense: Converging evidence of dual-existential systems? Psychological Inquiry, 17, 278-287.
  • Cozzolino, P. J., Blackie, L. E. R., & Meyers, L. S. (in press). Self-related consequences of death fear and death denial. Death Studies.
  • Cozzolino, P. J., Sheldon, K. M., Schachtman, T. R., & Meyers, L. S. (2009). Limited time perspective, values, and greed: Imagining a limited future reduces avarice in extrinsic people. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 399-408.
  • Cozzolino, P. J., & Snyder, M (2008). Good times, bad times: How personal disadvantage moderates the relationship between social dominance and efforts to win. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1420-1433.
  • Cozzolino, P. J., Staples, A. D., Meyers, L. S., & Samboceti, J. (2004). Greed, death, and values: From terror management to transcendence management theory. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 278-292.
  • Morison, L. A., Cozzolino, P. J., & Orbell, S. (2010). Temporal perspective and parental intention to accept the Human Papillomavirus vaccination for their daughter. British Journal of Health Psychology,15, 151-165.
  • Niemiec, C. P., Brown, K. W., Kashdan, T. B., Cozzolino, P. J., Breen, W., Levesque, C., & Ryan, R. M. (2010). Being present in the face of existential threat: The role of trait mindfulness in reducing defensive responses to mortality salience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, 344-365.

Other Publications:

  • Cozzolino, P. J., & Blackie, L. E. R. (2013). I die, therefore I am: The pursuit of meaning in the light of death. In Joshua Hicks and Clay Routledge (Eds.), The experience of meaning in life: Classical perspectives, emerging themes, and controversies. Springer.

Philip J. Cozzolino
Department of Psychology
Wivenhoe Park
University of Essex
Colchester CO4 3SQ
United Kingdom

  • Phone: +44 (0)1206 - 874022
  • Fax: +44 (0)1206 - 873590

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