I am currently researching the effects of seeing risky health behaviour in visual media (e.g., movies) on young people's health-related identity, attitudes, and behaviours. A key component of this work is trying to understand how and why these effects occur; that is: what is the psychology underlying these effects? To answer this question I am using both lab-based experiments and longitudinal school surveys.

In one study, we found that identifying with a character who smokes predicts associating oneself with smoking, even among nonsmokers.

My colleagues and I are continuing to examine subtle effects of media influence using implicit measures and brain imaging.

I also completed a study in collaboration with researchers from the University of Waterloo and Queen's University in which we tested the effectiveness of an intervention designed to increase condom use under the influence of alcohol.