Santa Clara University

Professor

Contact:
Santa Clara University
Department of Psychology
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA  95053-0333
Phone: 408-554-4489
Email:jburger@scu.edu

Educational Background

Ph.D., University of Missouri
Social Psychology

Teaching

PSYC 43: Research Methods

PSYC 102: Writing in Psychology
PSYC 150: Social Psychology
PSYC 160: Personality
PSYC 195: Research Practicum

Research and Representative Publications

Compliance

My research on compliance has examined sequential-request techniques and variables that increase or decrease agreement to a request.

Burger, J. M., Bell, H., Harvey, K., Johnson, J., Stewart, C., Dorian, K., & Swedroe, M. (in press). Nutritious or delicious? The effect of descriptive norm information on food choice. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. [PDF]

Burger, J. M., Sanchez, J., Imberi, J. E., & Grande, L. R. (2009). The norm of reciprocity as an internalized social norm: Returning favors even when no one finds out. Social Influence, 4, 11-17. [PDF]

Burger, J. M., Hornisher, J., Martin, V. E., Newman, G., & Pringle, S. (2007). The pique technique: Overcoming mindlessness or shifting heuristics? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37, 2086-2096. [PDF]

Burger, J. M., Ehrlichman, A. M., Raymond, N. C., Ishikawa, J. M., & Sandoval, J. (2006). Reciprocal favor exchange and compliance. Social Influence, 1, 169-184. [PDF]

Burger, J. M., Messian, N., Patel, S., del Prado, A., & Anderson, C. (2004). What a coincidence! The effects of incidental similarity on compliance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 35-43. [PDF]

Burger, J. M., Soroka, S., Gonzago, K., Murphy, E., & Somervell, E. (2001). The effect of fleeting attraction on compliance to requests. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1578-1586. [PDF]

Burger, J. M. (1999). The foot-in-the-door compliance procedure: A multiple-process analysis and review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3, 303-325. [PDF]

Milgram Replication

I recently conducted a partial replication of Stanley Milgram's famous obedience studies that allowed for useful comparisons with the original investigations while protecting the well-being of participants. We found obedience rates in 2006 only slightly lower than what Milgram found 45 years earlier. Contrary to expectation, participants who saw a confederate refuse the experimenter's instructions obeyed as often as those who saw no model. Men and women did not differ in their rate of obedience, but we found some evidence that individuals in empathetic concern and desire for control affected participants' responses.

The research was featured in the January 3, 2007 broadcast of ABC News' Primetime.

• View a short summary of the broadcast
• Purchase a copy of the broadcast
• Read the paper describing the study:
  
  

Burger, J. M.  (2009).  Replicating Milgram: Would people still obey today?  American Psychologist, 64, 1-11.

You can read some reactions to the research here:

• New York Times editorial:  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/opinion/29mon3.html? r=1
• APA Monitor:  http://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/05/ethics.html

Perception and Motivation for Personal Control

For many years, I have conducted research on individual differences in desire for control -- the extent to which people are motivated to feel in control of the events in their lives. I published the Desirability of Control Scale in 1979, and summarized the first decade of research on the scale in my 1992 book (listed below). I also am interested in how people respond to perceived increases and decreases in personal control.

Burger, J. M., & Lynn, A. L. (2005). Superstitious behavior among American and Japanese professional baseball players. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 27, 71-76. [PDF]

Burger, J. M. (1995). Need for control and self-esteem: Two routes to a high desire for control. In M. Kernis (Ed.), Efficacy, agency, and self-esteem (pp. 217-233). New York: Plenum.

Burger, J. M. (1992). Desire for control: Personality, social and clinical perspectives. New York: Plenum.

Burger, J. M. (1989). Negative reactions to increases in perceived personal control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 246-256. [PDF]

Personality Textbook

My undergraduate textbook, Personality, is now in its seventh edition (2008, Wadsworth/Thomson Learning). The book is organized to reflect my belief that the study of personality should not be limited to either the traditional theories approach or to a strict empirical presentation. Rather, I have maintained from the first edition that a full understanding of personality requires an examination of theory and research. After an introductory chapter and a chapter on personality research methods, the book is divided into seven sections. Each section reflects a different approach to understanding personality -- Freudian, Neo-Freudian, Trait, Biological, Humanistic, Behavioral/Social Learning, and Cognitive

Each of these sections contains two chapters. The first chapter presents information about theory, assessment and application. The second is devoted to relevant research. Each of the research chapters is divided into three to five research topics. Each topic represents a well-developed area of personality research with ties to the corresponding theories. For example, the topics for the Freudian research chapter are dream interpretation, defense mechanism, Freud's theory of humor, and hypnosis. The topics in the trait research chapter include achievement motivation, Type A, social anxiety, emotions, and optimism-pessimism. The chapters reflect my belief that students learn about research best by seeing programs of research, rather than a few isolated examples. There are 26 research topics presented in depth in the book.

For more information, click Personality