J.J. Freyd Research Interests

(for potential applicants to the graduate program)

Jennifer J. Freyd, University of Oregon

As of March 2007: I am unable to accept any additional graduate students (masters or doctoral) entering in 2007 or 2008. I expect to be able to accept new students entering Fall 2009.

Jennifer Freyd

(Interpersonal Trauma, Dissociation, Memory for Trauma, Gender, Developmental Traumatology)

: Dr. Freyd's current interests in psychology bridge traditional areas (including cognitive, developmental, social/personality, and clinical psychology), with a focus on the psychology of trauma. Dr. Freyd is conducting laboratory and survey research with adults and children to investigate predictions made by "betrayal trauma" theory (Freyd, 1996). Betrayal trauma theory addresses the motivations for, and the cognitive mechanisms resulting in, dissociation, unawareness, and amnesia for interpersonal violations (especially childhood abuse). Analysis of evolutionary pressures and developmental needs suggests that victims of abuse may remain unaware of the abuse, not to reduce suffering, but rather to maintain an attachment with a figure vital to survival, development, and thriving. The theory generates novel testable predictions about the phenomena of memory disruption. Freyd also investigates the cognitive mechanisms for these disruptions in awareness and memory, focusing on the roles of attention and memory processes related to trauma and dissociation . A related interest is that of "shareability." Freyd's theory of shareability proposes that through the process of information sharing we recode dynamic and continuous perceptual knowledge to be more categorical and hence more easily communicable; talking about events thus impacts mental representation and memory.

Current Projects

Participant samples involved in lab studies include college students, clinical clients, community members, teachers, and caregivers and children. Some recent and current empirical studies being conducted by Dr. Freyd and her lab include:

studying dissociative tendencies and trauma exposure using cognitive psychological laboratory tasks
evaluating the role of trauma exposure using individual difference assessment
analyzing a web-based survey of teachers' perceptions of the impact of child abuse on school performance and learning
evaluating the relationship between physical health problems and betrayal trauma exposure
experimenting with the possible helpful role of writing about betrayal trauma in improving health
investigating the nature of gender differences in trauma exposure
exploring the relation between emotional abuse and alexithymia
studying changes in perceptions of childhood victimization history over time
measuring the relations between abuse and dissociation in revictimzation, risky behaviors, and perpetration
exploring the causes and consequences of abuse disclosure

Graduate Seminars

Dr. Freyd's graduate teaching includes seminars in Ethics, Power & Oppression in Psychology (1996), Language, Gender & Cognition (1997), Trauma & Cognitive Science (1998), Developmental Traumatology (1999), Trauma & Sexuality (1999), Ethics, Gender, & Diversity (2000), Trauma as Etiology (2003), Trauma's Legacy (2004), Trauma Intervention (2005), Trauma & Psychosis (2006)

Sample Publications:

Freyd, J. J. (1996) Betrayal Trauma: The Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Freyd, J.J. & DePrince, A.P. (Eds). (2001). Trauma and Cognitive Science: A Meeting of Minds, Science, and Human Experience. New York: Haworth Press.

Becker-Blease, K.A. & Freyd, J.J., & Pears, K.C. (2004). Preschoolers' memory for threatening information depends on trauma history and attentional context: Implications for the development of dissociation. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 5, 113-131.

DePrince, A.P. & Freyd, J.J. (2004). Forgetting trauma stimuli. Psychological Science, 15, 488-492.

Freyd, J.J., Putnam, F.W., Lyon, T.D., Becker-Blease, K. A., Cheit, R.E., Siegel, N.B., & Pezdek, K. (2005). The science of child sexual abuse. Science, 308, 501.

Becker-Blease, K.A. & Freyd, J.J. (2006) Research participants telling the truth about their lives: the ethics of asking and not asking about abuse. American Psychologist, 6(3), 218-226.

For additional publications see: J.J. Freyd Trauma & Memory Publications