Joeseph McFall
Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology

email: jpmcfall@syr.edu
Phone: (315) 443-9917
Address: 510 Huntington Hall

Education

Ph.D., 2009 (expected), West Virginia University
M.S., 2007, West Virginia University
B.A., 2005, SUNY-Fredonia

Research Interest:

My primary research interest is everyday cognition during early and later adulthood. I have studied individual and contextual factors related to successful problem-solving and decision-making outcomes. I am presenting conducting research regarding the effectiveness of strategies that younger and older adults use to solve everyday problems from a variety of life domains (e.g., home, work, friends, family, health, technology). Specifically, I’m interested in how effectiveness is determined, the contextual nature of everyday problem solving, and individual differences and mediating mechanisms of age differences in effectiveness. Current projects also including manuscripts regarding the effects of collaborating with a friend on problem-solving effectiveness for older and younger adults as well as individual differences in problem-solving styles in college students.

Representative Publications

Spielmans, G. I., Gatlin, E. T., & McFall, J. P. (in press). The efficacy of evidence-based psychotherapies versus usual care for youth: Controlling confounds in a meta-re-analysis. Psychotherapy Research.

Strough, J., McFall, J. P., & Schuller, K. L. (in press). Endorsement of interpersonal strategies for dealing with hypothetical everyday arthritis problems as a function of marital status, gender, and problem severity. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development.

Strough, J., McFall, J. P., Flinn, J. A., & Schuller, K. L. (2008). Collaborative everyday problem solving among same-gender friends in early and later adulthood. Psychology and Aging, 23, 517-530.

Strough, J., Mehta, C. M., McFall, J. P., & Schuller, K. L. (2008). Do older and younger adults make different decisions about sunk costs? Psychological Science, 19, 650-652.

Spielmans, G. I., Pasek, L. F., McFall, J. P. (2007). What are the active ingredients in cognitive
and behavioral psychotherapy for anxious and depressed children? A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 27, 642-654.

Spielmans, G. I. & McFall, J. P. (2006). A comparative meta-analysis of clinical global impressions change in antidepressant trials. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 194, 845-852.