Jay Michaels
Title: Assistant Professor
CV:
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Phone: 941-359-4772
Email: jaymichaels@usf.edu
Office: SMC B329
Dr. Jay L. Michaels joined the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus faculty in 2016 as an Assistant Professor of Psychology. He earned his PhD in Experimental Psychology from Florida Atlantic University in 2012 after completing an MA in Psychology from Florida Atlantic University, BS in Psychology and BA in History from the University of Central Florida, and an AA from Brevard Community College (now Eastern Florida State University).
Previously, Dr. Michaels was an assistant professor of psychology at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina, from 2012 until 2016, where he also served as the Institutional Review Board co-chair. He was an instructor of record at Florida Atlantic University from 2010 until 2012. He enjoys teaching a variety of courses, but especially those related to research methods and statistics as well as social psychology.
With his background in experimental social psychology and quantitative psychology, Dr. Michaels has a diverse research program that is focused on applying dynamic systems theory to understand complex behavior. Some of his recent research interests include the psychology of religion, differences in cognitive processing styles, self-control, self-esteem, and the dynamics of human conflict. He also studies quantitative methods in complexity science and has applied this knowledge to model human conflict and gene interaction dynamics. Dr. Michaels especially welcomes student involvement in his research projects and enjoys sharing his passion for scientific discovery.
When not working, Dr. Michaels enjoys cooking, amateur meteorology, amateur astronomy, hiking, acrylic painting, going to art museums, and visiting his family who live throughout Central Florida.