Biography

Dr. Baranowsky is an experimental psychologist with a focus on health.  Her primary research interests are forgiveness, rumination, spirituality, and stress.  She teaches Health Psychology, Physiological Psychology, Introduction to Psychology as a Natural Science, and Learning and Cognition, all of which have 3-hour weekly labs.  Students dissect sheep brains, do an EEG, practice biofeedback, train rats to run a maze, as well as participate in some of the most ground-breaking cognitive experiments that have occurred in psychology in the past 20 years.  In addition, Dr. Baranowsky is the Director of the Transitions I Program and teaches Ghosts, Psychics, and Astrology:  The Unsinkable Rubber Ducks.  This is a general education course for freshmen that prepares them for upper-level courses by providing instruction in critical thinking, oral and written communication, ethical reasoning, and quantitative literacy.
   
Research:  Dr. Baranowsky has recently presented a research project on men’s expectations of the patient-physician relationship, the relationship among blood pressure, salivary cortisol, and salivary IgA, and forgiveness and health in women.

Student Research: Recent research that Dr. Baranowsky has directed with students includes:  Religious coping in cancer patients, The effect of stress on blood pressure, heart rate, and decision making, using a gambling task, The effects of drama therapy on anxiety and perceived stress.

Upcoming Research: Dr. Baranowsky is planning on continuing her research on rumination and health, as well as elaborating on her project on men’s experiences of the patient-physician relationship.