Early in my career, I focused much of my attention on research in the psychology of religion, and received the "Early Research Contribution Award" by Division 36 (Psychology of Religion) of the APA in 1997. Recent work in this general domain includes two recent papers that illustrate broad-based differences in the inner experiential worlds of atheists versus religious individuals, one that links (possibly hard-wired) tendencies to anthropomorphize inanimate objects to an expansive spiritual orientation, and two that focus on the implications of experiencing the self as timeless.

John Rempel (also at St. Jerome's) and I have enjoyed a productive collaboration as we elaborate and test Amoebic Self Theory (AST), which asserts that a person's sense of self is constructed and maintained via a multidimensional psychological boundary analogous to the enclosing, protective membrane of a one-celled organism. Our first series of papers focused on the self-protection aspect; we have recently completed a new series of studies that focus on the self-expansion or "engulfment" aspect, which appears rife with problematic social implications. We also continue to bulk up on research testing some of our ideas concerning love and hate before once again subjecting it to the peer-review gauntlet.

Other recent collaborations have allowed me to explore how people cope with the human condition of being trapped in linear time, and to conduct forays into the darker side of human experience, including attitudes toward date rapists and the link between symbols of "evil" and judgment severity. Papers on sexual fantasy, female body shape preferences of childfree men, and existential reactions to implicit mirror exposure exemplify the extremely diverse and rewarding academic partnerships with my undergraduate students that sometimes occur.

Hopefully, the net result of all of these explorations is an incrementally better understanding of some of life's "big" issues.

Primary Interests:

Aggression, Conflict, Peace
Close Relationships
Emotion, Mood, Affect
Ethics and Morality
Helping, Prosocial Behavior
Motivation, Goal Setting
Personality, Individual Differences
Self and Identity

Aggression, Conflict, Peace
Close Relationships
Emotion, Mood, Affect
Ethics and Morality
Helping, Prosocial Behavior

Motivation, Goal Setting
Personality, Individual Differences
Self and Identity

Journal Articles:

Burris, C. T. (2013). Torn between two lovers? Lay perceptions of polyamorous individuals. Psychology & Sexuality. doi:10.1080/19419899.2013.779311
Burris, C. T., & Lai, E. (2012). Through with the looking glass: Escape responses to implicit mirror exposure. Consciousness and Cognition, 21, 464-470.
Burris, C. T., & Mathes, S. (2011). Digging in my secret garden: Disinhibitory effects of the "Hidden Observer" on reported sexual fantasies. Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 20, 143-150.
Burris, C. T., & Munteanu, A. R. (2012). Preferred female body proportions among childfree men. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 41, 1431-1437.
Burris, C. T., & Petrican, R. (2011). Hearts strangely warmed (and cooled): Emotional experience in religious and atheistic individuals. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 21, 183-197.
Burris, C. T., & Redden, E. K. (2012). No other gods before Mario?: Game preferences among atheistic and religious individuals. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 22, 243-251.
Burris, C. T., & Rempel, J. K. (2012). Something in the way he moves? Interpersonal judgments of acquaintance rapists. Personal Relationships, 19, 89-102.
Burris, C. T., & Rempel, J. K. (2012). The crystal globe: Emotional empathy and the transformation of self. Consciousness and Cognition, 21, 1526-1532.
Burris, C. T., & Rempel, J. K. (2011). “Just look at him”: Punitive responses cued by “evil” symbols. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 33, 69-80.
Burris, C. T., & Rempel, J. K. (2008). Me, myself, and us: Salient self-threats and relational connections. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 944-961.
Burris, C. T., & Rempel, J. K. (2004). "It's the end of the world as we know it": Threat and the spatial-symbolic self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 19-42.
Burris, C. T., Rempel, J. K., Munteanu, A. R., & Therrien, P. A. (2013). More, more, more: The dark side of self-expansion motivation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39, 578-595.
Burris, C. T., & Sani, F. (2013). The immutable likeness of “being”: Experiencing the self as timeless. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion. doi:10.1080/10508619.2013.771964
Petrican, R., & Burris, C. T. (in press). Transcendent experiences motivate “escape” from the body via intimate partnerships. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion.
Petrican, R., & Burris, C. T. (2012). Am I the stone?: Overattribution of agency and religious orientation. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 4, 312-323.
Petrican, R., & Burris, C. T. (2011). The infernal now: Linking temporal inefficacy to cognitive ability and social adjustment. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 43, 52-62.
Petrican, R., Burris, C. T., Bielak, T., Schimmack, U., & Moscovitch, M. (2011). For my eyes only: Gaze control, enmeshment, and relationship quality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 1111-1123.
Rempel, J. K., & Burris, C. T. (2005). Let me count the ways: An integrative theory of love and hate. Personal Relationships, 12, 297-313.

Other Publications:

Burris, C. T., & Petrican, R. (2013). Religion, negative emotions, and regulation. In V. Saroglou (Ed.), Religion, personality, and social behavior (pp. 96-122). East Sussex, UK: Psychology Press.
Burris, C. T., & Rempel, J. K. (2012). Good and evil in religion: The interpersonal context. In L. Miller (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (pp. 123-137). New York: Oxford.

Courses Taught:

Criminal Profiling
Dark Side of Sexuality
Psychology of Death and Dying
Psychology of Evil
Psychology of Religious Experience

Criminal Profiling
Dark Side of Sexuality
Psychology of Death and Dying

Psychology of Evil
Psychology of Religious Experience

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Christopher T. Burris
Department of Psychology
St. Jerome's University
Waterloo, ON N2L 3G3
Canada

Phone: (519) 884-8111, ext. 28213
Fax: (519) 884-5759