Psychology Department -> People -> Faculty Directory ->
David S. Yeager, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
VITA
Email: yeager@psy.utexas.edu
Phone: (512) 471-1846 Lab: NA
Office: SEA 5.224 Lab: SEA 1.214, 1.212B, 1.212D
Adolescent Development Research Group
See also Developmental Psychology
Dr. Yeager received his PhD from Stanford University in 2011. Prior to his research career, he was a middle school teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In his substantive area of research, he studies adolescent development, with a focus on aggression, stress, and academic achievement. His approach is to conduct longitudinal, randomized field experiments at key transitions (e.g., the transition to high school or college) to investigate the role of social cognitive processes in shaping adolescents' developmental trajectories. This is because of his belief that a good way to understand a developmental system is to try to change it. In addition, he draws on qualitative and correlational methodologies to examine developmental phenomena. In his current research, he is investigating the psychological causes of A) adolescents' extreme reactions to peer exclusion or victimization, and B) changes in academic performance among racial minority adolescents at the transition to high school or college. This research has appeared or is scheduled to appear in Developmental Psychology, the Review of Educational Research, the Journal of Adolescent Research, and other outlets.
In his methodological research, he investigates the psychology of asking and answering questions, so as to optimize the accuracy of self-reports. In addition, he evaluates the accuracy of methods for sampling survey respondents (e.g., random samples and non-probability samples of Internet volunteers). His methodological research has appeared or is scheduled to appear in Public Opinion Quarterly, Developmental Psychology, and Medical Care.
Representative Publications
Psychological Research:
Yeager, D.S., Trzesniewski, K., Tirri, K., Nokelainen, P., & Dweck, C.S. (in press). Adolescents’ implicit theories predict desire for vengeance: Correlational and experimental evidence. Developmental Psychology.
Yeager, D.S., Bundick, M.J. & Johnson, B. (in press). Self-oriented and beyond-the-self-oriented reasons for work goals: A longitudinal mixed-methods exploration of their impact and development. Contemporary Educational Psychology.
Yeager, D.S. & Walton, G. (2011). Social-psychological interventions in education: They’re not magic. Review of Educational Research, 81, 267-301.
Methodological Research:
Yeager, D.S. & Krosnick, J. (in press). Does mentioning “some people” and “other people” in a survey question increase the accuracy of adolescents’ self-reports? Developmental Psychology.
Yeager, D.S., Krosnick, J., Chang, L-C., Javitz, H., Levendusky, M., Simpser, A. & Wang, R. (in press). Comparing the accuracy of RDD telephone surveys and Internet surveys conducted with probability and non-probability samples. Public Opinion Quarterly.
Yeager, D.S. & Krosnick, J. (in press). Does mentioning “some people” and “other people” in an attitude question improve measurement quality? Public Opinion Quarterly.
Yeager, D.S., Larson, S. B., Krosnick, J., & Tompson, T. (2011). Measuring Americans’ issue priorities: A new version of the most important problem question reveals more concern about global warming and the environment. Public Opinion Quarterly, 75, 125-138.
