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Christopher Wolfe
Director of Graduate Studies in Psychology,
Professor, Faculty Pre-Law Advisor - Psychology
Psychology

Christopher Wolfe

Contact Info

513-529-5670
115 Psychology Building

Links

View CV
Center for Human Development, Learning, and Technology Executive Board Member

Education

  • Ph.D. Cognitive Psychology, University of Pittsburgh (1989)
    • Doctoral Dissertation: Information Seeking in the Context of Bayesian Conditional Probability Problems
  • M.S. Cognitive Psychology, University of Pittsburgh (1987)
    • 1989 -1984: Research Assistant to James F. Voss, Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • M.S. General Psychology, University of Bridgeport (1984)
  • B.A. Philosophical Analysis in the Behavioral Sciences, Denison University (1981)

Teaching Interests

Medical Decision Making; Judgment, Decision Making, & Reasoning; Psychology of Language & Thought; Learning & Cognitive Technologies; Cognitive Processes; Interdisciplinary Courses; Interdisciplinary Research; Advising Student Research.

Research Interests

Including a book, book chapters, and peer-reviewed journal articles I have over 70 publications. I have been a Primary Investigator or Co-PI on almost 20 grants totaling over $4 million. My research is about higher-order cognition, the way people think, reason, solve problems, make decisions, and develop arguments. Currently, I am conducting research on how people make medical decisions pertaining to genetic mutations and breast cancer risk. Other strands of research are about probability judgments and the psychology of written argumentation. I have had funding by the National Cancer Institute to study medical decision making, and create an intelligent tutoring system to help women decide about genetic testing for breast cancer risk. I am interested in the psychology of writing and conceptual learning. I am especially interested in cognitive technologies and the potential of emerging digital technologies for education and psychological interventions. I have conducted psychological research on reasoning and argumentation, interdisciplinary writing and thinking, judgment and decision-making, analogical reasoning, Web-based interventions, and the assessment of learning and teaching. Along with colleagues I have received federal grant funding from the National Cancer Institute, U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences, and the National Science Foundation; and corporate and foundation funding from Proctor & Gamble, Rise Inc., and Blind Squirrels. A report of the impact of my research, as measured by citations, can be found at http://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=RbfS-UoAAAAJ

Selected Publications and Presentations

2020-21 Publications

  • Wolfe, C. R., Dandignac, M., Wang, C., & Lowe, S. R. (2021). Gist Inference Scores predict cloze comprehension “in your own words” for native, not ESL readers. Health Communication, early online access, DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2021.1920690
  • Wolfe, C. R., & Dandignac, M. (2021). Revising flash fiction for Coh-Metrix: Experiential learning with discourse technologies. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 32(1), 123-140.
  • Dandignac, M., & Wolfe, C. R. (2020). Gist Inference Scores predict gist memory for authentic patient education cancer texts. Patient Education and Counseling ,103, 1562–1567.

2020 Presentations

  • Biragbara, D., Eylem, A. A., & Wolfe, C. R. (November, 2020). Discourse analysis of Google search results for “black women vaccination.” Paper presentation to the Society for Computation in Psychology. Virtual online conference.
  • Wolfe, C. R., Eylem, A. A., Dandignac, M., Nabor, D. H., Jones, E. E., Scudiere, L., & Reyna, V. F. (November, 2020). A Method to Survey the Landscape of Web-Based Information about Vaccination and COVID-19. Paper presentation to the Society for Computation in Psychology. Virtual online conference.
  • Wang, C., & Wolfe, C. R. (November, 2020). Fine Print and the Law: Assessing the Comprehensibility of Online Legal Documents. Paper presentation to the Society for Computation in Psychology. Virtual online conference
  • Reips, U-D., & Wolfe, C. R. (November, 2020). Symposium: New tools and results in Internet-based experimenting and experience sampling. Symposium discussant for the Society for Computation in Psychology. Virtual online conference.
  • Dandignac, M. & Wolfe, C. R. (November, 2020). A new web-based study paradigm for predicting social transmission with Gist Inference Scores. Paper presentation to the Society for Computation in Psychology. Virtual online conference.
  • Wolfe, C. R. Dandignac, M., & Reyna, V. F. (November, 2020). Approximately Equal Judgments for Mortality and Survival Curves. Paper presentation to the Psychonomic Society. Virtual online conference.
  • Wolfe, C. R., Eylem, A. A., Dandignac, M., Scudiere, L. & Reyna, V. F. (October, 2020). Gist Inferences from Web-Based Information and Misinformation about Vaccination and COVID-19. Paper presentation to the Society for Medical Decision Making. Virtual online conference.

Select Research Grants

  • Organizing and Analyzing Web-Based Information and Misinformation about Breast Cancer (Fall 2019). Principal Investigator C.R. Wolfe. $2,988 Miami University Grant to Improve Research and $6,200 Summer Research Appointment, $9,198 total.
  • Validating Gist Inference Score Predictions with a National Sample of Older Women (Spring 2019). Principal Investigator C.R. Wolfe. $500 as a Miami University Doris Bergen Center for Human Development, Learning, & Technology Research Seed Grant.
  • A Web Tutor to Help Women Decide About Testing for Genetic Breast Cancer Risk (2011-13). Primary Investigators C. R. Wolfe & V. F. Reyna. $364,120 from the National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute.
  • Web-Based Tutoring of Argument Comprehension and Production Skills (FY 2006-08). $574,929 from the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences.
  • Improving Students’ Comprehension and Construction Of Arguments (FY 2003-2005). $358,888 from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Research and Instruction.
  • Project Dragonfly: An Alliance of Scientists, Teachers, and Children for Elementary Science Education (fiscal years 1995-1997). $1,700,000 from the National Science Foundation.

Awards

  • Nominated for Associated Student Government Outstanding Professor Award (2019)
  • 2006 Campbell Teaching Award. $6000 from Miami University for Social and Cognitive Technologies from an International Perspective.
  • 2002 Campbell Teaching Award. $3250 from Miami University for Developing the Integrative Seminar.
  • 2010 Nominated for Outstanding Professor, Miami University.
  • 2012 Nominated by Alumni for Effective Educator Award.

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