Richard C. Sherman, Ph.D.

Miami University
Department of Psychology

Professor Emeritus

Richard C. Sherman joined the Department in 1970 and retired in 2000. He continues his involvement with the Department as webmaster for PsyberSite, a portal for World Wide Web tutorials on a variety of topics in Social Psychology. During his career he published 30 scholarly works and made 31 conference presentations. His articles appeared in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Memory & Cognition, Multivariate Behavioral Research, Child Development,  Environment and Behavior, CyberPsychology & Behavior,  Computers in Human Behavior,  Journal of Excellence in College Teaching, and Teaching of Psychology. His research interests focused on social cognition, and also on social psychological issues pertaining to environmental psychology and to internet technology. In the area of social cognition his work concerned factors influencing the organization and accuracy of memory for social information, and the role of memory in social judgments and behavior. Most recently his research examined how interpretations of the causes of social events influence memory for causally relevant information, and how people construct causal explanations for social events and for their own behavior. Another recent direction of research focused on gender differences in response to internet technology and processes underlying online self-presentation.

Dr. Sherman was also an active leader in the integration of internet technology and teaching.  His philosophy was to employ the internet to enhance active and collaborative student-centered learning, as illustrated by his courses in Advanced Social Psychology,  The Social Psychology of Cyberspace, Cyberspace & Social Psychology, and Issues in Environmental Psychology.

He currently publishes the occasional blog, SNOW CRASH.

He can be contacted through the Department and at the email address below.

Campus Address: Department of Psychology, Miami University, Oxford OH  45056 Phone: (513) 529-2400
Email: Shermarc@miamioh.edu

Representative Publications:

Dietz-Uhler, B. & Sherman, R. C. (2003). Using the Internet to aid the research process. In R. Sternberg The psychologists companion: A guide to scientific writing for students and researchers (4th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Donn, Jessica E. & Sherman, R.C. (2002). Attitudes and Practices Regarding the Formation of Romantic Relationships on the Internet. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 2, 107-123.

Sherman, R.C. (2001).  The Mind's Eye in Cyberspace:  Online Perceptions of Self and Others.   In G. Riva & C. Galimberti (Eds.), Towards Cyberspsychology:  Mind, Cognition, and Society in the Internet Age.  Washington, D.C., IOS Press.

Sherman, R.C., End,  C.,  Kraan, E., Cole, A., Campbell, J., Klausner, J. &  Birchmeier,   Z. (2001).  Meta-perception in Cyberspace.  CyberPsychology & Behavior, 4(1), 123-129.

Sherman, R.C., End,  C.,  Kraan, E., Cole, A., Campbell, J., Birchmeier,   Z., & Klausner, J. (2000).  The Internet Gender Gap among College Students: Forgotten but Not Gone? CyberPsychology & Behavior, 3(5), 885-894.

Sherman, R.C.,  Buddie, A.M.,  Dragan, K.L., End, C.M., & Finney, L.J. (1999). Twenty Years of PSPB: Trends in Content, Design & Analysis. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 25 177-187.

Coleman, L.H., Paternite, C. E., & Sherman, R.C. (1999).  A reexamination of deindividuation in synchronous computer-mediated communication.  Computers in Human Behavior, 15, 51-65.

Wolfe, C.R., Crider, L., Mayer, L., McBride, M., Sherman, R.C., & Vogel, R. (1998).  Toward a "Miami Model" of internet-intensive higher education.  Journal of Excellence in College Teaching, 9, 29-50.

Sherman, R.C. (1998).  Using the World Wide Web to teach applications of Social Psychology to everyday life.  Teaching of Psychology, 25, 212-216.

Most Recent Conference Presentations:

• Donn, J., Sherman, R.C., End, C., Kraan, E.,  Campbell, J., Birchmeier, Z.,   Klausner, J., & Rakauskas, M. Attitudes and Practices Regarding Relationship Formation on the Internet. Paper presented to APA, San Francisco, August 2001.
• Campbell, J.,  Sherman, R.C., Kraan, E., &  Birchmeier, Z..  Internet Privacy Awareness and Concerns among College Students. Paper presented to APS, Toronto, June 2001.
• Christian End, Egon Kraan, Alison Cole, Jaime Klausner, Zachary Birchmeier, Jamonn Campbell, & Richard C. Sherman.  On-line Versus Real World Impressions.  Presented to MPA, Chicago, May, 2000.
• Christian End, Egon Kraan, Alison Cole, Jamonn Campbell, Zachary Birchmeier, Jaime Klausner, & Richard C. Sherman.  The Internet Gender Gap Among College Students.  Presented to MPA, Chicago, May, 2000.
• Sherman, R.C., End, C., Kraan, E., Cole, A., Campbell, J., Birchmeier, Z., & Cohara, C.  The Internet Gender Gap:  Is is Narrowing or Widening?   Presented to APA, Boston, 1999.
• Sherman, R.C., End, C., Kraan, E., Cole, A., Martin, J., & Klausner, J. (1999) The Nature of Impressions Formed from World Wide Web Home Pages.   Presented to APS, Denver, June, 1999.
• Sherman, R.C., End, C., Kraan E., Martin, J. Cole, A., & Gardner, J. (1998). Sex Differences in Internet Use: Attitudinal and Experiential Correlates. Presented to APS, Washington, May, 1998.
• Sherman, R.C.,  Buddie, Amy M.,  Dragan, Kristin L., End, Christian M., & Finney, Lila J. (1998). Twenty Years of PSPB: Trends in Content, Design & Analysis.  Presented to APA, San Francisco, August, 1998.
• Sherman, R.C.(1997).  Social Psychology in cyberspace:  Using the World Wide Web to teach applications of social principles to everyday life.   Presented to the Society for Computers in Psychology, November 20, Philadelphia.

Examples of Recent Teaching Efforts:

• The Social Psychology of Cyberspace (Honors Seminar)
• Psychology and the Environment (Undergraduate Capstone Seminar)
• Living in a Social World (Advanced Undergraduate Course in Social Psychology)
• Emerging Issues and Trends in Social Psychology (Graduate Seminar in Social Psychology)
• Explaining the Social World (Graduate Seminar in Social Psychology)

Current Favorite Quotes:

• "Too Much Processing, You Get Velveeta"
• "Microsoft(tm) Corporation announced today that its new operating system, Windows 10, was a breakthough in the development of 'intelligent' software......."
• "Heed those traffic signs along the information superhighway!!"

More Information About Social Psychology at Miami University:

Last revised: .  Comments & Questions to R. Sherman . Also See: Social Psychology at Miami University