Randy McCarthy

Research Interests

I have two main programs of research.  

First, I study “every day” prosocial behaviors such as giving and receiving apologies, sharing compliments, offering social support, etc. These behaviors are important for understanding how people manage their social interactions so they can be happier and more socially connected.  

Second, I study the way people explain social interactions. A strong focus of this research has been on the way people make sense of interpersonal transgressions and how this sense-making process is related to feelings of regret and desires for apologies.  

Learn more about my research by going to my Google scholar profile.

Representative Publications

• McCarthy, R. J. and Wilson, J. P. (2023). Perpetrators’ and Victims’ Folk Explanations of Aggressive Behaviors and Desires for Apologies. Collabra: Psychology, 9(1), 84918. 
• McCarthy, R. J. (in press). Do perpetrators and victims rely on different information when judging whether aggressive behaviors are justified? Aggressive Behavior. 
• McCarthy, R. J. and Wilson, J. P. (in press). Perpetrators’ Folk Explanations of Their Regretted and Justified Aggressive Behaviors. The Journal of Social Psychology.  
• McCarthy, R. J., Jensen, A. P., Wilson, J. P. and Rivers, A. K. (2022). Perpetrators’, Victims’, and Witnesses’ Folk Explanations of Aggressive Behaviors. Psychological reports, 00332941221123781. 
• Milner, J. S., Crouch, J. L., McCarthy, R. J., Ammar, J., Dominguez-Martinez, R., Thomas, C. L. and Jensen, A. P. (2022). Child physical abuse risk factors: A systematic review and a meta-analysis. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 101778. 
• McCarthy, R. J., Rivers, A. K., Jensen, A. P., Pawirosetiko, J. S. and Erickson, J. M. (2022). Is the victim-perpetrator asymmetry stronger in situations where blame is being assigned?. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 101, 104333.
  
  • OSF | The victim-perpetrator asymmetry is stronger in situations where blame is being assigned
• McCarthy, R. J., Erickson, J. M., Hu, X., Pawirosetiko, J. S., Tarleton, H. L., Thomas, C. L., Tillery, M. G. and Sagarin, B. J. (2021). Broad agreement, but notes of caution with the implications of Sakaluk's (2020) critique of Wisman and Shrira (2020). Archives of Sexual Behavior, 50, 773-777.
  • McCarthy, R.J. (2020). OSF | commentary on Wisman & Shrira (2020)
• McCarthy, R. J. and Rivers, A. K. (2021). Does trait hostility moderate the asymmetry in victim-perpetrator perceptions of aggressive behaviors? Psychological Reports. 
  • OSF | Trait Hostility-Victim-Perpetrator Asymmetry
• McCarthy, R. J., Gervais, W., Aczel, B., Al-Kire, R. L., Baraldo S. M., Baruh L., Basch, C., Baumert, A., Behler, A., Bettencourt, A., Bitar, A., Bouxom, H., Buck, A., Cemalcilar, Z., Chekroun, P., Chen, J. M., del Fresno- Díaz, A., Ducham, A, Edlund, J. E.,…Zogmaister, C. (2021). A multi-site collaborative study of the hostile priming effect. Collabra: Psychology, 7, 18738. doi: 10.1525/collabra.18738
  • OSF | Hostile Priming-Multi-Site Collaboration
• McCarthy, R.  J., Skowronski, J. J., Verschuere, B., Meijer, E. H., Jim, A., Hoogesteyn, K., Orthey, R., …. Yildiz, E. (2018). Registered Replication Report: Srull & Wyer (1979). Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 1(3), 321-336. 
  •  OSF | RRR - Mazar/Srull - cheating and hostility priming
• McCarthy, R., et al. (2018). An Investigation of Abstract Construal on Impression Formation: A Multi-Lab Replication of Mccarthy and Skowronski (2011). International Review of Social Psychology, 15, 1-6. doi:10.5334/irsp.133
  • OSF | Collaborative Data Collection
• McCarthy, R. J. (2017). Due diligence: Revisiting the heat-aggression association hypothesis. Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology, 2, 216-227, 
  • OSF | Heat-Aggression Association-AMP
• McCarthy, R. J. and Elson, M. (2017). A Conceptual Review of Lab-Based Aggression Paradigms. Collabra: Psychology, 4(1), 1–12, doi:10.1525/collabra.104 
  • OSF | A Conceptual Review of Lab-Based Aggression Paradigms
• McCarthy, R. J. and Chartier, C. R. (2017). Collections²: Using “Crowdsourcing” within Psychological Research. Collabra: Psychology, 3(1), 1-6, doi:10.1525/collabra.107
• McCarthy, R. J. (2017). Experiencing Instigations and Trait Aggression Contribute to Harsh Parenting Behaviors. Psychological Reports, 120, 1078-1095. doi:10.1177/0033294117711934
  • OSF Project Link for Experiencing Instigations and Trait Aggression Contribute to Harsh Parenting Behaviors
• McCarthy, R. J., Skowronski, J. J., Crouch, J. L. and Milner, J. S. (2017). Parents’ spontaneous evaluations of children and symbolic harmful behaviors toward their child. Child Abuse & Neglect, 67, 419-428. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.02.005
  • OSF | Parents' Spontaneous Trait Inferences is Moderated by Risk for Child Physical Abuse
• McCarthy, R. J., Miron, L. R., Milner, J. S., Coley, S. L., Ormsby, L. and Oliver, M. (2016). When does child maltreatment occur? Daily variations in child maltreatment among families served by the United States Air Force Family Advocacy Program. Military Behavioral Health, 364-372. doi:10.1080/21635781.1181586 
• McCarthy, R. J., Wagner, M. F., Basham, A. and Jones, C. (2016). Individual Differences in Parents’ Impressions of Children and Child Physical Abuse: A Meta-Analysis. Psychology of Violence, 6, 485-496. doi:10.1037/vio0000028
  • OSF | Parents' Impressions of Children-Child Physical Abuse Meta-Analysis
• Coley, S. L., McCarthy, R. J., Milner, J. S., Ormsby, L. and Travis, W. J. (2016). Intimate partner maltreatment recidivism in United States Air Force Families. Military Medicine, 181, 926-930. doi:10.7205/MILMED-D-15-00333
• Zengel, B., McCarthy, R. J., Skowronski, J. J. and Ambler, J. (2016). Spontaneous trait inference and spontaneous trait transference are both unaffected by prior evaluations of informants. The Journal of Social Psychology, 157, 382-387. doi:10.1080/00224545.2016.1192099
  • OSF | STI-STT with prior evaluations
• McCarthy, R. J., Coley, S. C., Wagner, M. F., Zengel, B. and Basham, A. (2016). Does playing video games with violent content temporarily increase aggressive inclinations? A pre-registered experimental study. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 67, 13-19. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2015.10.009
  • OSF Project Link for Does playing video games with violent content temporarily increase aggressive inclinations?
• McCarthy, R. J., Crouch, J. L., Basham, A., Milner, J. S. and Skowronski, J. J. (2016). Validating the Voodoo doll task as a proxy for aggressive parenting behaviors. Psychology of Violence, 6, 135-144. 
  • OSF | VDT Validation Studies
• McCarthy, R. J. (2014). Close replication attempts of the heat priming-hostile perception effect. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 54, 165-169. 
  • OSF | The Effect of "Heat-Priming" on Hostile Perceptions
• McCarthy, R. J., Crouch, J. L., Skowronski, J. J., Milner, J. S., Hiraoka, R., Rutledge, E. and Jenkins, J. (2013). Child physical abuse risk moderates spontaneously inferred traits from ambiguous child behaviors. Child Abuse & Neglect, 37, 1142-1151. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.05.003
• Crawford, M. T., McCarthy, R. J., Kjaerstad, H. L. and Skowronski, J. J. (2013). Inferences are for doing: The impact of approach and avoidance states on the generation of spontaneous trait inferences. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39, 267-278. doi:10.1177/0146167212473158  
• McCarthy, R. J. and Skowronski, J. J. (2011). Level of construal affects the impact of central traits on impression formation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 1304-1307. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.05.017
• McCarthy, R. J. and Skowronski, J. J. (2011). The interplay of controlled and automatic processes in the expression of spontaneously inferred traits: A PDP analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 229-240. doi:10.1037/a0021991
• McCarthy, R. J. and Skowronski, J. J. (2011). What will Phil do next? The influence of spontaneous trait inferences on behavior predictions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 321-332. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.10.015