I am Benjamin Meagher, currently an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Hope College. I earned my Ph.D. and M.A. at the University of Connecticut and my B.A. from Gordon College. Prior to this position at Hope, I was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Baylor University and taught in the Psychology Departments of Franklin & Marshall College and Kenyon College.

I conduct research in socioecological psychology, an approach to thinking about mental processes and behavior as the products of a single system that includes the person, the social environment, and the physical environment. You can read my 2020 paper in Personality and Social Psychology Review for a general overview of this approach. My lab at Hope College investigates a variety of ways in which social, personality, and environmental psychology intercept. Our work focuses primarily on the role of particular places—the home, religious settings, undergraduate housing—in maintaining positive relationships, interactions, and mental health. You can read more about our current projects on the research lab page.

If you are a student interested in working with me, please fill out the Psychology Department’s common application and select me as a potential mentor! To learn more about the research projects that I am currently working on, or to find papers that I have published, please follow the links in the top menu.