Thane S. Pittman
Professor of Psychology
Psychology


Office: Roberts 334
Phone: 207-859-5557
Fax: 859-5555
Email:

Mailing Address:
5550 Mayflower Hill
Waterville, Maine 04901-8855

Semester Schedule

Education

BA
Psychology
Kent State University
MA. PhD
Social psychology
University of Iowa

Areas of Expertise:
  • Social Psychology: Motivation
  • - motivation, and action
  • - motivation, performance, fun, and play
  • - judgment and decision making
  • - psychology of justice and morality
Other Courses Taught
Course Course Title
PS337 Collaborative Research in Social Psychology
Current Research

Visit the Social Motivation Lab, in the Psychology Labs web site

Visit my Social Psychology Network page

Publications

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

Motivation Review Chapters

Pittman, T. S., & Heller, J. F. (1987). Social motivation. In M. Rosenzweig & L. Porter (Eds.), Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 38 (pp. 461-489). Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews, Inc.

Pittman, T. S. (1998). Motivation. In D. Gilbert, S. Fiske, & G. Lindsay (Eds.), Handbook of Social Psychology, 4th Edition (pp. 549-590). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Pittman, T. S., & Zeigler, K. R.* (2007). Human needs and motives. In E.T. Higgins & A. Kruglanski, Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, 2nd Ed. New York: Guilford.

Higgins, E. T., & Pittman, T. S. (in preparation). Motives of the human animal: Comprehending,managing, and sharing inner states. Annual Review of Psychology.

Recent Articles

Pittman, T. S., Tykocinski, O. E., Sandman-Keinan, R., & Matthews, P. (in press). When bonuses backfire: An inaction inertia analysis of procrastination induced by a missed opportunity. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making.

Tykocinski, O. E., & Pittman, T. S. (2004). The dark side of opportunity: Regret, disappointment, and the cost of prospects. In I. Brocas and J. D. Carillo (Eds.), The Psychology of Economic Decisions. Volume 2: Reasons and Choices. New York: Oxford University Press.

Tykocinski, O. E., Israel, R., & Pittman, T. S. (2004). Inaction inertia in the stock market. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34, 1166-1175.

Darley, J. M., & Pittman, T. S. (2003). The psychology of compensatory and retributive justice. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 7, 324-336.

Potter, E. H., Rosenbach, W. E., & Pittman, T. S. (2001). Followers for the times: Engaging employees in a winning partnership. In W. E. Rosenbach & R. L. Taylor (Eds.), Contemporary issues in leadership, 5th edition. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Tykocinski, O. E., & Pittman, T. S. (2001). Product aversion following a missed opportunity: Price contrast or avoidance of anticipated regret? Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 23, 149-156.

Potter, E. H., Rosenbach, W. E., & Pittman, T. S. (2000). Followers as partners: The best evidence of good leadership. In R. L. Taylor & W. E. Rosenbach (Eds.), Military leadership: In pursuit of excellence, 4th Edition (pp. 128-137). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Recent Presentations

Adams, G.S.*, & Pittman, T.S. (2007). Making reparations: How passage of time, expression of remorse, and provision of compensation affect punishment inclinations. Pster presented at the meeting of SPSP, Memphis, TN.

Chentsova Dutton, Y. E., & Pittman, T. S. (2006). Symposium on cultural and contextual influences on the emotions. Co-chairs, meeting of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, Philadelphia, PA.

Tykocinski, O.E., & Pittman, T.S. (2006). The paradoxical effects of bonuses on task completion. Paper presented at the meeting of IAREP-SABE, 2006, Paris, FR.

Pittman, T. S., Darley, J. M., & Adams, G. S.* (2006). Time and punishment: Do moral reactions to collective harm fade with time? Poster presented at the meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, New York, NY.

Sehnert, S.*, Adams, G.*, Pittman, T. S., & Darley, J. M. (2006). Moral reactions to crime: Remorse and mitigating circumstances. Poster presented at the meeting of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology, Palm Springs, CA.

Pittman, T. S. (2005). At last, my talk on procrastination. Invited talk, Motivation and Decision Science Seminar, Columbia University.

Pittman, T. S. (2005). At last, my talk on procrastination. Paper presented at the meeting of the Winter Conference in Social Psychology, Park City, UT.

Pittman, T. S. (2004). The attributional puzzle of moral luck. Paper presented as part of a Symposium on Developing Directions in Justice and Morality Research, Thane Pittman, Chair, at the annual meeting of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, Fort Worth, TX.

Pittman, T. S. (2003). “Goals” as a motivational principle: Achievement motivation. Invited paper presented at the International Conference on Motivation Science, New York, NY.

Pittman, T. S. (2003). A new look at intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Paper presented at the meeting of the Winter Conference in Social Psychology, Park City, UT.

Stangor, C., Sechrist, G. B., & Pittman, T. S. (2002). Social consensus and intergroup beliefs. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology, Savannah, GA.

Pittman, T. S., Tykocinski, O. E., Sandman-Keinan, R., & Matthews, P. (2001). Avoidance of regret and procrastination: Escalating costs and inaction inertia. Paper presented at the Biannual Conference on Subjective Probability, Utility, and Decision Making, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Tykocinski, O.E., Pittman, T.S., & Israel, R. (2001). Anticipated regret and the accumulation of losses: Inaction inertia in the stock market. Paper presented at the Biannual Conference on Subjective Probability, Utility, and Decision Making, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Pittman, T. S., & Tykocinski, O. E. (2001). Counterfactual thinking and the dark side of opportunity. Paper presented at the Centre for Economic Policy Research Conference on Psychology and Economics, Brussels, Belgium.

Pittman, T. S., & Tykocinski, O. E. (2000). Inaction inertia: Avoiding regret through the avoidance of action. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making, New Orleans, LA.