• PhD, University of California - Santa Barbara

On the broadest level, I study stress and coping. Potentially stressful situations — for example, test taking, interviewing for a job, competing against others, approaching potential romantic partners, and public speaking — can represent some of the most important moments that people face in life. Situations that may appear to be similar, however, can be experienced quite differently by different individuals. A central question that guides my work is: What factors contribute to resilience versus vulnerability to potential stressors?

In my current research, I focus on three core topics: (1) examining when and how high self-esteem serves as a resource versus a vulnerability, and the associated consequences for potentially destructive behavior; (2) investigating how past experience of adverse life events can contribute to developing a propensity for future resilience; and (3) exploring the role of individuals’ relationships with other people and entities (e.g., romantic partners, social movements, things that inspire awe) in resilience versus vulnerability. The research conducted in my laboratory incorporates a range of methodological approaches, including theoretically based psychophysiological measures, and examines common social stressors (e.g., experiencing prejudice and discrimination). Funding from the National Science Foundation has supported this work.

• Murray, S. L., McNulty, J. K., Xia, J., Lamarche, V. M., Seery, M. D., Ward, D. E., Griffin, D. W., Hicks, L. L., & Jung, H. Y. (2023). Pursuing safety in social connection regulates the risk-regulation, social-safety, and behavioral-immune systems. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 125, 519-547.
  
• Lamarche, V. M., Seery, M. D., Murray, S. L., Kondrak, C. L., Saltsman, T. L., & Streamer, L. (2022). Lovers in a dangerous time: Ecologically motivated relationship safety regulation. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 3, 100061.
• Murray, S. L., Seery, M. D., Lamarche, V. M., Jung, H. Y., Saltsman, T. L., Griffin, D. W., Dubois, D., Xia, Ji, Ward, D. E., & McNulty, J. (2021). Looking for safety in all the right places: When threatening political reality strengthens family relationship bonds. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 12, 1193-1202.
• Saltsman, T. L., Seery, M. D., Ward, D. E., Lamarche, V. M., & Kondrak, C. L. (2021). Is satisficing really satisfying? Satisficers exhibit greater threat than maximizers during choice overload. Psychophysiology, 58, e13705.
• Saltsman, T. L., Seery, M. D., Ward, D. E., Radsvick, T. M., Panlilio, Z. A., Lamarche, V. M., & Kondrak, C. L. (2021). Facing the facets: No association between dispositional mindfulness facets and positive momentary stress responses during active stressors. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 47, 1057-1070.
• Lamarche, V. M., Seery, M. D., Kondrak, C. L., Saltsman, T. L., & Streamer, L. (2020). Clever girl: Benevolent sexism and cardiovascular threat. Biological Psychology, 149, 107781. 
• Le, P. Q., Saltsman, T. L., Seery, M. D., Ward, D. E., Kondrak, C. L., & Lamarche, V. M. (2019). When a small self means manageable obstacles: Spontaneous self-distancing predicts divergent effects of awe during a subsequent performance stressor. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 80, 59-66.
• Murray, S. L., Seery, M. D., Lamarche, V. M., Kondrak, C., & Gomillion, S. (2019). Implicitly imprinting the past on the present: Automatic partner attitudes and the transition to parenthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 116, 69-100.
• Streamer, L., Seery, M. D., Kondrak, C. L., Lamarche, V. M., & Saltsman, T. (2017). Not I, but she: The beneficial effects of self-distancing on challenge/threat cardiovascular responses. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 70, 235-241.
• Seery, M. D., & Quinton, W. J. (2016). Understanding resilience: From negative life events to everyday stressors. In J. M. Olson & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 54, pp. 181-245). Cambridge, MA: Academic Press.
• Seery, M. D., & Quinton, W. J. (2015). Targeting prejudice: Personal self-esteem as a resource for Asians’ attributions to racial discrimination. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6, 677-684.
• Seery, M. D. (2013). The biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat: Using the heart to measure the mind. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7, 637-653.
• Seery, M. D., Leo, R. J., Lupien, S. P., Kondrak, C. L., & Almonte, J. L. (2013). An upside to adversity? Moderate cumulative lifetime adversity is associated with resilient responses in the face of controlled stressors. Psychological Science, 24, 1181-1189.
• Seery, M. D. (2011). Resilience: A silver lining to experiencing adverse life events? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20, 390-394.
• Seery, M. D., Holman, E. A., & Silver, R. C. (2010). Whatever does not kill us: Cumulative lifetime adversity, vulnerability, and resilience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, 1025-1041.