• PhD, University of California - Santa Barbara

On the broadest level, I study stress and coping. Potentially stressful situations—taking a test, interviewing for a job, competing against others, approaching potential romantic partners, and facing prejudice—can represent some of the most important moments that people face in life. Yet situations that appear to be similar can be experienced quite differently by different people. My work asks: Why does this happen? What factors contribute to resilience versus vulnerability to potential stressors?

My current research focuses on questions like these:

• Why is self-esteem sometimes a resource, but sometimes a liability?
• How can past adversity build future strength?
• How can different types of relationships contribute to resilience?

To answer these questions, my laboratory draws on a range of methodological approaches, including measuring the body's physiological responses to understand what is happening in the mind.

• Ward, D. E., Seery, M. D., Saltsman, T. L., & Kondrak, C. L. (2026). When rightness is wrong: Chronic prevention orientation predicts cardiovascular threat responses under regulatory fit. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 125, 104920.
• Murray, S. M., Seery, M. D., White, H., Quinton, W. J., & Lyman, C. (2026). The cascading effects of parent (low vs. high) self-esteem: Implications for academic self-trust in stereotype-vulnerable students. Self and Identity, 25, 143-166.
• Saltsman, T. L., Pruitt, T. A., Pfordresher, P. Q., & Seery, M. D. (2025). Singing your heart out: Singing pitch accuracy is associated with cardiovascular responses of task engagement and challenge/threat during vocal performance. Music Perception, 43, 61-75.
• 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., 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., 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.

• Fellow, Association for Psychologicial Science
• Fellow, Society of Experimental Social Psychology
• Fellow, Society for Personality and Social Psychology
• Fellow, Midwestern Psychological Association
• UB Psychology Excellence in Teaching Award