Todd Williams
Professor - Social and Cognitive Psychology
- B.A., University of Alberta, Canada
- Ph.D. (2009), University of Alberta, Canada
Office: 2313 Au Sable Hall
Phone: (616) 331-8976
Email: [email protected]
Co-Director of GVSU Social Cognition Laboratory, Social Cognition Lab
Specialization
Social Cognition
Courses Taught
PSY 101 - Introductory Psychology
PSY 300 - Research Methods in Psychology
PSY 350 - Psychology Research and Data Applications
PSY 360 - Social Psychology: Psychology's View
PSY 400 - Advanced Research in Psychology
Research Interests
My current area of focus is belief change and our awareness of our own psychological processes (metacognition). My research examines how people develop and maintain their beliefs, how accurately they recognize change over time, and the consequences of this awareness for information-seeking, learning, and decision-making. I study questions such as: When individuals encounter evidence that contradicts their prior beliefs, do they revise those beliefs, and are they aware that they have done so? Does recognizing that one’s beliefs have changed increase openness to new information, or do people instead rely on biases that reinforce existing views?
I typically employ experimental and longitudinal approaches to examining how metacognitive awareness influences learning and real-world decision-making, with applications to education, health decision-making, and engagement with controversial worldviews or novel information in everyday life.
Recent Publications
Williams, T. J., Wolfe, M., & Denison, A. (2026). Awareness of belief change predicts increased information seeking. Metacognition and Learning, 21:37.
Deleeuw, J. & Williams, T. J. (2026). Professional dog trainers' perspectives on training methods: Ethical and evidentiary insights. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 13:1744448.
Dillard, A., Meier, B., Williams, T. J., Wolfe, M. & Thakur, M. (2025). Associations between trait mindfulness and distress in fertility patients: Evidence from two clinical samples. European Journal of Health Psychology.
Wolfe, M. B., Williams, T. J., Denison, A. J. & Hart, L. W. (2024). Verification of past beliefs moderates belief change. The Open Psychology Journal, 17: e18743501351250.
Hart, L., Wolfe, M., Williams, T. J. & Russell, G. (2024). Belief change after reading predicts argumentative essay content. Instructional Science, TBD.
Wolfe, M. B. & Williams, T. J., Dewey, E., Mitchell, J., Pomp, A. & Wolfe, B. (2023). Awareness of health change is associated with weight loss following bariatric surgery. Health Psychology, 42(6): 403-410.
Monaghan, C., Bizumic, B., Williams, T., & Sellbom, M. (2020). Two-dimensional Machiavellianism: Conceptualization, theory, and measurement of the views and tactics dimensions. Psychological Assessment, 32(3), 277–293.
Wolfe, M. B. & Williams, T. J. (2018). Poor metacognitive awareness of belief change. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71, 1898-1910.
Wolfe, M. B. & Williams, T. J. (2017). Effects of text content and beliefs on informal argument evaluation. Discourse Processes, 54, 446-462.