About Us
The Interdisciplinary Behavioral Research Center (IBRC) is an experimental research lab that manages and administers a variety of resources to social and behavioral science researchers at Duke University.
The IBRC is a part of the Social Science Research Institute but is available to all faculty, post-doctoral, graduate and undergraduate student researchers in the social and behavioral sciences at Duke University.
Our People
Dr. Patty Van Cappellen
Director
patty [dot] vancappellen@duke [dot] edu
Dr. Van Cappellen is an Assistant Research Professor at the Social Science Research Institute and Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. She earned her Ph.D. in Social Psychology in 2012 from the University of Louvain, Belgium. Her work is in experimental social psychology, investigating the psychological determinants of well-being and health behavior maintenance. She focuses primarily on two determinants: the experience of positive emotions (e.g., awe, gratitude) and religious/spiritual beliefs and behaviors. To balance her work on the benefits of religion, she also studies whether, how, and when religion promotes intergroup prejudice and aggression.
For more information on her work and publications see her website.
Outside of academia, Patty enjoys horseback riding, discovering new restaurants, and taking in the sun of North Carolina (Belgium, her native country, is typically gray and rainy).
To learn more about her research, visit the BABLab website.
