NSF Awards Grant to Adelphi University Professor Robert Bornstein

Garden City, NY
November 4, 2008

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $135,712 in grant funding to Adelphi University Professor Robert F. Bornstein, who was named principal investigator for “Mental Imagery and the Mere Exposure Effect.” Along with co-principal investigator and colleague, Professor Catherine Craver-Lemley of Elizabethtown College, he will explore the psychological and neurological processes that underlie the exposure effect by examining the role of mental imagery in shaping reaction to merely exposed visual stimuli. The goal is to apply mere exposure methods to real-world problems and issues such as fear acquisition and reduction, attitude formation and change, and stereotype reduction. 

Dr. Bornstein, a professor of psychology in the Gordon F. Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, previously received a grant from NSF in 1993 for his research project, “An Attributional Model of the Mere Exposure Effect.” He has also received two research grants from the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Bornstein’s other research interests include personality disorders and assessment, unconscious processes, and interpersonal dependency. He has published more than 150 articles and book chapters on personality dynamics, diagnosis, and treatment. An expert on dependent personality disorder, Dr. Bornstein wrote The Dependent Personality (Guilford Press, 1993), The Dependent Patient: A Practitioner’s Guide (American Psychological Association, 2005), Reconnecting Psychoanalysis to Mainstream Psychology: Opportunities and Challenges (Psychoanalytic Psychology, 2006), and other works. He co-authored a book with his wife, psychologist Mary Languirand, When Someone You Love Needs Nursing Home Care, which is intended for people wrestling with late-life health care decisions regarding their parents or others close to them. Dr. Bornstein is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, American Psychological Society, and Society for Personality Assessment.

Dr. Bornstein believes strongly in effective teaching and serving as a role model for the next generation of psychologists. To this end, clinical research is imperative to ensuring that those in the field of psychology can make sound clinical and ethical decisions.

Dr. Bornstein earned his Ph.D. in 1986 from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Prior to joining the faculty at Adelphi in September 2006, he taught at Gettysburg College and Fordham University.


About Adelphi University: Adelphi University, chartered in 1896, was the first institution of higher education for the liberal arts and sciences on Long Island. Through its schools and programs—The College of Arts and Sciences, Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Honors College, Ruth S. Ammon School of Education, University College, and the Schools of Business, Nursing, and Social Work—the co-educational university offers undergraduate and graduate degrees as well as professional and educational programs for adults. Adelphi University currently enrolls nearly 8,500 students from 41 states and 63 foreign countries. With its main campus in Garden City and centers in Manhattan, Hauppauge, and Poughkeepsie, the University maintains a commitment to liberal studies in tandem with rigorous professional preparation and active citizenship.


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