Dave Kolar
Associate Professor, Psychology | University of Mary Washington
Fredericksburg, VA, UNITED STATES
Dave Kolar is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Mary Washington.
Biography
How does short-term mentoring impact the lives of at-risk youth in schools? That’s just one of many research topics that Dave Kolar has explored throughout his career. An associate professor of psychological science at the University of Mary Washington, Dr. Kolar has also conducted research on social perception, accuracy in personality judgment and applying psychological principles to environmental behavior.
Dr. Kolar has presented his work at numerous professional conferences, and his research on social perception and mentoring at-risk children has been published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Journal of Personality and Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning. In addition, he is currently the external evaluator on a 5-year, $996,000 National Science Foundation grant. He also served as the assessment and evaluation coordinator on 3-year, $475,000 grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Education and co-authored a 3-year, $300,000 grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Kolar earned a Ph.D. (1995) in social and personality psychology from the University of California, Riverside, after receiving an M.A. (1993) in psychology from the University of California, Riverside and a B.A. (1989) in psychology from San Diego State University.
Areas of Expertise (9)
Social Psychology
Personality Assessment
University Teaching
Mentoring
Program Evaluation
SPSS
Grant Writing
Assessment
At-Risk Teens
Education (3)
University of California: Ph.D., Psychology 1995
University of California: M.A., Psychology 1993
San Diego State University: B.A., Psychology 1989
Media Appearances (2)
Experts: Pandemic, isolation can change your personality
The Alpena News online
2021-04-26
“Like any competent politician, President Biden has changed to reflect the electorate,” said Stephen Farnsworth, director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia. “What worked for a Democrat in the 1970s does not work today. This is a much more diverse country, and the Democratic Party is offering very different messaging than it did when Biden entered the Senate.”
Students Explore New Cultures with UMW’s Summer Trips
University of Mary Washington News online
2012-06-04
The students, led by Associate Professor of Psychology Dave Kolar, spent two weeks at historical and cultural sites relevant to the study of psychology ...
Articles (4)
A Behavior Intervention to Reduce Sexism in College Men
Gender Issues2015-06-01
Sexism is associated with a number of negative outcomes, including gender-based violence and pay inequity. Men overestimate their male peers’ sexism, which may make them reluctant to intervene. Moreover, they often have little practice at doing so. Several researchers have demonstrated that attitude change can be affected through behavior change. The current study involved a preliminary investigation of the power of a behavior intervention to reduce sexist attitudes in undergraduate males at a southeastern United States university.
Mentoring At‐Risk Youth in Schools: Can Small Doses Make a Big Change?
Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning2011-01-01
The impact of length of the match and age of the child was evaluated in a site‐based mentoring program. At‐risk children ranging in age from 7 to 12 were matched with an adult mentor and met approximately once a week at school during the academic year. Results indicated that neither the length of the match nor the age of the child influenced the impact of mentoring.
A Real-Time Social Norms Intervention to Reduce Male Sexism
Sex Roles2008-08-01
College males’ overestimation of peers’ sexism may result in reluctance to challenge these toxic attitudes. Researchers investigated the power of a brief intervention to correct these cognitive distortions in Southeastern U.S. undergraduate samples of unacquainted (N = 65; 86.2% Caucasian) and acquainted males (N = 63; 82% Caucasian).
Comparing the Accuracy of Personality Judgments by the Self and Knowledgeable Others
Journal of Personality1996-06-01
In this article we compare the accuracy of personality judgments by the self and by knowledgeable others. Self- and acquaintance judgments of general personality attributes were used to predict general, videotaped behavioral criteria. Results slightly favored the predictive validity of personality judgments made by single acquaintances over self-judgments, and significantly favored the aggregated personality judgments of two acquaintances over self-judgments.
Social