Roxane Cohen Silver
Distinguished Professor of Psychological Science | UC Irvine
Irvine, CA, UNITED STATES
Roxane Cohen Silver studies stress, traumatic events, coping, disasters, health psychology and social psychology.
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Biography
Roxane Cohen Silver, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychological Science, the Department of Medicine, and the Program in Public Health, and Associate Director of the ADVANCE Program for Faculty and Graduate Student Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Office of Inclusive Excellence at the University of California, Irvine, where she has been actively involved in research, teaching, and administration since 1989. An international expert in the field of stress and coping, Silver has spent almost four decades studying acute and long-term psychological and physical reactions to stressful life experiences, including personal traumas such as loss, physical disability, and childhood sexual victimization, as well as larger collective events such as terror attacks, war, and natural disasters across the world (e.g., U.S., Indonesia, Chile, Israel). Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Public Health Service. She has guided governments in the U.S. and abroad in the aftermath of terrorist attacks and earthquakes and served on numerous senior advisory committees and task forces for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, providing advice to the Department and its component agencies on the psychological impact of disasters and terrorism. She has also testified at the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Science and given several briefings to policymakers at the White House and on Capitol Hill on the role of social science research in disaster preparedness and response and the impact of the media following disasters. Silver is the President of the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences (FABBS) and was the 2016 President of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology. She was also a founding Director and Chair of the Board of Directors of Psychology Beyond Borders, an international nonprofit organization that facilitated research, intervention, and policy development in the prevention, preparedness, and response to terror attacks, conflict, or natural disasters across the world.
Areas of Expertise (5)
Health Psychology
Stress
Traumatic Events
Coping
Social Psychology
Accomplishments (5)
Robert S. Laufer Ph.D. Memorial Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement (professional)
2018 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
Application of Personality and Social Psychology Senior Career Contribution Award (professional)
2019 Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Social Responsibility Award (professional)
2016 Western Psychological Association
Daniel Stokols Award for Interdisciplinary Research (professional)
2015 School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine
Frank Ochberg Award for Media and Trauma Study (professional)
2014 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
Education (2)
Northwestern University: PhD, Social Psychology 1982
Northwestern University: BA, Psychology 1976
Awarded with Highest Distinction and Honors
Affiliations (7)
- American Psychological Association
- Association for Psychological Science
- International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
- Society of Experimental Social Psychology
- Society for Health Psychology
- Society for Personality and Social Psychology
- Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues
Links (6)
Media Appearances (5)
What Collective Trauma Feels Like
Psychology Today online
2025-03-05
Roxane Cohen Silver of the University of California, Irvine, testified about the compounding crises of 2020 before the U.S. House of Representatives, stating, “Together, the combination of medical, economic, racial and climate-based catastrophes highlights the need for attention to the meaning and implications of cumulative, compounding trauma exposure.”
Struggling with your mental health after surviving a disaster? Here’s how to look after yourself
Associated Press online
2025-02-04
For some, direct exposure to a collective disaster like the California wildfires can be associated with mental health consequences, including anxiety, difficulty sleeping, hypervigilance, depression and, potentially, post-traumatic stress disorder, said Roxane Cohen Silver, a professor of psychological science at University of California, Irvine. “Social support is crucial in a time like this,” she said, adding that over time, people may wish to seek professional help.
There’s a reason you can’t stop doomscrolling through L.A.’s fire disaster
Los Angeles Times online
2025-01-10
When you share an identity with the victims of a traumatic event, you’re more likely both to seek out media coverage of the experience and to feel more distressed by the media you see, said Roxane Cohen Silver, Distinguished Professor of psychological science at UC Irvine. … “Throughout California, throughout the West, throughout communities that have had wildfire experience, we are particularly primed and sensitized to that news,” she said. “And the more we immerse ourselves in that news, the more likely we are to experience distress.”
The latest news? Not right now, thanks.
The Washington Post online
2024-11-24
That seems logical. … taking a break from the news makes perfect sense. … But this behavior actually runs counter to how people tend to react to something they consider a “tragedy,” says Roxane Cohen Silver, professor of psychological science and public health at the University of California, Irvine. … “Clinicians talk about when people are anxious about something, they seek out information to sort of monitor their environment so they don’t encounter what they’re scared of,” Silver says.
Graphic imagery online can lead to psychological harm, UC Irvine experts say
Los Angeles Times online
2024-07-19
UC Irvine researchers say repeated exposure to graphic photos and videos is being linked to psychological distress. … Roxane Cohen Silver and E. Alison Holman are researchers and professors in Irvine’s department of psychological science who have been studying the public-health effects of graphic images, including those from the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks; the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013; and the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla.
Event Appearances (3)
Psychological Science and COVID-19, Interview with Roxane Cohen Silver
Association for Psychological Science
2020-04-03
Social isolation, mental health, and COVID-19: A media briefing
SciLine, American Association for the Advancement of Science
2020-03-30
Using the psychological science of crisis leadership and communications to navigate the Coronavirus: A webinar for public officials
American Psychological Association
2020-03-20
Articles (5)
The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-2019) Outbreak: Amplification of Public Health Consequences by Media Exposure
Health PsychologyDana Rose Garfin, Roxane Cohen Silver, E. Alison Holman
2020 The 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-2019) has led to a serious outbreak of often severe respiratory disease, which originated in China and has quickly become a global pandemic, with far-reaching consequences that are unprecedented in the modern era. As public health officials seek to contain the virus and mitigate the deleterious effects on worldwide population health, a related threat has emerged: global media exposure to the crisis.
Associations between exposure to childhood bullying and abuse and adulthood outcomes in a representative national U.S. sample
Child Abuse & NeglectJosiah A Sweeting, Dana Rose Garfin, E Alison Holman, Roxane Cohen Silver
2020 Negative childhood experiences are associated with poor health and psychosocial outcomes throughout one’s lifespan.
Exposure to prior negative life events and responses to the Boston marathon bombings.
Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and PolicyGarfin, Dana Rose; Holman, E. Alison; Silver, Roxane Cohen
2020 Objective: The objective of the study was to explore how type and timing of prior negative life experiences (NLEs) may be linked to responses to subsequent collective trauma, such as a terrorist attack. Method: Using a longitudinal design, we examined relationships between prior NLEs and responses to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings (BMB).
What Might Have Been: Near Miss Experiences and Adjustment to a Terrorist Attack
Social Psychological and Personality ScienceMichael J. Poulin, Roxane Cohen Silver
2019 Near miss experiences—narrowly avoiding a traumatic event—are associated with distress, despite signaling good fortune. For some, near miss experiences call to mind those who, unlike oneself, were directly affected by the event, leading to “survivor guilt” or distress over one’s comparative good fortune. Survivor guilt, in turn, may function as upward counterfactual thinking about others’ negative outcomes, leading to intrusive thoughts and post-traumatic stress.
When are assumptions shaken? A prospective, longitudinal investigation of negative life events and worldviews in a national sample
Journal of Research in PersonalityMichael J Poulin, Roxane Cohen Silver
2019 Theorists maintain that negative life events (NLE) can alter worldviews, but evidence for this idea has been lacking. We present a model that raises three questions: (1) Do different types of NLE engender different types of worldview change? (2) Do factors that facilitate positive reappraisals of NLE buffer against worldview change?
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