Richard B. Slatcher is the Gail M. Williamson Distinguished Professor in the Behavior and Brain Sciences area of the Department of Psychology at the University of Georgia. Understanding the effects of people’s close relationships on their health and well-being from a social psychological perspective is the central focus of his research and teaching. Much of his research has examined the twin roles of self-disclosure and interpersonal responsiveness in the development and maintenance of relationships. In recent years, his work has focused on how smartphones, social media, and emerging technologies impact people and their relationships. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he and his colleagues launched the Love in the Time of COVID study to examine the effects of the pandemic on peoples social relationships.
Richard received his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a minor in Art History from the University of Richmond and his Ph.D. in Social and Personality Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. After graduating from UT, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in health psychology at UCLA. Prior to his time at UGA, Richard was a Professor of Social Psychology at Wayne State University. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and has received over $10 million in grant funding for his work.
His work has been frequently featured in the popular press, including National Public Radio (NPR), The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, The Globe & Mail, and The Guardian, among many others. He is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP), and the the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), and is a recipient of the Caryl Rusbult Close Relationships Early Career Award from SPSP and the award for Outstanding Contributions to Health Psychology by an Early Career Professional from the Society for Health Psychology. He recently completed a term on the Board of the International Association for Relationship Research (IARR) and is currently an Associate Editor of Social Psychological and Personality Science.
Outside of academic life, Richard is a husband and proud dad to two teenage boys. He loves to hike, ski, surf, and travel (see his wife’s blog chronicling their adventures here). He occasionally tweets.