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Julia Braverman, Ph.D.
Research Data Analyst, Division on Addictions |
Biographical Sketch
Julia Braverman is an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and a Research Data Analyst at the Division on Addictions, Cambridge Health Alliance, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Dr. Braverman received her Ph.D. in social and experimental psychology from Northeastern University in 2005. After graduating, Dr. Braverman completed three year of postdoctoral training in Medical Informatics at Boston University and Harvard Medical School. She also received a Master of Science degree in biomedical informatics from Harvard-MIT in 2008, where she studied advanced methods of statistical analysis and artificial intelligence.
At the Division on Addictions, Dr. Braverman is working on a bwin Interactive Entertainment AG - funded study to predict the behavioral patterns of problematic gamblers.
Dr. Braverman is interested in health communication; she studies the various factors that influence motivation, self-destructive and addictive behaviors. Dr. Braverman designed several randomized-trials to investigate the most efficient methods of tailoring health communication. One study involved presenting online users with testimonial versus informational persuasive messages to promote weight loss and moderate binge drinking (Braverman, 2008). Another study involved matching graphical data display to a recipient’s regulatory focus (Braverman & Frost, under review).
With her research, Dr. Braverman aims to apply psychological theories to investigate factors that lead to developing addiction or promoting behavioral changes. She is designing and programming online experiments to investigate effective ways to exploit computer technologies for behavioral health interventions.
Selected Publications
Under Review
- Braverman, J. & Frost, J. Matching the Graphical Display of Data to Regulatory Focus to Motivate Healthy Weight Management (under review)
2009 - 2010
- Braverman, J. & Shaffer, H. J. (2010). How do gamblers start gambling: Identifying behavioral markers for high-risk Internet gambling. European Journal of Public Health: Advance Access. DOI:10.1093/eurpub/ckp232.
- Braverman J. & Deider, J. (2009). Predictors of medication adherence for African-American patients diagnosed with hypertension. Ethnicity and Disorder, 19(4), 396-400.
2008 and Earlier
- Braverman, J. (2008) Testimonial versus informational persuasive messages: The moderating effect of delivery mode and personal involvement. Communication Research, 35, 666-694.
- Braverman, J. (2005) The Effect of Mood on the Detection of Covariation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41, 1487-1497.
- DeSteno, D., Petty, R. E., Rucker, D. D., Wegener, D. T., & Braverman, J. (2003). Discrete Emotions and Persuasion: The Role of Emotion Induced Expectancies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 43–56.
- DeSteno D.A & Braverman, J. (2002) Emotion and persuasion: Thoughts on the role of emotional intelligence. In Barrett, L. F. & Salovey, P. (Eds) The wisdom in feeling: Psychological processes in emotional intelligence. Emotions and social behavior. (pp. 191-210). New York, NY.
- DeSteno, D. A., Bartlett, M. Y, Braverman, J., & Salovey, P. (2002) Sex differences in jealousy: Evolutionary mechanism or artifact of measurement? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(5), 1103-1116.
Selected Presentations
- Braverman, J. (2009, November). Invited speaker at Research Exchange About Communication and Health (REACH), Health Communication Research Laboratory Institute for Public Health at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis.
- Braverman, J. (2007, September) Narrative versus Factual Persuasive Messages: The Moderating Effect of Delivery Mode and Personal Involvement. Colloquium presentation. Psychology Department. UMASS, Amherst, MA.
- Braverman, J. (2007, June) Factual Versus Narrative Messaging: Different Modalities and Personal Involvement. Looking for the Best Strategy of Persuasion. The Weight Loss and College Drinking Examples. Talk for the NLM Training Conference, Stanford, CA.