Staff: Rebecca Ferrer, PhD
Rebecca Ferrer, PhD
rebecca.ferrer@nih.gov
301-852-1167
Rebecca Ferrer, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist/Program Director at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS), Behavioral Research Program (BRP), Basic Biobehavioral and Psychological Sciences Branch (BBPSB). Dr. Ferrer cultivates and manages a portfolio of grants related to affective and decision science. Dr. Ferrer's own program of research centers on health-related judgment and decision making. She is particularly interested in examining how affective and social processes influence health-related risk perceptions, decision making, and behavior. This program of research reflects a multidisciplinary approach, drawing from the fields of decision science, social psychology, and health psychology. Her work has focused primarily on cancer prevention behaviors such as nutrition, physical activity, and cancer screening, as well as HIV preventive behaviors such as condom use.
Dr. Ferrer earned her doctorate in social psychology from the University of Connecticut in 2009, with a certificate in quantitative methods. She also holds a bachelor's degree in decision science from Carnegie Mellon University. She completed a Post-Doctoral Cancer Research and Training Award Fellowship in the Office of the Associate Director (OAD) in 2011.
Secondary Branch/Office Appointment:
Health Behaviors Research Branch (HBRB)
Current and/or past BRP mentors include William Klein, Kara Hall and Wendy Nelson.
Current and/or past BRP mentees include Erin Ellis, Jessica Welch and Jennifer Taber.
Research Areas
- Emotion/affective science
- Judgment and decision making
- Risk perception
- Social psychology
Selected Publications and Presentations
- Ferrer RA, Green PA, Barrett LF. Affective science perspectives on cancer control: strategically crafting a mutually beneficial research agenda. Pers on Psy Sci 2015 May; 10(3):328-45.
- Ferrer R, Klein WM. Risk perceptions and health behavior. Curr Opin Psychol 2015 Oct 1; 5:85-89.
- Ferrer RA, Grenen EG, Taber JM. Effectiveness of Internet-Based Affect Induction Procedures: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Emotion 2015 Dec; 15(6):752-62.
- Ferrer RA, Taber JM, Klein WM, Harris PR, Lewis KL, Biesecker LG. The role of current affect, anticipated affect and spontaneous self-affirmation in decisions to receive self-threatening genetic risk information. Cogn Emot 2015; 29(8):1456-65.
- Ferrer, R. A., Hall, K. L., Portnoy, D. B., Ling, B. S., Han, P. K., & Klein, W. M. Relationships among health perceptions vary depending on stage of readiness for colorectal cancer screening. Health Psychol 2015; 30(5):525-535.
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