Features
(Photo: Richard Baker)Michael Maniaci started studying social behavior in elementary school.
“I’d spend a lot of time sitting on the school bus just thinking about why kids acted certain ways or said certain things, or why one student was aggressive to another,” says the third-year doctoral candidate in clinical and social psychology.
Interested in emotions in general and positive emotions in particular, Maniaci focuses his research on social interaction in close relationships. As an undergraduate, he landed a highly competitive summer fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Center, one of the most prestigious research institutes of its kind, and spent more than a year there as a research assistant before heading to graduate school.
Maniaci, from Reading, Pa., wants to teach and conduct research at a college or university after earning his PhD. In charge of six studies this past semester, he came to Rochester to work with faculty and undergraduates while having access to the sorts of research resources a large university can provide.
Sometimes that research tries to muscle its way into his personal life. Married for three years, Maniaci quips that he has learned to choose his words carefully in certain situations.
“It’s not always the best idea when having an argument to cite some study showing that it’s better if you argue in a particular way,” he says. “Knowing these things can get you into trouble.”
