Directory - SVSU

Curriculum Vitae

Joe S Weaver

Associate Professor of Psychology

Psychology (PM)

Main Campus

Brown Hall 205M

989-964-2481

jweaver@svsu.edu

Faculty Page

Biography

Joe Weaver grew up in north central Ohio. He attended Bowling Green State University in northwest Ohio, earning a Bachelor's of Science degree in psychology in 2009. He then earned a Master of Art (2011) and Philosophy Doctorate (2013) in experimental psychology from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Weaver sought to become a professor at a teaching institution, working at Hillsdale College and DePauw University before joining the Psychology Department at SVSU in 2016. He has a passion for helping students find their passions and seeing the value in all their educational endeavors. Dr. Weaver enjoys helping students get started in psychological research, which is why he has an open lab where any student can join. In his lab, students research how cognition and affect/emotions impact decision making and motivation.

Education

Master of Arts
Case Western Reserve Univ

Doctor of Philosophy
Case Western Reserve Univ

Teaching Interests

Dr. Weaver teaches the following courses at SVSU:

General Psychology (PSYC 100)
Statistics (PSYC 299)
Computer Applications in Data Analysis (PSYC 302)
Experimental Psychology (PSYC 305)
Motivation (PSYC 330)
Motivation Lab (PSYC 330L)
Sensation & Perception (PSYC 345)
Sensation & Perception Lab (PSYC 345L)
Psychology and the Good Life (PSYC 390)

Research

Dr. Weaver's research focuses on how cognition and affect/emotion influence our decisions and motivation for certain behaviors. Traditionally viewed as opposing systems, cognition and affect are both information processing systems that direct our attention and behavior inline with various goals. Some of Dr. Weaver's research has investigated how dispositional optimism and pessimism influence emotion regulation, how working memory capacity influences our ability to attend to emotional and non-emotional information, how psychosocial factors influence student success and retention, how our emotional reactions to outcomes influence our subsequent decisions, and how different teaching approaches influence student success in a course. Dr. Weaver believes that science is best accomplished through collaboration, which is why Dr. Weaver works with colleagues and students across various projects.

Dr. Weaver works with groups of students at all levels to develop novel research projects. In 2025-2026, the Cognition & Affect Lab (CAL) is investigating how people use dating apps and how online dating impacts users.

Works of Creativity

Dr. Weaver has written two open education resources (OER). These OER are free textbooks available to his PSYC 299 Statistics and PSYC 302 Computer Applications in Data Analysis students. These OER are available through his Canvas sites for each course. He uses OER because they are tailored to his courses so students can learn more easily at no cost. In addition to tradition text-based OER, Dr. Weaver has also developed video-based courses on digital learning readiness for new SVSU students as well as a podcast series for his Psychology and the Good Life Course. You can listen to the podcast here.

Community Engagement

Dr. Weaver volunteers with his church and local school.

Leadership

Dr. Weaver is serving as one of the inaugural advisors for the SVSU chapter of the National Society for Success and Leadership. He served as the director of the Cardinal Digital Learning Readiness program in 2024-2025.

Honors and Awards

Dr. Weaver has received grants to fund his OER development and his research. He is also one of two inaugural Teaching Fellows at the Center for Academic Innovation at SVSU. In 2022, Dr. Weaver won the Excellence in Online Teaching award from the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

Affiliations

Dr, Weaver is a member of the Association for Psychological Science and the Society for the Teaching of Psychology.