Education
- Ph.D. Psychology (Quantitative), University of Utah, 2025
- M.S. Psychology (Cognition & Neural Science), University of Utah, 2022
- B.S. Psychology/Writing & Rhetoric Studies (Suma Cum Laude), University of Utah
Research Interests
- Intraindividual variability
- dynamical system
- Bayesian statistics
- Ambulatory assessment methods (e.g., ecological momentary assessment, daily diaries)
- Pain perception
- Stress
- Chronic pain
- Perception and affect interactions
Biography
I will be considering Ph.D applicants to start in Fall 2027
As a quantitative psychologist, I develop and apply statistical tools to better understand the "messy" data that often arises in psychological and health sciences research. My research focuses on modeling dynamic processes (like pain and stress) in intensive longitudinal data, and draws on Bayesian statistics, dynamical systems theory, multi-level modeling, and time series analysis approaches. Broadly, I am interested in how people perceive, experience, and respond to the sensory and emotional world around them, and how statistics can be leveraged to better understand the human experience. Much of my work develops and applies quantitative methods to questions in pain research and affective science.
Publications
Whitaker, M., Okifuji, A., & Deboeck, P. (2026). How am I doing? It varies: mixed-effects location scale modeling to examine intra-individual variability in health-related research. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 1-15.
Whitaker, M. M., Bergeman, C. S., & Deboeck, P. R. (2024). The Bayesian reservoir model of psychological regulation. Psychological Methods.
Whitaker, M. M., Odell, D., Deboeck, P. R., Stefanucci, J. K., & Okifuji, A. (2024). Increased pain variability in patients with chronic pain: a role for pain catastrophizing. The Journal of Pain, 25(8), 104494.