Dr. Kisley joined the UCCS Psychology Department in 2002. Before becoming the Chairperson in 2014 - 2017, he served as the department's Director of Graduate Training for 5 years. Dr. Kisley teaches, conducts research and mentors graduate and undergraduate psychology students in their research and professional development. He was the Associate Dean for the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences from 2019-2021.

• Ph.D. Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, 2000
• M.S. Aerospace Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, 1994
• B.S. Aerospace Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, 1992

Emotion beliefs; emotion acceptance; laypeople’s beliefs about non-human animal emotions; the relationship between humans and their companion animals.

Professor Kisley teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Emotion, Animal Psychology, Biopsychology, and Neuroscience for the UCCS Psychology Department.

• PSY 1100 - The Profession of Psychology
• PSY 3270 - Introduction to Biopsychology
• PSY 4270 - Seminar in Biopsychology
• PSY 4470 - Social Neuroscience
• PSY 6120 - Neuroscience
• PSY 6430 - Contemporary Issues in Psychology

*Indicates a student author who was supervised by Dr. Kisley

Kisley, M.A., *Chung, E.J., & *Levitt, H. (2024) Investigating the reasons behind companion animal relinquishment: A systematic content analysis of shelter records for cats and dogs, 2018-2023. Animals, 14(17), 2606.

Kisley, M.A. (2024) An evolutionary approach to emotion regulation. In L. Al-Shawaf & T.K. Shackelford (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Evolution and the Emotions. Oxford University Press.

Kisley, M.A., *Shulkin, J.R., *Meza-Whitlatch, M.V., & *Pedler, R.B. (2024) Emotion beliefs: Conceptual review and compendium. Frontiers in Psychology 14: 1271135. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1271135

*Harvey, A.M., & Kisley, M.A. (2023) Effects of emotion, emotional processing, and emotional tolerance on reasoning. Cognition & Emotion, Epub ahead of print: 1-15. 

Kneeland, E.T., & Kisley, M.A. (2023) Lay perspectives on emotion: Past, present, and future research directions. Motivation & Emotion, 47: 295-307. 

The core of my research program addresses meta-emotional concepts such as laypeople’s beliefs about emotion, as well as emotion acceptance. More recently I have also begun research on the relationship between humans and non-human animals. This includes research on laypeople’s beliefs about animal emotions and emotional capacity, as well as studies of the reasons why people relinquish their companion animals to shelters. This work importantly involves a collaboration with the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region. My students and I primarily employ self-report measures and multi-variate statistical models to study these and related concepts. You can see some examples of our work in the list of representative publications above. If you are a prospective graduate student and would like to learn more about what my students and I are currently working on, please reach out by email.

• UCCS College of Letters, Arts & Sciences, LAS Service Award 2021
• University of Colorado System, Excellence in Leadership Program, 2015-16
• Outstanding Faculty Member, PSI CHI & Psychology Club, 2013
• Outstanding Research Award for the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, 2013
• Outstanding Teaching Award for the UCCS Campus, 2011
• Outstanding Teaching Award for the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, 2006

• UCCS College of Letters, Arts & Sciences Associate Dean, 2019-2021
• UCCS Psychology Department Chairperson, 2014-2017
• UCCS Psychology Director of Graduate Training, 2009-2014
• Served on several NIH Grant Review Study Sections including most recently the special emphasis panel on "Social Neuroscience and Neuroeconomics of Aging"
• Served as ad hoc peer reviewer for more than 40 scientific journals

Michael A. Kisley, Ph.D.