Staff Profile

Roles and Responsibilities

Lecturer in Psychology

Qualifications

PhD, Psychology (emphasis in Behavioural Neuroscience), University of Missouri - St. Louis

MA, Psychology (emphasis in Behavioural Neuroscience), University of Missouri - St. Louis

BA, Psychology (minor in Philosophy), University of Missouri - St. Louis

Previous Positions

Lecturer, Queen's University Belfast (Sept 2020 - Dec 2020)

Postdoctoral research fellow, Queen's University Belfast (Jan 2019 - Sept 2020)

Research Interests

I am a social neuroscientist interested in biological and contextual factors which influence health behaviours. My postgraduate training included the examination of how stereotypes and discrimination negatively affect mental and physical health, with an emphasis on how sexism impacts cardiovascular reactivity and alcohol use. My doctoral thesis examined neural precursors to risky alcohol use and their subsequent impact on self-control of racial bias. After completing my PhD, I worked as a postdoctoral research fellow for the EPSRC funded project "Inclusion Really Does Matter" led by Dr. Ioana Latu at Queen's University Belfast. This research used cardiovascular measures and virtual reality to inform development of intervention techniques to promote engagement with academic diversity initiatives in the United Kingdom. 

My recent work focuses on the role of personality in the development and treatment of addictive behaviours. This includes how individual differences, such as drinking motives and alcohol sensitivity, interact with contextual factors (e.g., stress, mental fatigue; Petzel et al., 2019) or novel intervention techniques (e.g., goal priming, evaluative conditioning; Petzel & Noel, 2019; Petzel & Noel, 2020). Current research interests include the impact of social isolation on health, influence of alcohol-related cues (e.g., advertisements) on risky drinking behaviour, and development of tailored interventions which incorporate individual differences to reduce risky alcohol use.

My research is interdisciplinary, drawing from social, behavioural, health, and clinical psychology, in addition to neuroscience and computer science. I have expertise in electrocardiography (ECG), impedance cardiography (ICG), electrodermal activity (EDA), and electroencephalography (EEG).

I am module leader for PSY1008 (Personality and Mental Health), PSY2021 (Introduction to Health and Addiction Science), and PSY3040 (Psychobiology of Drug Addiction). I have also guest lectured for PSY3047 (The Social Psychology of Prejudice and Discrimination).

I also supervise students for the BSc Psychology and MSc Foundations in Clinical & Health Psychology programmes, and I am open to supervising PhD students. If you would like to discuss potential supervision, feel free to send me an email so we can discuss it further. 

• Farrell L, Petzel ZW, McCormack T, Turner RT, Rafferty K, Latu IM. When you put it that way: Framing gender equality initiatives to improve engagement among STEM academics. BioScience 2021, 71(3), 292-304.
• Petzel ZW, Noel JG. Don’t drink and drive, it’s a prime: Cognitive effects of priming alcohol-congruent and incongruent goals among heavy versus light drinkers. Journal of Health Psychology 2021, 26(14), 2966-2972.
• Casad BJ, Franks JE, Garasky C, Kittleman MM, Roesler AC, Hall DY, Petzel ZW. Gender inequality in the academy: Problems and solutions for women faculty in STEM. Journal of Neuroscience Research 2020, 99(1), 13-23.
• Noel JG, Petzel ZW. Not by automaticity alone: The role of contextual factors, individual differences, and propositional learning in the malleability of implicit alcohol attitudes. Addictive Behaviors 2020, 108, 106460.
• Petzel ZW, Casad BJ. Take a chance on STEM: Risk-taking buffers negative effects of stereotype threat among women. The Journal of Experimental Education 2022, 90(3), 656-672.
• Casad BJ, Petzel ZW, Ingalls EA. A Model of Threatening Academic Environments Predicts Women STEM Majors’ Self-Esteem and Engagement in STEM. Sex Roles 2019, 80(7-8), 469-488.
• Petzel ZW, Noel JG, Casad BJ. I’m tired and feel like drinking: Viewing alcohol cues after exerting self-control increases approach motivation among individuals lower in alcohol sensitivity. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 2019, 33(7), 626–636.
• Petzel ZW, Noel JG. In the eye of the drinker: Drinking motives influence the effectiveness of conditioning implicit alcohol attitudes. Addictive Behaviors 2019, 92, 24-27.
• Noel JG, Petzel ZW, Mulderig TH. Of two minds about alcohol: Specific effects of evaluative conditioning on implicit, but not explicit, alcohol cognitions among heavy versus light drinkers. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 2019, 33(3), 285-296.
• Petzel ZW, Casad BJ. Sexism predicts alcohol use and motivations among college women with stronger alcohol identity. Social Cognition 2019, 37(3), 341-354.
• Casad BJ, Petzel ZW. Heart rate variability moderates challenge and threat reactivity to sexism among women in STEM. Social Psychology 2018, 49(4), 191-204.
• Casad BJ, Petzel ZW. Neurosexism. In: Nadal,K, ed. The Sage Encyclopedia of Psychology and Gender. Sage, 2017, pp.1243-1246.