Research Interests

Psychoanalytic theory, moral reasoning, developmental antecedents of psychological functioning

Research statement

I have two distinct but related research areas: Identifying the psychological bases of moral reasoning and exploring the role of internalized object-relation on psychological functioning. My research on moral reasoning focuses on the development of moral expertise, the application of affordance theory to moral decision-making, and virtue ethics. My object-relations research investigates how internalization of childhood relationships affects the subsequent development of mentalization, self/other boundaries, and moral behavior. The long-term goal of these projects is to understand better how psychological life, moral life, and development intersect to produce the persons we become.

• Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence in Teaching, The University of Tennessee (2018)
• Distinguished Member, The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (2012)
• Distinguished Member, The Omicron Delta Kappa Society (2012)
• Fellowship Award, The American Psychoanalytic Association (1996)
• Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching, Texas State University (1995)
• Favorite Professor Award, Alpha Chi National Honors Scholarship Society (1994, 1995 & 1997)
• Chancellor’s Citation for Extraordinary Professional Promise, University of Tennessee (1990)

• Costello, R.M., Hulsey, T.L., Schoenfeld, L. S., & Ramamurthy, S. (1987) P-A-I-N: A four-cluster MMPI typology for chronic pain. Pain, 30, 199-209.
• Zivney, O.A., Nash, M.R., & Hulsey, T.L. (1988). Sexual abuse in early versus late childhood: Differing patterns of pathology as revealed on the Rorschach. Psychotherapy, 25(1), 99-106.
• Baker, E.L., Hulsey, T.L., & Glenn, M.B. (1990). Attitudes and practices regarding clinical hypnosis with psychotic patients – A survey. The International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 38(3), 162-167.
• Hulsey, T.L. (1991). Trauma and dissociation. American Journal of Psychiatry, 148(10), 1422-1423.
• Hulsey, T.L., Sexton, M.C., & Nash, M.R. (1992). Perceptions of family functioning and the occurrence of childhood sexual abuse. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 56(4), 439-450.
• Nash, M.R., Zivney, O.A., & Hulsey, T.L. (1993). Characteristics of sexual abuse associated with greater psychological impairment among children. Child Abuse & Neglect, 17, 401-408.
• Nash, M.R., Hulsey, T.L., Sexton, M.C., Harralson, T.L., & Lambert, W. (1993). Long-term sequelae of childhood sexual abuse: Perceived family environment, psychopathology, and dissociation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61(2), 276-283.
• Nash, M.R., Hulsey, T.L., Sexton, M.C. Harralson, T.L. & Lambert, W. (1993). Sexual abuse, family environment, and psychological symptoms: On the validity of statistical control: Reply to Briere and Elliott. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61(2), 289-290.
• Méndèz, R. & Hulsey, T.L. (1994). Relación padres-hijos y funcionamiento psicológico en mujeres adultas: El rol del conflicto, autoritarismo y expresividad. Revista Psicología Social y Personalidad, 10(1), 59-72.
• Hulsey, T.L. & Frost, C.J. (1995). Psychoanalytic psychotherapy and the tragic sense of life and death. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 59(2), 145-159.
• Méndèz, R., Hulsey, T., & Archer, R. (1996). Autococonciencia, uso de condón y parejas sexuales múltiples. Psicología Contemporánea, 3(1), 74-81.
• Hulsey, T., Kerkman, D., & Piñon, M. (1997). What it takes for preschoolers to learn sex abuse prevention concepts. Early Education & Development, 8(2), 187-202.
• Hulsey, T.L., & Cohen, R. (1997). Return of the repressed: Analysis and undergraduate education. The American Psychoanalyst, 31(3), 16.
• Nash, M. R., Neimeyer, R. A., Hulsey, T. L., & Lambert, W. (1998). Psychopathology associated with sexual abuse: The importance of complementary designs and common ground. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 86(3), 568-571.
• Piñon, M. F., Hulsey, T.L. & Woodland, A. (1999). Improving preschoolers’ comprehension of sex abuse prevention concepts through video repetition. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 8(2), 77-92.
• Rosenberg, S.D., Hulsey, T.L. & Rosenberg, H.J. (2000). The language of sexual abuse: An exploratory lexical analysis. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 1(3), 29-42.
• Méndèz, R., Hulsey, T., & Archer, R. (2001). Multiple partners in the age of AIDS: Self-consciousness theory and HIV risk behavior. Current Psychology. 20(4), 349-362.
• Massad, P.M. & Hulsey, T.L. (2006). Causal attributions in posttraumatic stress disorder: Implications for clinical research and practice. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 43(2), 201-215.
• Massad, P.M. & Hulsey, T.L. (2006a). Exposure therapy renewed. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 16(4), 417-428.
• Hulsey, T.L. (2009). Honors Ex Machina: Changing Perceptions of Honors through Horizontal Integration-A Case Study. Honors in Practice, Vol 5, 47-52.
• Hulsey, T.L. (2012). Ordinary virtue: A response to “‘By knowledge and by love:’ The integrative role of habitus in Christian psychology” by Peter J. Hampson. Edification: Journal of the Society of Christian Psychology, 6(1), 25-28.
• Van Tongeren, D. R., Green, J. D., Hulsey, T. L., Legare, C. H., Bromley, D. G., & Houtman, A. M. (2014). A meaning-based approach to humility: Relationship affirmation reduces cultural worldview defense. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 42(1), 62-69.
• Hulsey, T.L., & Hampson, P.J. (2014). Moral expertise. New Ideas in Psychology, 34, 1-11, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2014.02.001
• Van Tongeren, D.R., Green, J.D., Davis, D.E., Hook, J.N. & Hulsey, T.L. (2016). Prosociality enhances meaning in life. Journal of Positive Psychology, 11(3), 225-236, DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2015.1048814.
• Van Tongeren, D.R., Hakim, S., Hook, J.N., Johnson, K.A., Green, J.D., Hulsey, T.L., & Davis, D.E. (2016). Toward an understanding of religious tolerance: Quest religiousness and preferences for religiously dissimilar others. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 26(3), 212-224, DOI: 10.1080/10508619.2015.1039417
• Nersessova, K.S., Jurcik, T., & Hulsey, T.L. (2019). Differences in beliefs and attitudes toward depression and schizophrenia in Russia and the US. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 65(5), 388-398.
• Hampson, P.J., Hulsey, T.L., & McGarry, P.P.*, (2021). Moral affordance, moral expertise, and virtue. Theory & Psychology, 31(4). 513-532. DOI: 10.1177/09593543211021662.
• Johnson, S.J.*, Hulsey, T.L., & Gray, S.H. (in press). Comparing psychoanalytic process in consulting room and teleconference: A naturally occurring controlled experiment. Psychodynamic Psychiatry.
  *Indicates student author.