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Education

Ph.D., Psychology & Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine (2010)

M.A., Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine (2006)

B.A., Psychology, University of Pennsylvania (2002)

Research Interests

Dr. Zoccola is currently accepting new graduate students.

Dr. Zoccola’s research interests lie in understanding whether and how cognitive and emotional factors may prolong physiological and psychological stress responses and the potential health consequences of this persistent activation. To date, her program of research has focused on how repetitive thought processes such as rumination and worry may influence cortisol stress responses and related health outcomes. A few of questions that Dr. Zoccola addresses in her work include: Do individuals who ruminate, or mentally rehearse past stressors, have greater increases in stress hormones (cortisol) or inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein) in response to a stressful event. If so, for how long do these stress-related changes persist after the stressor ends? What are the consequences of rumination and prolonged stress-related physiological activation? Her work also aims to identify individual- and situation-level factors that may promote or prevent rumination and physiological activation. For example, are some individuals at greater risk for rumination? Are certain types of stressors or environmental contexts more likely to elicit ruminative thought and increases in cortisol? Dr. Zoccola’s research program also addresses key methodological issues and questions: How do operational definitions of rumination impact associations with physiology? How can we best measure or manipulate ruminative thought? In ongoing and recently completed studies with her colleagues and students at ÃÛèÖÊÓƵ, Dr. Zoccola is also exploring potential stress-buffering factors, such as trait reflection, mindfulness and mindfulness-based stress reduction, dispositional hardiness, positive post-stressor messages, and comprehensive lifestyle interventions.

Publications

* Denotes a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow; ** Denotes an undergraduate student; ^ Denotes leadership or supervising role by Dr. Zoccola

Select Articles

*Stuart, N., ^Zoccola, P. M., & Dickerson, S. S. (2025). Diurnal cortisol and rumination: Examining gender differences. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 179, 107517.

          Paper selected as Editor’s Choice Article

*Stuart, N., Peters, B. J., ^Zoccola, P. M., *Tudder, A., & Jamieson, J. (2025). Interpersonal conversations are characterized by increases in respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Psychophysiology, 62(3), e70043.

Creswell, D., Brown, K., Cohen, S., Creswell, K., Zoccola, P. M., Dickerson, S. S., Dutcher, Wu, S. & Chin, B. (2025). Does high perceived stress over the past month alter cortisol reactivity to the Trier Social Stress Test? Psychoneuroendocrinology, 172, 107256.

          Paper selected as Editor’s Choice Article

^Zoccola, P. M., *Manigault, A., *Decastro, G., *Taylor, C., & Dickerson, S. S. (2025). The role of social-evaluative threat for cortisol profiles in response to psychosocial stress: A person-centered approach. American Psychologist, 80(2), 165-179.

*Lang, J. C., Peters, B. J., *Tudder, A. T., *Gresham, A. B., Zoccola, P. M., & Allan, N. (2024). Conflicting patterns of cardiovascular reactivity, self-report, and behavior associated with social anxiety during a conversation with a close friend. Psychophysiology, 61, e14629.

Weeks, J. W., Beltzer, M., Schmidt, K., Olino, T., Goldin, P., Gross, J., Heimberg, R. G., Zoccola, P. M. (2024). Re-Assessing the assessment of fears of positive and negative evaluation: Scale development and psychometric evaluation of the Bivalent Fear of Evaluation Scale (BFOES). Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 105, 102879.

**Appelmann, H., *Manigault, A. W., Shorey, R. C., ^Zoccola, P. M. (2021). Childhood adversity and cortisol habituation to repeated acute stress in adulthood. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 125, 105118.

*Figueroa, W. S., ^Zoccola, P. M., *Manigault, A. W., *Hamilton, K. R., *Scanlin, M. C., & Johnson, R. C. (2021). Daily stressors and diurnal cortisol among sexual and gender minority young adults. Health Psychology, 40(2), 145-154.

*Manigault, A. W., Shorey, R. C., *Hamilton, K., *Scanlin, M. C., *Woody, A., *Figueroa, W., France, C. R., & ^Zoccola, P. M. (2019). Cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and cortisol habituation: A randomized controlled trial. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 104, 276-285.

*Woody, A., *Hooker, E. D., Zoccola, P. M., & Dickerson, S. S. (2018). Social evaluative threat, cognitive load, and the cortisol and cardiovascular stress response. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 97, 149-155.

^Zoccola, P. M., *Manigault, A. W., *Figueroa, W. S., *Hollenbeck, C., **Mendlein, A., *Woody, A., *Hamilton, K., *Scanlin, M., & Johnson, R. (2017). Trait rumination predicts elevated evening cortisol in sexual and gender minority young adults. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(11), 1365.

*Woody, A., *Figueroa, W. F., & Benencia, F., ^Zoccola, P. M. (2016). Trait reflection predicts interleukin-6 response to a social-evaluative stressor. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 52, 27-31.

^Zoccola, P. M., & Dickerson, S. S. (2015). Extending the recovery window: Effects of trait rumination on subsequent evening cortisol following a laboratory performance stressor. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 58, 67-78.

^Zoccola, P. M., *Figueroa, W. S., *Rabideau, E. M., *Woody, A., & Benencia, F. (2014). Differential effects of post-stressor rumination and distraction on cortisol and C-reactive protein. Health Psychology, 33(12), 1606-1609.

^Zoccola, P. M., & Dickerson, S. S. (2012). Assessing the relationship between rumination and cortisol: A review. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 73(1), 1-9.

^Zoccola, P. M., Dickerson, S. S., & Lam, S. (2012). Eliciting and maintaining ruminative thought: The role of social-evaluative threat. Emotion, 12(4), 673-677.

Schlotz, W., Yim, I. S., Zoccola, P. M., Jansen, L., & Schulz, P. (2011). The Perceived Stress Reactivity Scale: Measurement invariance, stability and validity in three countries. Psychological Assessment, 23(1), 80-94.

Lam, S., Dickerson, S. S., Zoccola, P. M., & Zaldivar, F. P. (2009). Emotion regulation and cortisol reactivity to a social-evaluative speech task. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 34, 1355-1362.

^Zoccola, P. M., Dickerson, S. S., & Lam, S. (2009). Rumination predicts longer sleep onset latency after an acute psychosocial stressor. Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine (formerly Psychosomatic Medicine), 71(7), 771-775.

Dickerson, S. S., Mycek (Zoccola), P. J., & Zaldivar, F. P. (2008). Negative social evaluation, but not mere social presence, elicits cortisol responses to a laboratory stressor task. Health Psychology, 27(1), 116-121.

^Zoccola, P. M., Dickerson, S. S., & Zaldivar, F. P. (2008). Rumination and cortisol responses to laboratory stressors. Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine (formerly Psychosomatic Medicine), 70(6), 661-667.

Select Books and Book Chapters

Saab, P. G., Zoccola, P. M., Revenson, T. A., & Marchetti, D. (2025). Reimagining health psychology training in the 21st century. In N. Schneiderman, T. W. Smith, N. B. Anderson, M. H. Antoni, F. J. Penedo, T. A. Revenson, & A. F. Abraído-Lanza (Eds.), APA handbook of health psychology, Vol. 1. Foundations and context of health psychology (pp. 93–112). American Psychological Association.

Revenson, T. A., Saab, P. G., Zoccola, P. M., & Traeger, L. N. (2019). Becoming a Health Psychologist. Taylor & Francis.

^Zoccola, P. M., *Woody, A., & *Bryant, A. (2018). Health Neuroscience. In T. A. Revenson & R. A. R. Gurung (Eds.), Handbook of Health Psychology (pp. 465-473). Taylor & Francis.

^Zoccola, P. M. (2018). Psychobiological Measurement. In H. Blanton, J. M. LaCroix, & G. D. Webster (Eds.), Measurement in Social Psychology (pp. 75-101). Taylor & Francis.

*Hooker, E. D., Zoccola, P. M., & Dickerson, S. S. (2018). Toward a biology of social support. In C. R. Snyder, S. J. Lopez, L. M. Edwards, & S. C. Marques (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology (3rd ed., pp. 1-21). Oxford University Press.

Presentations and Awards

Recent Grants

"Randomized clinical trial of a telemedicine-mhealth symptom cluster intervention for advanced cancer patients: Increasing access in underserved rural communities," National Cancer Institute (5-year federal research grant, R01CA281885). PI: Wells-Di Gregorio. $3,946,562, 2024-2029.

"Examining emotion regulation processes in social anxiety from an interpersonal and observational perspective," National Institute of Mental Health (3-year Federal Research Grant, 1R15MH125289). MPI: Peters & Zoccola. $453,000, 2022-2025. 

Additional Information

Psychosocial Processes and Health Laboratory

Current Graduate Students

• Taylor Hall
• Elizabeth Haudrich
• Kris Kumfer
• Endia Reid
• Nate Stuart
• Courtney Taylor