Education

• Ph.D. 2007, UCLA. Dissertation: “Choking vs. clutch performance: A study of sport performance under pressure.”

• M.A., 2002, UCLA.

• B.A., 2001, UC Davis. 

Courses Taught

• Psy 320/L - Psychological Statistics & Lab

• Psy 420/L - Advanced Statistical Methods & Lab

• Psy 496 - Sport Psychology

• Psy 524/L - Applied Multivariate Statistics & Lab

Selected Publications and Presentations

Otten, M., Stigler, J.W., Woodward, J.A., & Staley, L. (2004). Performing history: The effects of a dramatic art-based history program on student achievement and enjoyment. Theory and Research in Social Education, 32(2), 187-212.

Otten, M.P. (2009). Choking vs. clutch performance: A study of sport performance under pressure.  Manuscript under review.

Abdou, C. M., Dunkel Schetter, C., Campos, B., Hilmert, C. J., Hobel, C. J., Glynn, L., M., Otten, M. P., & Sandman, C. A. (2008).  Communal cultural orientation: A cultural mechanism that reduces ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in birth outcomes. Manuscript under review.

Magyar, T.M., Otten, M.P., & Feltz, D.L. (in preparation). A longitudinal examination of the dimensionality and predictors of sport confidence.
Otten, M.P. (in preparation). The lost measure of variability: A history of the absolute deviation.

Parker Dominguez, T., Hilmert, C.J., Dunkel Schetter, C., Glynn, L., Sandman, C., Hobel, C.J., & Otten, M.P. (in preparation). Racism Effects on Infant Birthweight: Evidence for the Mediating Role of Corticotropin-releasing Hormone.

Parker Dominguez, T., Hilmert, C. J., Dunkel Schetter, C., Hobel, C., Otten, M.P., Glynn, L., & Sandman, C. (in preparation). Racism and blood pressure relationships during pregnancy.

Presentations

Otten, M.P. (2008, April). Choking vs. clutch performance: A study of sport performance under pressure. Poster presented at the Western Psychological Association Annual Conference, Irvine, CA.

Kaney, A., & Otten, M.P. (2007, May). The effects of audience and sport confidence on performance. Poster presented at the 16th annual UCLA Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference, Los Angeles, CA.

Zimbra, D., & Otten, M.P. (2007, May). Performance under pressure in sports. Poster presented at the 16th annual UCLA Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference, Los Angeles, CA.

Otten, M.P. (2006, September). Choking vs. clutch performance: A study of sport performance under pressure. Symposium presented at the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology Annual Conference, Miami, FL.

Abdou, C.M., Dunkel Schetter, C., Glynn, L., Hobel, C.J., Otten, M.P., & Sandman, C. (2005, January). Cultural orientation: a theoretical and methodological framework for the study of culture and health. Poster presented at the 6th annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, New Orleans, LA.

Otten, M.P. (2004, June). A longitudinal examination of the dimensionality and predictors of sport confidence. Symposium presented at the 69th annual meeting of the Psychometric Society, Pacific Grove, CA.

Otten, M.P. (2004, September). A longitudinal examination of the dimensionality and predictors of sport confidence. Symposium presented at the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN.

Research and Interests

What inspires, or impairs, performance under pressure in sport? My research integrates sport psychology, measurement and statistics, and related issues in an effort to answer the following questions:

1) What situational and individual difference variables govern performance under pressure in sport, as well as in similar performance domains, such as music?

2) How might we continue to develop structural equation modeling (SEM) and other latent variable statistical methods to help us answer new research questions in the performance domain and beyond? 3) How might issues of social facilitation and evaluation apprehension, achievement motivation, and aggression further our understanding of performance?

For my dissertation, which I completed in '07 at UCLA, I tested an SEM model to predict performance under pressure (by way of video-taping) in a basketball free throw shooting task. Among other results, it was apparent that self-reported "intuitive control" was the strongest predictor of successful performance. My current, developing line of research builds upon the results of my dissertation. At UCLA, I built a lab group of nine undergraduate research assistants in '06-'07, which turned out to be a highly rewarding process for both myself and them. I look forward to rebuilding my lab to include both undergraduate and graduate students in '08-'09 here at CSUN.  If you are interested in joining and helping me rebuild, feel free to send me an e-mail!