Matthew
Hunt
Matthew Hunt
- Campus: Anaheim, CA
- Department: Clinical Psychology
- Institution: The Chicago School
- Address: 2400 East Katella Avenue Anaheim, CA 92806
- Office Phone: 714-922-9628
Biography
Dr. Hunt earned a doctorate in Psychology and Social Behavior and a master's degree in Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine. His research there combined perspectives from motivation and emotion to study cognitive and affective influences on moral and political judgments. He is an Assistant Professor at the Chicago School, Anaheim. At The Chicago School, Dr. Hunt regularly teaches Social Psychology, Statistics and Research Methods I & II, History & Systems of Psychology, and Human Sexuality. In addition to these courses, he has taught motivation and emotion, health psychology, cultural psychology, life-span development, forensic psychology, behavioral pharmacology, political psychology, and learning & memory at U.C. - Irvine, U.C. - San Diego, Golden West College, Irvine Valley College, and Chapman University. On top of these courses, Dr. Hunt serves as a dissertation chair and reader for students conducting research in fulfillment of their doctoral work. Since 2021, he has been the faculty sponsor for the True Colors LGBTQ+ graduate student group.
Education History
Degree Institution Year Ph.D. University of California, Irvine , Irvine, California 2013 M.A. University of California, Irvine , Irvine, California 2009 B.A. Indiana University of Pennsylvania , Indiana, Pennsylvania 2004 B.A. University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1998 Professional Memberships
Presentations
Title Location Date Social Influence in a Time of Social Distance TCSPP Faculty Lecture Series 2022 Social Psychological Approaches to Mental Health Treatment TCSPP Faculty Lecture Series 2021 Dealing with COVID: What Social Psychology Can Teach Us TCSPP Faculty Series 2020 Freedom as grounded metaphor and the physical basis for psychological reactance. Annual SPSP Meeting, San Diego, California 2012 The feeling of restriction: Embodied reactance, claustrophobia, and resistance to attitude change Annual SPSP Meeting, San Diego, California 2012 Embodied reactance: Restricting physical movement increases freedom-related preferences Annual SPSP Meeting, San Antonio, Texas 2011 Embodiment and psychological reactance Embodiment Preconference, San Antonio, Texas 2011 Areas of Expertise
Area Expertise Psychology Subdisciplines - Social Psychology Research Design/Methodology Statistics Publications
Journal Mancillas, P., Berger, S. E., & Hunt, M. (2025). The interface of religiosity and mental-health seeking attitudes and behaviors in Latinx populations. Open Access Journal Of Addiction and Psychology, 8 (2),
Other Chavez, A., Lopez., T., & Hunt., M. (2020). A Qualitative Examination of Female Sexual  Offenders. Poster presentation at the Graduate Research Forum at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Southern California, Virtual Conference..
Freatman, V., & Lopez, B., Hunt, M. (2021). The Impact of Race on Correctional officers attribution of Mental Illness. Poster presentation at the Graduate Research Forum at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Southern California, Virtual Conference.
Gatas, K., Hunt, M., & Widera, E. (2021). The Role of Acculturation and Barriers to Seeking Treatment on the Utilization of Mental Health Services in Egyptian Americans. Association of Psychological Science Conference. Virtual Convention, USA.
Pranitis, S., Vander Dussen, K., & Hunt, M. (2021). Susceptibility to Infidelity and the Influence of Relationship Closeness and Perceived Traumas. Western Psychological Association. Â Virtual Conference, USA..
Martinez, V., Koritzky, V., & Hunt, M. (2022). The Effect of the Academic Decathlon on Social-Emotional Well-Being, Self-Efficacy, and Academic Achievement. Western Psychological Association. Â Portland, Oregon..
Question and Answer
Please describe your teaching philosophy. My teaching philosophy has grown out of nearly two decades of instructional experience across a variety of educational settings, ranging from large public universities, to community colleges, to small liberal arts colleges, and my current academic residence in the graduate clinical psychology program at TCSPP. This experience has taught me that the keys to quality education lie in supporting students’ needs for self-direction and competence.
Satisfying the need for autonomy, or ability to self-direct one’s learning, is especially important at the graduate level as students discover and explore their professional interests. Because a critical component of earning a doctorate in psychology involves designing and conducting original research for a dissertation, I guide students toward topics, themes, and approaches to psychology that reflect each individual’s passions.
To support students’ needs for competence, or sense that they’re effective in what they’re trying to accomplish, I optimize the academic challenge and structure in their courses. For example, when I teach statistics, I try to provide problems and examples that are neither too easy nor too difficult to solve; when they are too easy the work becomes boring and when they are too difficult, the effort feels futile. I supply structure by communicating specific educational goals or expectations as well as comprehensive feedback to enable better, stronger performances in the future.
Professional Skills
Motivated Cognition, Motivation and Emotion, Social Psychology, Moral and Political Judgment and Decision-Making, Research Methods, Statistical Analysis