Overview	People	Research	Course	Publications	Resources	Links
	Research Projects Models of Decision Making about HIV Cognitive Models of HIV Decision Making in Young Adults (Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. PI: Vimla L. Patel, Co-PI: Lucia O’Sullivan, NYS Psychiatric Institute) This ongoing study employs a socio-cognitive theoretical and methodological framework to investigate the complex problem of decision-making and risk taking in sexual contexts. The framework incorporates theories and methods from cognitive science as it pertains to decision-making, and knowledge organization, as well as methods from the study of text comprehension and discourse analysis. The study also employs methods and theories from social psychology, health sciences and sexual behavior research. The primary aims of this research include (1) conducting qualitative research to characterize the context surrounding young adults’ risky behavioral choices, (2) applying specialized cognitive methods of discourse analysis to examine processes underlying their decision-making, (3) developing and refining cognitive models of the decision-making processes used in both real-life and prototypical situations, and (4) comparing these models to identify and separate factors or characteristics associated with healthy versus unsafe choices in risky situations. Sixty heterosexual men and women from a local city college completed daily journals chronicling their sexual activity over two weeks. Analyses of journal contents were used to guide subsequent phases of the project. These included semi-structured interviews to investigate the reasoning strategies, situational factors as recorded in the journals, and a prototypical risky situation compiled from instances of unsafe sexual encounters developed from review of the journals. Using cognitive techniques of analysis, we modeled the process of decision-making in each of the two contexts. Through our analysis, we documented distinct patterns of safe sex behavior and specific reasoning strategies associated with these patterns. We also identified those groups of young adults that may be at higher risk for contraction of HIV/AIDS. Based on this research, we are developing a larger scale web-based study and intervention Team: Vimla Patel, David Kaufman, Nicole Yoskowitz. Immigrant East Indian Young Adults (Student project) PI: Vimla L Patel Recent reports of growing HIV/AIDS infection rates in India have brought increasing attention to the concept of sexuality in South Asian culture. Current literature emphasizes a lack of awareness of the risks of sexual behavior as a side effect of the high degree of stigma associated with sexuality in South Asian culture. As immigrants in the United States, young South Asians face cultural shock when it comes to sexuality and sexual behavior. Consequently, there is tension between the belief systems of the host country and the individual, influenced by the American culture. The main objective of this study is to understand the socio-cultural influences on individual decision-making regarding the sexual activity of a South Asian immigrant population, using theories and methods from cognitive science. We used semi-structured interviews to probe for the sexual activity of 11 first- and 9 second-generation, heterosexual, male and female South Asians living in New York City. The data were analyzed qualitatively. The results show that 55% of participants engaged in sexual activity, of which 22% were first-generation and 82% were second-generation participants. This shows low levels of sexual activity in the immigrant population and even lower in the first as compared to the second generation. This pattern suggests a trend in sexual behavior that follows a well-known “U-shaped” curve with the transition period being represented at the bottom of the curve. It appears that the young immigrants eventually adopt the sexual practices of the new culture, after an intermediate period of uncertainty in which they have not abandoned the prior belief and have not accepted the new one completely. This transition period appears to be salient in changing behavior. Research Team: Neeti Joshi, Nicole Yoskowitz, Vimla Patel