Student Spotlight: Morgan Robison

Morgan Robison is a fourth-year doctoral student in clinical psychology through Florida State University’s Department of Psychology, part of the College of Arts and Sciences. Robison conducts research on suicide risk, intervention, and prevention in the Laboratory for the Study and Prevention of Suicide-Related Conditions and Behaviors under the mentorship of Thomas Joiner, Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of Psychology and director of FSU’s Psychology Clinic. Robison recently earned the 2024-2025 Graduate Student Research and Creativity Award, which recognizes superior scholarship by FSU graduate students.

Tell us a little about your background.

I’m from Roanoke, Virginia. I double-majored in business and studio art at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. I’ve found the theory and philosophy of art combined with the pragmatics of math greatly inform my current work in suicide prevention. After graduating in 2017, I joined Teach for America and taught high school math for two years in San Jose, California.

While teaching, I lost family members to suicide, and many of my students struggled with serious mental health concerns. Our school only had one counselor, so I created a mental-health tracker to triage counseling services and eventually realized I wanted to work in the mental health sphere. Research involvement was a natural progression; I was a project coordinator at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as a research assistant at Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco. To support my growing interests, I earned my master’s degree in psychology from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, in 2021.

What inspired you to pursue a doctorate at FSU?

I chose FSU for the opportunity to work directly with Dr. Joiner, a world-class expert in suicide research. While I was conducting post-baccalaureate research and trying to help my students, I read his book, “Why People Die by Suicide,” and was touched by how elegantly he explained the science behind the suicidal mind.

Can you break down your areas of research?

Suicide risk factors can generally be categorized into two main components: internal and external. Bullying is an external factor, for example. Internal factors, however, are anything related to self-perception and self-concept. My research specifically examines an internal factor called self-dehumanization, in which individuals believe they’re more akin to nonhuman beings, such as vermin, numbers, or robots, than people. I developed a self-dehumanization scale, which is the first, to my knowledge, to assess these perceptions. My work thus far shows self-dehumanization associates with suicide risk beyond other risk factors such as self-hatred, thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness and identity-based discrimination.

What do you want the public to know about the importance of your research?

Suicide rates have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, with 2024 marking the country’s highest rate since 1941 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This increase has been more drastic for minorities, so it’s critical to understand the role of individual identities in exacerbating suicide risk.

One potent and consistently reliable predictor of suicidality is thwarted belongingness — a term coined by Dr. Joiner — which describes a psychologically painful mental state arising from perceptions of non-belonging and exclusion. More specificity is needed, however, to understand which types of non-belonging confer the greatest suicide risk.

Dehumanization is a centuries-old tool used to justify oppressing or excluding specific individuals or groups from a society. However, I believe the internalization of these processes, known as self-dehumanization, creates the most negative mental health outcomes. When related to suicide risk, feeling less than human and viewing one’s body as an object may make it easier to enact self-harm. This work is important, as self-dehumanization is not currently included in clinical psychological research, assessment or practice.

What does earning FSU’s 2024-2025 Graduate Student Research and Creativity Award mean to you?

I feel special to be selected, as there’s world-class research happening all over FSU. Awardees receive $1,000, and one student is selected for each of the award’s categories: social and behavioral sciences, natural and physical sciences, and the humanities and arts. Earning the award’s social and behavioral sciences category not only highlights the importance of my work, but it also validates the experiences study participants have shared with me.

What aspect of your research do you find most rewarding?

It’s rewarding to see my undergraduate mentees’ drive to change the mental health landscape and reduce stigma. I also enjoy working with participants; our lab views suicide risk assessments as an opportunity for therapeutic assessment, so we provide participants with resources and skills to cope with suicidal thoughts. Finally, I love collaboration, both inside and outside FSU. We’ve created a community effort toward suicide prevention that is rewarding, especially in a field with such a heavy and sensitive topic.

What are some current goals or projects you’re working on?

I’m extending my research by examining self-dehumanization through a neurobiological lens. I use blood samples to examine oxytocin, a social hormone, as a potential biomarker for understanding suicide risk and connectedness.

Aside from my main research focus, I study how suicide risk is influenced by other internal factors — such as blame and disgust — and external factors — such as discrimination and labeling mental health diagnoses as “terminal.”

Are there any faculty or staff who’ve inspired you?

I’m incredibly fortunate to work with an amazing mentorship team led by Dr. Joiner. Additionally, associate professor of psychology Elizabeth Hammock is my cross-area mentor; she taught me to measure, analyze and ethically store oxytocin. I have also worked closely with FSU’s quantitative faculty, particularly those in Developmental Psychology: professor and associate director of the Florida Center for Reading Research Chris Schatschneider; Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor and FCRR associate director Rick Wagner; and professor and Developmental Psychology director Colleen Ganley.

Even though you might miss FSU, what are you looking forward to once you graduate?

There are so many different things you can do with a doctorate in clinical psychology! Many graduates become clinicians or continue research in the private sector. However, I’m most interested in pursuing a career in academia, as it provides opportunities to continue mentoring, teaching and conducting independent research.