Daniel Landers arrived at Arizona State University in 1981 and is now a Emeritus Regents Professor. His research in the Exercise and Health Psychology Laboratory is directed toward an analysis of exercise effects on selected mental health variables. Recent research emphases include examination of the effects of exercise on (a) relaxation/mood alteration, including anxiety and depression; (b) ability to cope with psychosocial stressors, (c) quality and quantity of sleep, and (d) cognitive functioning. In approaching research in these areas, a variety of research methodologies are employed, including meta-analytic (quantitative) reviews of the research literature, and questionnaire, behavioral, and psychophysiological measures. Psychophysiology, which examines the interrelations among psychological and physiological variables so that underlying behavioral mechanisms can be better understood, is often used as an unobtrusive measure to enhance interpretation of behavioral and questionnaire findings. Landers research, now consisting of more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, has been recognized by the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (Alliance Scholar Award, 2005-06), and the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (Distinguished Scholar Award, 1995). He's taught graduate and undergraduate courses in sport and exercise psychology, such as KIN 448, 452, 520 and 522.
Prior to ASU, Professor Landers was a professor at Pennsylvania State University for seven years, an associate professor with the University of Washington for two years, and with the State University of New York at Brockport and the University of Illinois-Champaign-Urbana, each for two years.
Landers' research is currently directed toward a psychological analysis of sport and exercise. In approaching research in this area, a variety of research methodologies are often employed, including questionnaire, behavioral, and psychophysiological measures. Psychophysiology, which examines the interrelations among psychological and physiological variables so that underlying behavioral mechanisms can be better understood, is sometimes used as an unobtrusive measure to enhance interpretation of behavioral and questionnaire findings. Recent research emphases include examination of the effects of exercise on (a) relaxation/mood alteration, including anxiety and depression; (b) ability to cope with psychosocial stressors, (c) quality and quantity of sleep, and (d) cognitive functioning. Another current research thrust has been the use of psychophysiological measures in actual performance settings. The intent here has been to use various measures of brain, muscle, and cardiac activity as markers to infer "preparatory states" or "arousal/attentional sets" conducive to high-level sport or exercise performance. Much of this work has been with archers, golfers, marksmen, weight lifters, and sprinters, but this analysis can also be extended to other sports. Biofeedback applications for performance enhancement have also been researched.