Post Doctoral
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Justin Cavallo, Ph.D.
My research explores how people who vary in relationship security (e.g., people with high and low self-esteem) manage the conflicting motivations to seek intimacy and avoid rejection with romantic partners, and how such risk regulation strategies influence goal pursuit outside of these domains. I also study how people’s motivations and goals influence their social support experiences.
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Becca Franks, Ph.D.
I am interested in how basic motivations determine resource use, environmental need, and overall health in humans and other animals. With my post-doctoral research in the Champagne LabI hope to combine current social psychology theories, specifically engagement (Higgins 2006) and effectiveness (Higgins 2011), with animal behavior and neuroendocrinology in order to build on our understanding of what it means to have good welfare or well-being.
Graduate Students
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Shu Zhang, 5th Year PhD
My research aims to reveal the downsides of relying on social information across organizational domains (e.g. management effectiveness, business ethics, cross-cultural communication). One avenue of my research identifies the self-regulatory motive behind copying managing behaviors from a role model, even when these behaviors are unpleasant, ineffective, or unethical. Another avenue of my research studies how social cues automatically interfere with cognitive processing in a cross-cultural setting.
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James Cornwell , 3nd Year PhD
My primary research interest is investigating the motivational processes that underlie our moral judgments and ethical decision-making, in an attempt to clarify how we make those decisions and what goals are being met when we make them. I'm particularly interested in how motivation science can help us get at the concept of virtue, and how it behaves interactively and independently with respect to moral duty or obligation.
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Christine Webb, 3nd Year PhD
How do humans and other animals resolve conflict? My research questions take an evolutionary approach to the study of conflict management and resolution. In the Higgins lab, I am interested in exploring the role of motivational processes in reconciliation behavior. I am particularly interested in how the different ways in which people seek to resolve conflicts and the quality of their social relationships influence the reconciliation process. I look forward to seeing how studies of conflict resolution in non-human primates can inform similar research on human social behavior and cognition, and how an understanding of motivational underpinnings can improve our study of both.
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Allison Turza Bajger, 2nd Year PhD
My broad research interests lie in understanding the motivational processes that underlie human judgment and attitudes. I am particularly curious in examining how audience characteristics interact to impact message effectiveness. Generally, my current research addresses questions relating to persuasive communication and context-induced categorization.
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Honors Students
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Katherine Zee, Senior
My research examines the intersection between social support and motivation. I am interested in how different motivational orientations can influence the types of help that friends offer and want to receive from each other and in how these factors affect relationship quality.
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Olivia Mandelbaum, Senior
I am currently investigating impulsive behavior and the extent to which we can increase delay of gratification by applying findings from motivation science. I am interested in both educational and clinical implications.
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Carl Jago, Junior
I'm interested in why we are who we are, do what we do, and feel what we feel. I like to explore questions of value as they relate to motivation, meaning, morality, and more generally, well-being. My current project is focused on morality from the perspective of Regulatory Fit Theory.
