NOTE TO POTENTIAL APPLICANTS to graduate study: I regret that I will not be accepting new students for the Fall, 2010 semester.

My research examines the relation between social-cognitive processes and relationships both dyadic relationships and groups). One prominent theme in my recent work is the interplay between the personal and social self. Conor Seyle, Angel Gomez, Francico Morales, Carmen Huici and I have become interested in two related sets of processes. One line of work explores the consequences if identity fusion, which occurs when group members view the group as an externalization of the personal self. Our findings suggest that when people’s personal and social selves become fused in this way, people express willingness to engage in extraordinary behaviors in the service of their group membership, such as fighting or dying for the group Another theme is group identity verificatio, which occurs when people strive to attain support for their group identities, even if those identities happen to be negative. I am planning to explore ways in which these processes can be counter-productive for marginalized groups..

I am also intrigued with the nature and antecedents of the desire for self-enhancment. Tracy Kwang and I are currently working on meta-analysis and theoretical article on this topic. With Michael Buhrmester, I have conducted a series of studies that are designed to identity the mechaisms underlying the endowment effect.Michael, Hart Blanton and I have also been working on a paper that explores the measurement of implicit self-esteem. And Matt Brooks, Jamie Pennebaker and I have been working to understand the role of identity in the maintenance and cessation of smoking behavior.

All of these studies are specific illustrations of the importance of the processes through which people negotiate their identities in social settings. I recently prepared a a couple of theoretical articles, one on identity negotiation in general (with Jennifer Bosson) and a second on identity negotiation in the workplace (with Jennifer Bosson & Russell Johnson).

Finally, at several points in my carreer I have developed a scale to answer a specific question I had involving the self or relationships or the interplay between the two. These scales can be found on the "Questionaires" page of my website. The primary scales include a measure of self-concepts (the "SAQ") published in 1989 with Brett Pelham, and measure of self-esteem (the "SLCS") published in 2001 with Romin Tafarodi, a brief measure of the Big 5 personality traits (the "TIPI"), and a measure of verbal inhibition or Blirtatiousness (the BLIRT") published in 2001 with Jason Rentfrow. If you are interested in learning your score on the Blirt, click here.