CEDAR Lab

New Paper about Attachment and Loss of Self

We have a new paper in press at JPSP with Erin Hughes, Emma McGorray, Wendi Gardner, and Eli Finkel. We find that people high on attachment avoidance perceive change due to their close relationships as losing parts of themselves, which contributes to lower commitment to their relationship. Furthermore, we find a disparity in perceptions, such that external metrics (including their own behavior and third-party coders) do not detect loss of self among avoidant people.

Hughes, E. K., Emery, L. F., McGorray, E. L., Gardner, W. L., & Finkel, E. J. (in press). The delusion of the disappearing self? Attachment avoidance and the experience of externally invisible self-loss in romantic relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. [Download]

CEDAR Lab at SPSP

Dr. Lydia Emery presented work from the CEDAR lab at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) conference in San Diego; at the Close Relationships Pre-Conference, she gave a data blitz presentation about how experiencing housing instability affects relationship dynamics.

Emma McGorray received the Graduate Student Paper Award for our 2023 JPSP on relationship science research samples (see earlier news and link to the paper). She gave a talk at the Close Relationships Pre-Conference discussing her work. Congrats, Emma!

CEDAR Lab at SESP

Dr. Lydia Emery presented work from the CEDAR lab at the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP) annual conference in Madison, WI. Her talk focused on how couples’ identities differ based on the couple’s social class contexts, and implications of relationships for health and well-being in lower-SES contexts.

New Paper about Recruiting Lower-SES Participants

We have a new paper in press at AMPPS with collaborators David Silverman and Rebecca Carey on best practices around recruiting and working with lower-SES participants. In this paper, we suggest that the primary considerations when working with lower-SES participants are trust and accessibility. We provide recommendations about how to build these key factors into each stage of the research process, from designing a research question to well after the data are collected and published.

Emery, L. F., Silverman, D. M., & Carey, R. M. (in press). Conducting research with people in lower socioeconomic status contexts. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science. [Download]

New Paper about Relationship Science Research Samples

We published a new paper in JPSP with Emma McGorray, Alexandra Garr-Schultz, and Eli Finkel about who the typical participants are in relationship science research samples. Across two time periods and 1,762 samples, we examine the following sample characteristics: gender, sexual orientation, regional context, socioeconomic status, and race. We find significant limitations in terms of who is included in the typical relationship research sample, and we also examine changes in reporting practices over time. Finally, we end by issuing recommendations about best practices for recruiting and reporting inclusive research samples.

McGorray, E. L., Emery, L. F., Garr-Schultz, A., & Finkel, E. J. (2023). “Mostly White, heterosexual couples”: Examining demographic diversity and reporting practices in relationship science research samples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 125(2), 316-344.

Prospective research assistants, join us!

If you are a UChicago undergraduate or master’s student looking to join the lab and get research experience, please contact us. Research assistants in the lab can work on a range of types of projects, including collecting data (both in the lab and out in the world), coding videos and written responses from participants, helping to develop materials for studies, and attending lab meetings. These projects can also help to prepare students to conduct independent research projects of their own.

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