The Emotion & Self Lab
In the Emotion and Self Lab at the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia, we study the evolutionary function, nonverbal expression, and psychological structure of emotions and self. Much of our research is focused on the place that self and emotions meet: the self-conscious emotions of pride, shame, embarrassment, and guilt. But we also study more basic level emotions, such as anger, fear, sadness, and happiness. We use a wide range of methods to study emotional processes, including behavioral observation and coding, social-cognitive techniques (e.g., reaction time assessment, eye-tracking), cross-cultural and cross-species comparisons, narrative assessment, and physiological (e.g., hormone) assessment; and we use experimental, cross-sectional, and longitudinal designs. In an effort to improve the study of self-conscious emotions, we have developed several measurement tools that are available to other researchers. These tools can be downloaded or copied and pasted from this website. In all of our research, we tend to take a strongly functionalist perspective, asking why questions about emotions and self, and seeking both ultimate and proximate answers.
Featured Projects »
The Emergence of Status Hierarchies
Status differences are universal in all known human societies, and they partially determine patterns of resource allocation, conflict, mating, and group coordination. However, there’s little systematic research into questions of why and how hierarchies emerge. [...]
Read more »Origins and Functions of the Nonverbal Pride and Shame Expressions
This line of research examines the evolutionary origins and functions of the pride and shame expressions. [...]
Read more »Featured Blog Post »
Featured Media »
Two ways to the top: Evidence that dominance and prestige are distinct yet viable avenues to social rank and influence
Cheng, Tracy, Foulsham, Kingstone, & Henrich (2013).
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Featured Recruitment »
Undergraduate Research Participants
If you are a UBC student and would like to participate in a study currently being conducted in the Emotion and Self Lab, please go to the Subject Pool website and sign up. Our studies are conducted on the second and third floors of the Kenny Building at UBC (2136 West Mall), or on-line. We greatly appreciate your participation! If you want to know more about the purpose or findings of a study you participated in, send an email to jeff.emoselflab@gmail.com with the name of the study.
Read more »Latest News »
Read Jess and Kristin Laurin’s answer to the Edge.com Annual Question, “What do you think about machines that think?”
New research by Alec Beall and Jess Tracy shows that women are more likely to dress in red when they are at peak fertility. Read the paper, now published at Psych Science. Read the Online Supplement here.
Also, now published in PLOS ONE, our follow-up studies demonstrating an important moderator of the ovulation-red/pink dress effect.
See also our blog post reporting new analyses across all samples collected thus far, and a new post demonstrating how we have responded to questions raised about these findings as per Uri Simonsohn’s guidelines.
Finally, for those closely following this issue, see here for Jess’ response to Uli Schimmack’s recent blog post.
Special Series in Clinical Psychological Science on Emotions and Psychopathology, edited by Jess, now available online, featuring articles by leaders in affective and clinical science– James Gross, Jutta Joorman, Ann Kring, David Watson, Jaak Panksepp, and Greg Siegel (and an introductory article by Jess, David Klonsky, and Greg Hajcak Proudfit).
Upcoming Talks »
Jess Tracy, “The Power of Pride: The Positive Emotion that Drives Rank Attainment but can also Inhibit Behavioural Change”
In the symposium, “The Positive Cost: Personal Costs to Experiencing and Expressing Positive Emotion”, Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Meeting.
Long Beach, CA. February, 2015.
Jess Tracy, “The Nonverbal Communication of Pride, Power, and Social Rank”
Invited Talk, APS Inaugural International Convention for Psychological Science (ICPS).
Amsterdam, Netherlands. March, 2015
Jess Tracy, “Pride and the Emotional Underpinnings of Social Rank”
Invited Talk, University of Southern California, Marshall School of Management
Los Angeles, CA. April 3, 2015.
Jess Tracy, “Title TBA”
Invited TED-style Talk, Society of Affective Science Annual Meeting
Oakland, CA. April 10th, 2015.
Dan Randles, “Escaping shame: Shame displays predict problems with drug and alcohol abuse in healthy and addicted populations.”
Association for Psychological Science Annual Conference
New York, NY. May, 2014.
Conor Steckler, “The financial cost of displaying pride: Expansive posture predicts reduced altruistic donations.”
Association for Psychological Science Annual Conference
New York, NY. May, 2014.
