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How are Emotion Expression Honest Signals?
Emotion expressions can be understood as a form of social communication between a sender and a receiver: a signal. [...]
Delineating the Full Range of Distinct Positive Emotions
This research, led by Aaron Weidman, aims to uncover the distinctive subjective content of each positive emotion typically studied, and to identify the extent to which each of these emotions are experienced distinctly. [...]
The Psychological Structure of Humility
This line of research, led by Aaron Weidman, examines the structure of humility—meaning, the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that go along with this experience, as well as individual differences in the tendency to feel humble. [...]
Nonverbal Communication of Pride
This line of research, led by Zak Witkower, is systematically tracking the sequential steps involved in the nonverbal communication of pride, beginning with an experiencer’s subjective experience, including his/her nonverbal communication of that experience, and ending with an observer’s perception of the target’s emotion. [...]
Nonverbal communication of Dominance and Prestige
his line of research, led by Zak Witkower, examines the nonverbal behaviors used communicate high rank in the form of dominance and prestige [...]
Integrating Distinct Emotions and Fundamental Motives
Fundamental motivational systems and distinct emotions have both been suggested to be critically involved in the coordinated orchestration of suites of behaviors, cognitions, and physiological responses to recurrent adaptive challenges in our evolutionary history. [...]
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. [...]
Terror Management Theory and Attitudes toward Science
This line of research examines the underlying psychological motives that influence people’s beliefs in science. [...]
Alcoholism and Emotions Project
This line of research, funded by the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research of B.C. and the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR), aims to examine the role of emotions and attributions in influencing the behavioral and health outcomes of recovering alcoholics. [...]
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. [...]
Self-Enhancement, Narcissism, and Self-esteem
A number of projects in the lab examine the personality and emotional processes underlying inflated versus genuine self-esteem and narcissism. [...]
Emotion Expressions and Mate Preferences
In this line of research, we are examining how emotion displays may function to signal information relevant to mate value, and thus increase or decrease attractiveness, accordingly. [...]
Emotions and Morality
In this line of work, led by Conor Steckler, we are examining how (and why) emotions influence moral judgment. [...]