Alex Bellows, Kayla Britt, and Janelle Sherman present at the annual conference of the Eastern Psychological Association

Psychology majors Alex Bellows (’14), Kayla Britt (’16) and Janelle Sherman (’16) recently presented on research that they are currently conducting with Julie Longua Peterson, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, at the annual conference of the Eastern Psychological Association in Boston.
 

The presentation, titled "Self-protection Following Rejection:  Rejection Reduces Connection Motivations among Highly Relational Individuals," examined how rejection affects implicit motivations for connection among those high (vs. low) in relational self-construal. In the control condition, people high (vs. low) in relational self-construal had stronger implicit motives for connection. In the rejection condition, people high and low in relational self-construal did not differ in motivations. This was due to a decrease in connection motives among people high in relational self-construal.

Results suggest highly relational participants suppress connectedness goals following rejection.

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