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Interacting with the World

Meaning in life, trust, and interdependence

A path through a green woodland.

Leaving your impact on the world

How do individuals perceive meaning in their lives, and how does that meaning manifest in behaviour?

Are the benefits of depending on others worth the risks of vulnerability?
Can thinking about death in different ways lead to more (or less) authentic conceptions of the self?
Are we better off competing or cooperating?
Can interventions target fears to improve the success of social interactions, especially when those interactions are focused on difficult and challenging subjects (e.g., talking about death and dying, talking about physical or mental illness)?
In this current culture of disconnection, what are the consequences of people finding it hard to make friends, and from that lack of belonging?

Our staff members working on these sorts of questions are known internationally for their contributions to this important area of psychology. Their work draws from social psychological and evolutionary theories, with methods ranging from traditional questionnaire approaches to more impactful experimental designs, as well as studying individuals outside of the psychological lab.

We also work on related areas such as well-being, motivation, and relationships, sex and attraction.

Publications

2023

Burra, Nicolas and Vrticka, Pascal (2023) Association between Attachment Anxiety and the Gaze Direction-Related N170. Attachment and Human Development, 25 (1). pp. 181-198.
Jolles, Daniel and Lamarche, Veronica M and Rolison, Jonathan J and Juanchich, Marie (2023) Who will I be when I retire? The role of organizational commitment, group memberships and retirement transition framing on older worker’s anticipated identity change in retirement. Current Psychology, 42 (18). pp. 15727-15741.

2022

Cantarero, Katarzyna and Van Tilburg, Wijnand and Gąsiorowska, Agata and Igou, Eric (2022) The Efficient Measurement of Individual Differences in Meaning Motivation: The Need for Sense-Making Short Form (NSM-SF). Frontiers in Psychology, 13. 945692-.
Cantarero, Katarzyna and Van Tilburg, Wijnand and Smoktunowicz, Ewelina (2022) Other- (vs. self-) oriented meaning interventions enhance momentary work engagement through changes in work meaningfulness. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 69 (4). pp. 443-451.
Hoehne, Katja and Vrtička, Pascal and Engert, Veronika and Singer, Tania (2022) Plasma oxytocin is modulated by mental training, but does not mediate its stress-buffering effect. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 141. p. 105734.
Lamarche, Veronica M and Seery, Mark D and Murray, Sandra L and Kondrak, Cheryl L and Saltsman, Thomas L and Streamer, Lindsey (2022) Lovers in a dangerous time: Ecologically motivated relationship safety regulation. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 3. p. 100061.
Murray, Sandra L and Xia, Ji and Lamarche, Veronica M and Seery, MarkD and McNulty, James K and Griffin, Dale W and Ward, Deborah E and Hicks, Lindsey L (2022) Trust as a daily defense against collective disease threats. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 3. p. 100071.
Rolison, Jonathan and Lamarche, Veronica (2022) Do older adults construct more emotionally gratifying social environments than younger adults? Evidence from a social network decision task. Current Psychology, 42 (33). pp. 29418-29434.

2021

Byrka, Katarzyna and Cantarero, Katarzyna and Dolinski, Dariusz and Van Tilburg, Wijnand (2021) 'Consequences of Sisyphean Efforts: Meaningless Effort decreases motivation to engage in subsequent conservation behaviors through disappointment.' Sustainability, 13 (10). p. 5716. ISSN 2071-1050
Cantarero, Katarzyna and Van Tilburg, Wijnand and Gąsiorowska, Agata and Wojciszke, Bogdan (2021) 'The need for sense-making as a personal resource: Conceptualization and scale development.' Current Psychology. ISSN 1046-1310
Cantarero, Katarzyna and Van Tilburg, Wijnand and Smoktunowicz, Ewelina (2021) 'Other- (vs. self-) oriented meaning interventions enhance momentary work engagement through changes in work meaningfulness.' Journal of Counseling Psychology. ISSN 0022-0167 (In Press)
Lamarche, Veronica M (2021) 'Interdependent Transformations: Integrating Insights from Relationship Science to Advance Post-Traumatic Growth and Personality Change Research.' European Journal of Personality. 089020702110221-089020702110221. ISSN 0890-2070
Lamarche, Veronica M and Atkinson, Ciara and Croft, Alyssa (2021) 'A Cognitive Uncoupling: Masculinity Threats and the Rejection of Relationship Interdependence.' Social Psychological and Personality Science, Online (6). p. 194855062096126. ISSN 1948-5506
Long, Madison and Puhlmann, Lara and Vrticka, Pascal (2021) 'Hypothalamus volume in men: Investigating associations with paternal status, self-reported caregiving beliefs and adult attachment style.' Social Neuroscience, 16 (6). pp. 639-652. ISSN 1747-0919
Maher, Paul J and Igou, Eric R and van Tilburg, Wijnand AP (2021) 'Nostalgia relieves the disillusioned mind.' Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 92. p. 104061. ISSN 0022-1031
Murray, Sandra L and Seery, Mark D and Lamarche, Veronica M and Jung, Han Young and Saltsman, Thomas L and Griffin, Dale W and Dubois, David and Xia, Ji and Ward, Deborah E and McNulty, James (2021) 'Looking for Safety in all the Right Places: When Threatening Political Reality Strengthens Family Relationship Bonds.' Social Psychological and Personality Science, 12 (7). pp. 1193-1202. ISSN 1948-5506 (In Press)
Nguyen, Trinh and Schleihauf, Hanna and Kungl, Melanie and Kayhan, Ezgi and Hoehl, Stephanie and Vrticka, Pascal (2021) 'Interpersonal neurobehavioral synchrony during father-child problem solving: An fNIRS hyperscanning study.' Child Development, 92 (4). e565-e580. ISSN 0009-3920
Puhlmann, Lara and Derome, Melodie and Morosan, Larisa and Kilicel, Deniz and Vrticka, Pascal and Debbane, Martin (2021) 'Association between self-reported attachment and neurostructural development throughout adolescence.' Attachment and Human Development. pp. 1-19. ISSN 1461-6734
White, Lars O and Bornemann, Boris and Crowley, Michael J and Sticca, Fabio and Vrticka, Pascal and Stadelmann, Stephanie and Otto, Yvonne and Klein, Annette M and von Klitzing, Kai (2021) 'Exclusion Expected? Cardiac Slowing Upon Peer Exclusion Links Preschool Parent Representations to School‐Age Peer Relationships.' Child Development, 92 (4). pp. 1274-1290. ISSN 0009-3920

2020

Lamarche, Veronica M and Seery, Mark D and Kondrak, Cheryl L and Saltsman, Thomas L and Streamer, Lindsey (2020) 'Clever girl: Benevolent sexism and cardiovascular threat.' Biological Psychology, 149. ISSN 0301-0511
Murray, Sandra and Lamarche, Veronica M and Seery, Mark and Jung, Han Young and Griffin, Dale and Brinkman, Craig (2020) 'The Social-Safety System: Fortifying Relationships in the Face of the Unforeseeable.' Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. ISSN 0022-3514 (In Press)

2019

Cantarero, Katarzyna and Byrka, Katarzyna and Van Tilburg, Wijnand AP and Komorowska, Agnieszka (2019) 'Saying Good and Bad Things Behind Someone’s Back or to Their Face: Perceived Source Selflessness and Trust in Information Matter When the Information Is Positive.' Social Psychological Bulletin, 14 (1). ISSN 1896-1800
Maher, Paul J and Van Tilburg, Wijnand AP and Igou, Eric R (2019) 'Lost in Multidimensional Space: Epistemic Motivations Define and Distinguish Negative Affect.' Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 45 (9). 1409 - 1424. ISSN 0146-1672
Redhead, Daniel J and Cheng, Joey T and Driver, Charles and Foulsham, Tom and O'Gorman, Rick (2019) 'On the dynamics of social hierarchy: A longitudinal investigation of the rise and fall of prestige, dominance, and social rank in naturalistic task groups.' Evolution and Human Behavior, 40 (2). 222 - 234. ISSN 1090-5138
van Tilburg, Wijnand AP and Igou, Eric R and Maher, Paul J and Lennon, Joseph (2019) 'Various forms of existential distress are associated with aggressive tendencies.' Personality and Individual Differences, 144. 111 - 119. ISSN 0191-8869
van Tilburg, Wijnand AP and Igou, Eric R and Maher, Paul J and Moynihan, Andrew B and Martin, Dawn G (2019) 'Bored like Hell: Religiosity reduces boredom and tempers the quest for meaning.' Emotion, 19 (2). 255 - 269. ISSN 1528-3542

Academics

Dr Veronica Lamarche

Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Risk, judgement and decision making; relationships, sex and attraction.

Dr Rick O'Gorman

Senior Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Risk, judgement and decision making; justice, fairness and equality.

Dr Dale Shaffer-Morrison

Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Risk, judgement and decision making; Political Psychology; Wellbeing.

Dr Wijnand Van Tilburg

Senior Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Relationships, sex and attraction; emotion; risk, judgement and decision making.

Dr Pascal Vrticka

Senior Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Relationships, sex, and attraction.

Dr Natalia Zarzeczna

Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Risk, judgement and decision making; Political psychology; Wellbeing; Communication and language; Cross-cultural studies.

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