Welcome to the Social Relations Lab!

Individuals are frequently preoccupied with figuring out how they are evaluated by other people. But what are the implications of such concerns with evaluation for social perception and social behavior? Research in the Social Relations Lab explores topics related to this broad question across a variety of contexts, including romantic relationships, negotiation, and, most notably, intergroup relations. We focus in particular on the dynamics of back-and-forth social interaction, so that the experiences of all parties involved in an exchange can be more fully understood.

Some of our recent work has centered on questions surrounding feelings of power experienced by members of marginalized groups. For example, one line of investigation examines the potentially disempowering effects of being the target of empathy. In general we seek to identify cases where individuals’ efforts to behave in a prosocial manner backfire and have unintended negative effects, and to determine how these efforts can be adjusted so as to make positive outcomes more likely. In a new line of research we are examining how having exchanges with others over online communication platforms instead of in person affects interaction dynamics and outcomes.