My mentoring style is collaborative; rather than assigning projects, or having students go off to develop projects in isolation, I prefer to work together to identify research questions that are exciting to both of us, with a focus on experiments with transformative potential. Here is a partial list of research projects currently in planning, data collection, and analysis stages - this is a good "snapshot" of what we're working on lately! (We do....a lot of stuff)
The Boring = Rigorous Fallacy | Lead: El Rim Ahn (UF, Lab Manager) Identifying Boring People: A Lens Model Approach | Lead: Stephen Sedwick (UF, Senior Thesis) Bedtime Procrastination: Why Do People Put Off Going to Bed? | Lead: Yijun Lin (UF, Grad Student) Productive Procrastination: Not All Procrastination is Bad | Collaborators: Stephanie Wormington, Kathy Oleson, Yijun Lin Mere Categorization: The Act of Categorization is Inherently Rewarding | Collaborators: Joy Losee (Univ of Dayton) (Mis)predicting Meaning: Thanksgiving, Elections, Letters & More | Collaborators: Yuching Lin (University of Virginia, Grad student) Meaning is Subjective (Despite What People Think) | Collaborators: Samantha Heintzelman (Rutgers) Psychological Richness and the Triad Model of Subjective Well-Being | Collaborators: Shige Oishi (University of Virginia) Why Don't People Like Reading | Collaborators: Tram Lai (UF, Independent Study Project) Do Novels Build Classically Liberal Thinking? | Collaborators: Nick Buttrick (Princeton) Emotional Intelligence and Stress Appraisals | Collaborators: Gaelle el Helou (UF, Visiting Scholar) Whitewashing Racism: How Euphemisms for Racism Perpetuate Systemic Inequality | Collaborators: Diane-Jo Bart-Plange (Univ of Virginia, Grad student) Why Is Gossip Fun?| Collaborators: Meltem Yucel (Univ of Virginia, Grad student) Conscientious and Calm? Perceptions of Extraterrestrial Alien Personalities | Collaborators: Jin Goh (Colby) & Jason Deska (Ryerson) Why Do People Fear Sharks? Misperceiving Threat | Collaborators: Jin Goh (Colby) Back2School: Safety vs Socializing in Covid-19 | Lead: Yijun Lin (UF, Grad Student) Boredom and Novelty: Change over Time in Covid-19 | Lead: Yijun Lin (UF, Grad Student) Global Boredom and Public Health in Covid-19 | Collaborators: PsyCorona Boredom Predicts Drug-related Morality Across the 50 US States | Collaborators: Matt Baldwin (University of Florida) Does Boredom Drive Us to Drink? Boredom and Alcohol Use | Collaborators: Kristen Lindgren (University of Washington) What Boredom Does: The Downstream Consequences of Boredom | Collaborators: Grant in preparation The Ordinary Roots of Extraordinary Creativity | Collaborators: Grant in preparation Tidying Up Makes People Happy | Collaborators: Shige Oishi (University of Virginia) & Keiko Ishii (Nagoya) Identifying Barriers to Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in Forestry and Natural Resources | Collaborators: Nia Morales, Mysha Clarke, & Rae Crandall (UF) Temporal Discounting: How the Future and Past Distort Decision-Making | Collaborators: Matt Baldwin & Peter Kvam (University of Florida) Gratitude to our Past Selves | Collaborators: Matt Baldwin, Yijun Lin, & Josh Perlin (University of Florida) Do People Enjoy Being Alone with Their Thoughts? | Collaborators: Tim Wilson (University of Virginia)
Baldwin, M.* & Westgate, E.C. (under review). States of boredom: Downsides to being bored in the USA. Manuscript under review.
Oishi, S. & Westgate, E.C. (under review). The Triad Model of a Good Life: A happy life, a meaningful life, and a psychologically rich life. Manuscript under review.
Raza, S..+, Westgate, E.C., Buttrick, N.B., Heintzelman, S., Furrer, R.+, Gilbert, D.T., Libby, L.K., & Wilson, T.D. (under review). A Trade-Off Model of Intentional Thinking for Pleasure. Manuscript under review.
Yucel, M.+ & Westgate, E.C. (Invited contribution). From electric shocks to the electoral college: How boredom steers moral behavior. In A. Elpidorou (Ed.), The Moral Psychology of Boredom. London: Rowman & Littlefield
Lin, Y. +, & Westgate, E.C. (Invited contribution). The origins of boredom. In L. Al-Shawif & T. Shackelford (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Evolution and the Emotions. Oxford University Press.