RESEARCH INTERESTS
How do people manage the complex self-regulatory challenges of their daily lives? Broadly, I study the emotional, cognitive, and perceptual processes that help people manage stress and goal pursuit so that they can better achieve their goals and work toward personal wellness. ​
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COMPARISONS IN GOAL PURSUIT
How does relativity-- comparing this to that--Â impact our self-regulation? Can it be a tool to help us regulate our emotions and push toward our goals?
My work in the context of COVID-19 suggests that people compare to less fortunate in times of stress and uncertainty, which helps them to feel more grateful and, in turn, can reduce acute stress. Such social comparisons can also help people to be more empathetic, which, then, leads to greater prosocial behavior. This strategy, though, may not work for those who are experiencing many stressors (Albright-Pierce et al., under review).
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Social comparisons may be perceived as threatening to our self-perception and goal pursuit. However, my work suggests that making attributions about the differences between oneself and a comparison target can mitigate these threats, effectively psychologically distancing oneself from the target. However, this psychological distancing does not appear to impact emotional nor motivational states; in other words, generating difference-based attributions about others creates psychological distance but may not lead to changes in motivation toward one's goals.
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Ongoing work also shows that we think differently about our decisions based on alternative choices we could have made, which influences how we feel about our goal progress. The same objective choice can feel better if it appears healthier than alternative options. People that thought they chose the less indulgent dessert felt like they did not harm their health goals as much as those that ate the same dessert when it seemed like the more indulgent option (Albright-Pierce et al., in prep).
INDIVIDUAL FACTORS IN GOAL PURSUIT
How can individual difference factors, including stable characteristics and identities, shift perceptions and experiences of well-being and success across goals?
Historically, the goal pursuit literature has focused on studying how people pursue and attain singular goals; however, people have multiple goals that they pursue in their daily lives. In my work, I propose that goal balance (i.e., spreading commitment across multiple goals) is an important self-regulatory skill linked to well-being. In my work, I explore whether balance across multiple goals is associated with psychological well-being (e.g., happiness, flourishment, reduced stress) and markers of success across multiple goal domains. In two experimental studies, we found that someone who spreads their commitment evenly across multiple goals is perceived by others as having greater well-being than someone who is primarily dedicated to one goal domain, demonstrating that lay perceptions of goal balance in others are largely positive. In two correlational studies, we found that people who perceive themselves as more balanced across their goal commitments feel a greater sense of well-being and happiness in life.
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In a brand new line of work, I have begun to explore how people with different identities may have different experiences in striving toward their goals. Integrating my interests in goal pursuit, well-being, and identities, I am currently conducting research on goal-striving stress and how minoritized racial identities influence goal adoption, pursuit, and attainment. Thus far, we found that minoritized students (v. non-minoritized) reported higher levels of goal-striving stress that was primarily driven by discrepancies between their current progress and desired outcomes (i.e., achievement v. aspiration). In our next phase of research we aim to conduct experimental studies to explore the various avenues in which identities can drive or hinder goal progress.
DIABETES & LIVED EXPERIENCES
How do stressors impact the physical and mental health for those living with diabetes?
I am interested in health status and body size as aspects of diversity and how living with diabetes and/or living in a larger body may impact maintenance behaviors, mental and physical health outcomes, and social experiences. Findings include: how urban hassles (i.e., daily stressors of living in a low-income urban neighborhood) have an indirect impact on mental and physical health for Latinx with type 2 diabetes (CCSU Master’s Thesis; Matlock, et al., revise & resubmit); how self-management strategies mediate the relationship between stressful life events and glucose (HbA1c) for non-Hispanic White and Hispanic adolescents with type 1 diabetes but not African American youth (Nefs et al., 2020); and how perceptions of reduced body functionality and comorbid conditions may foster body dissatisfaction among those with type 2 diabetes (August, Albright-Pierce, & Markey, 2022).
In gathering a better understanding of the social complexities of living with diabetes, I hope to inform successful self-management strategies and subsequent interventions to improve health and well-being. In future work, I aim to better understand how other individual factors (e.g., sexual orientation, biracial identity, gender expression) may influence peoples’ health behavior, perceptions, and lived experiences in their bodies.