Research
Research Interests: I am interested in the conflict people experience between connectedness and self-protection goals. All people desire connection (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Yet this desire is tempered by worries about rejection. I examine how people resolve this goal conflict in two relationship contexts: romantic relationships and parasocial relationships.
In the Interpersonal Processes Lab, I study the effect of connectedness and self-protection goals on willingness to risk interdependence in a romantic relationship. People can seek interdependence through relying more on their partner, through self-disclosure, and through making relatively benign interpretations for partner misbehavior.
In the Social Self Lab, I study relationships in which there is no risk of rejection: parasocial relationships, or faux relationships with celebrities, media personae, and television characters. People can use celebrities and television programs to fulfilling belongingness needs and to self-enhance.