Coping with Uncertain/Dangerous Social Worlds
Research on the social-safety system examines how people keep themselves feeling safe in social connection when it is hard to trust in the world around them.
Current projects:
How do national elections, rising political sectarianism, disease/pathogens, gender stereotypes, and unpredictable childhoods variously affect how people keep themselves feeling safe in personal, family, and collective (e.g., community, country) relationships?
- Murray, S. L., McNulty, J., Xia, J., Lamarche, V., Seery, M. D., Ward, D., Griffin, D. W., Hicks, L, Jung, H. Y. (2023). Pursuing safety in social connection regulates the risk-regulation, social-safety, and behavioral-immune systems. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 125(3), 519–547. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000420
- Murray, S.L., Xia, J., Lamarche, V. L., Seery, M. D., McNulty, J., Griffin, D. W., Ward, D., Jung, H. Y., Hicks, L., & Dubois, D. (2023). A moth to a flame? Fulfilling connectedness needs through romantic relationships protects conspiracy theorists against COVID-19 misinformation. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 4, 100111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2023.100111
- Murray, S. L., Xia, J., Lamarche, V. M., Seery, M. D., McNulty, J., Ward, D. E., Griffin, D. W., & Hicks, L. (2023). Sensitizing the behavioral-immune system: The power of social pain. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 14(4), 371–380. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506221107741
Coping with Romantic Relationship Risk
Our research on the risk-regulation system examines how uncertainty about one’s value as a person affects affect, cognition, and behavior in romantic and family relationships.
Current projects:
How does parent self-esteem affect students’ capacity to thrive and succeed in college? Can using distanced (vs. immersed) language make it easier for low self-esteem people to handle conflict? Does feeling negatively stereotyped by women make it harder for men to believe in their capacity to be good romantic partners?
- Murray, S. L., & Pascuzzi, G. (2024). Pursuing safety in social connection: A flexibly fluid perspective on risk-regulation in relationships. Annual Review of Psychology, 75. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-011123-024815
- Wood, J. V., Forest, A. L., Frisen, J., Murray, S. L., Holmes, J. G., & McNulty, J. K. (2024). Self-esteem and romantic relationship quality. Nature Reviews, 3, 27-41. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-023-00247-z
Coping with Conflicting Impulses
Our research on automatic and controlled processes examines how romantic partners respond to conflicting attitudinal/behavioral impulses in risky situations.
Current projects:
How do automatic partner attitudes affect partners’ physiological responses when they are discussing conflicts? Can more positive automatic partner attitudes ease relationship transitions, such as the transition to parenthood?
- Murray, S. L., Seery, M.D., Lamarche, V., Kondrak, C., & Gomillion, S. (2019). Implicitly imprinting the past on the present: Automatic partner attitudes and the transition to parenthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 116, 69-100. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000143
- Murray, S. L., Gomillion, S., Holmes, J. G., & Harris, B. L. (2015). Inhibiting self-protection in romantic relationships: Automatic partner attitudes as a resource for low self-esteem people. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6, 173-182. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550614549386
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