Congratulations to Jenifer D/O Christopher, Yerui Chang, Terance Tan De Lun, Rachel Sng Wei Yi, Teo Min Yu, and Wang Binhui on your thesis submission and graduation! All the best in your future endeavors! 
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Our lab will be giving virtual presentations at SPSP this year! Dr. See has an on-demand research spotlight that features research that examines the use of emotional advocacies by couples who are in romantic relationships. Reiner Ng has a presentation on how affect-cognition matching increases the correspondence between objective ambivalence and subjective ambivalence.  
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Congratulations to Theodora and Zhi Ying on your Graduation! The lab is very proud of your achievements and we wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Congratulations once again, Class of 2022!

We are happy to share news about our paper acceptance in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin entitled, "When objective ambivalence predicts subjective ambivalence: An affect-cognition matching perspective." This research demonstrates that objective ambivalence shows greater correspondence with subjective ambivalence when there is an affective-cognitive match between the message and the topic orientation, and this was primarily observed in people for whom the message was counterattitudinal. Moreover, this was observed in both messages that are promoting or arguing against the topic. This work suggests that the extant theorizing on subjective ambivalence can be extended through an affect-cognition matching perspective, and this type of matching can improve our understanding on how to better elicit or reduce subjective ambivalence.

A pre-print of this paper can be found here:
https://www.michellesee.com/uploads/1/1/9/6/119627433/ng_et_al.__2022_._when_objective_ambivalence_predicts_subjective_ambivalence.pdf

In an invited talk for the Department of Psychology at University of Padua, Dr See presented findings on message tailoring for affective and cognitive attitudes. These findings suggest that (1) message tailoring can backfire among individuals who find the message highly counter-attitudinal, (2) even when message tailoring does not change attitudes, it can impact the certainty with which individuals hold onto their unchanged attitudes, and (3) lay people do tailor to their relationship partners as a function of their partners’ self-perceptions of affective attitudes and their understanding of these self-perceptions. Thus, these findings have implications for a more nuanced understanding of message tailoring, for both informed consumers of persuasive attempts and practitioners who seek to deliver tailored interventions.

Dr See will be hosting a Free-Form Friday session for the Society of Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) on May 6 2-3pm EST on “Message Tailoring: What do we (not) know?” Whether as an informed consumer presented with persuasive attempts or a practitioner delivering tailored interventions, it is important to understand the consequences of message tailoring. What do we really know about message tailoring so far, and how do we build on our knowledge to address unanswered questions? All individuals who are interested in research on message tailoring are welcome to participate in a lively discussion on this topic. (Note: This event is open to SPSP members only).

Congratulation to Reiner Ng and Travis Lim on their Graduate Students’ Teaching Awards for Sem 1 AY21-22!

Due to his sustained excellence in teaching as a third-time winner, Travis Lim will also be placed on the Honour Roll. We look forward to their continued involvement in the learning journeys of various undergraduate students in the upcoming semesters! 

With constant monitoring and collection of personal data, message tailoring has become even more pervasive. In an invited talk to The Ohio State University Social Behavior Interest Group Colloquium Series, Dr See presented new findings addressing the following questions: When does message tailoring backfire? Does message tailoring impact other outcomes besides attitudes? Do lay individuals use message tailoring to persuade their partners?

Taken together, the evidence suggests that there are more nuances to message tailoring than previously thought, with implications for both informed consumers of persuasive attempts and practitioners who seek to deliver tailored interventions. On a personal note, because Dr See spent some of her most formative adult years at OSU, the talk was a meaningful homecoming for her and she was grateful and delighted to share her research at OSU.

Congratulations to Ivy Cheng on her acceptance to the Kent State University Social-Health Psychology PhD program! Ivy will be joining the Social, Health, and Risk Perception lab led by Dr Jennifer Taber. We look forward to further contributions from Ivy as she achieves even more research milestones in the future!