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!

Congratulations to Travis Lim for his acceptance to the PhD program at McGill University! Travis will be joining the Seeing Human Lab led by Professor Eric Hehman. We look forward to further research contributions from Travis as he undertakes this challenging and exciting path!

We are happy to welcome Alessia Valmori to our lab. Alessia is a PhD student who is visiting from University of Padua (Padova), Italy, and she has finally arrived in Singapore after pandemic-related disruptions. We look forward to her participation and hope she has an enjoyable and fruitful time here in Singapore and in our lab!

We are happy to share news about our paper acceptance in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin entitled, "Defensive confidence and certainty in unchanged attitudes: The role of affect-cognition matching." This research demonstrates that when presented with an attacking message that is mismatched to the affective-cognitive orientation of the attitudes, low defensive confidence people may resist the attack but become less certain in their unchanged attitudes because they perceive themselves to be less informed. This work suggests that the extant theorizing on attitude certainty can be extended through the lens of affect-cognition matching, and enhances our understanding of consequences of facing counter-attitudinal persuasion. 

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

Congratulations to Gabriel Goh and Travis Lim on their Graduate Students' Teaching Awards! This award recognizes excellence in teaching by graduate students in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. We look forward to their continued involvement in the learning journeys of various undergraduate students in the upcoming semesters!