Recent News Items
August 2025: Drs. Michael Sayette and Mandy Forest awarded NIH grant for their project, “The impact of dyadic processes on smoking and cigarette craving: An experimental investigation of romantic partners and smoking friends.”
July 2025: Congratulations to Emily O’Brien and Dr. Jennifer Hirsh on receiving the Mentor-Mentee Evidenced-Based Teaching Award from the Discipline-Based Science Education Research Center (dBSERC), at the University of Pittsburgh for their project, “Enhancing classroom intrinsic motivation through strengthening peer and instructor relatedness.”
May 2025: Emily O’Brien selected as the recipient of the Dr. Ruth L. Myers Memorial Award for Research Excellence in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. Congratulations, Emily!
May 2025: Emily O'Brien and Kirby Sigler presented a flash talk about their award-winning research proposal, titled “I don’t deserve you: Investigating whether self-critical statements undermine the benefits of gratitude” at The Love Consortium Global Gratitude Summit.
April 2025: Kirby Sigler interviewed on her work with Mandy Forest on negative expressivity and support, featured in PsyPost and on Global News Radio (Canada)
April 2025: Kirby Sigler selected to receive an Andrew W. Mellon Predoctoral Fellowship for 2025-2026. Congratulations, Kirby!
March 2025: Emily O’Brien authors blog post, “Happy couples “see” helpful partners” on her work with Mandy Forest examining how relationship quality predicts perceptions of partner instrumentality to goals, on SPSP’s Character & Context blog.
February 2025: Emily O’Brien and Claire Shimshock co-chair SPSP symposium and Emily presents on her research with Dr. Forest titled “Help or Hindrance? When and How Others Impact Goal Pursuit.”
January 2025: Mandy Forest nominated for the Department of Psychology Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award.
November 2024: Kirby Sigler successfully defends her specialty paper entitled "Taking a Play from Their Book: Leveraging Team Literature to Enhance our Understanding of Romantic Relationships." Congratulations, Kirby!
September 2024: Emily O'Brien successfully defends her Master's thesis entitled "Appreciated and motivated: Examining whether, when, and why receiving gratitude enhances instrumentality intentions in romantic relationships." Congratulations, Emily!
September 2024: Kirby Sigler wins the University of Pittsburgh Social Psychology Program Graduate Student Publication Award for her first-authored JSPR paper “From choosing sides to changing minds: A taxonomy of behavioral responses to social network disapproval of one’s romantic relationship and evidence for the importance of commitment.” Congratulations, Kirby!
May 2024: Emily O'Brien presents a flash talk on her research with Dr. Forest titled “When Appreciation predicts Motivation: Gratitude Receipt predicts Instrumentality Intentions in Relationships” at The Love Consortium Love Conference.
February 2024: Kirby Sigler selected to receive the Sloan Fellowship in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh for Fall 2024 and Spring 2025. Congratulations, Kirby!
February 2024: Emily O’Brien and Kirby Sigler are awarded a student grant from The Love Consortium’s Global Gratitude Advisory Board! This grant will support their proposed project, “I don’t deserve you: Investigating whether self-critical statements undermine the benefits of gratitude.” (Advisor: Mandy Forest; Collaborator: Sara Algoe)
May 2023: Mandy Forest selected to receive a Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Award for Excellence in Graduate Mentoring.
April 2022: Rebecca Walsh successfully defends her dissertation, “Expressing the good in bad times: Examining whether and why positive expressivity in negative contexts affects romantic partners’ responsive support provision.” Congratulations, Dr. Walsh!
April 2022: Lab alumnus, Dr. Kori Krueger, has won the International Association for Relationship Research’s New Scholar Award. These awards provide small grants (1) a graduate student and to (2) a new scholar within 3 years of receiving their Ph.D. in support of their research on personal relationships. Congratulations, Kori!
March 2023: Kirby Sigler successfully defends her Masters thesis entitled, "Examining Responses to Social Network Disapproval of one’s Romantic Relationship." Congratulations, Kirby!
February 2022: Congratulations to Kirby Sigler, who was named a joint winner of the 2022 SPSP Emotion Preconference Best Poster Award! Kirby’s award-winning poster is titled “Needed, not needy: Why expressing negative emotion enhances support, even for trivial stressors.”
October 2021: Kirby Sigler and her collaborators, Abby Hillmann, Deborah Danuser, and Kelly M. O’Donnell’s proposal, "Shattering the glass ceiling: Revealing the Hidden Curriculum, A workshop series for women in graduate school" is funded through the Whittington Leadership and Innovation Challenge at the University of Pittsburgh. Complementing programming offered by the University, the Dietrich School, and our departments, the Whittington Leadership and Innovation Challenge supports student-designed and student-led projects that will enhance the professional development and leadership skills of graduate students across disciplines. Congratulations Kirby and team!
June 2021: Rebecca Walsh wins the University of Pittsburgh Social Psychology Program Graduate Student Publication Award for a Theoretical paper for her first-authored PSPR paper “Can expressing positivity elicit support for negative events? A process model and review.” Congratulations, Rebecca!
August 2020: Kirby Sigler receives the University of Pittsburgh Arts and Sciences Fellowship.
July 2020: Kori Krueger successfully defends her dissertation, “Is listening to a partner’ negative expressivity always detrimental? The role of perceiving oneself as instrumental.” Congratulations, Dr. Krueger!
May 2020: Kori Krueger receives the Dr. Ruth L. Myers Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Students.
April 2020: Rebecca Walsh receives the University of Pittsburgh Social Psychology Graduate Student Publication award for her first-authored paper entitled, “Self-disclosure on social media: The role of perceived network responsiveness.”
February 2020: Mandy Forest and Kori Krueger author a piece for The Conversation on “Why people post ‘couple photos’ as their social media profile pictures.”
January 2020: Mandy Forest’s grant entitled “Eliciting support in times of distress: Examining when and for whom expressing positivity is an effective strategy” funded by the National Science Foundation.
January 2020: Mandy Forest nominated for University of Pittsburgh Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Award for Excellence in Graduate Mentoring