Research

Principal Investigator: Yochi Cohen-Charash

Lab Overview

General philosophy

At the emotions in organizations lab, we examine the role of emotions in motivating behavior in general, and in work organizations in particular. Yochi’s philosophy about emotions, which many of us share, is that there are no “positive” or “negative” emotions, but rather, that all emotions can be adaptive under some circumstances and maladaptive under other circumstances. This assumption leads us to examine emotions and reactions to them in a holistic way that does not succumb to value judgments of emotions as good or bad. We examine our research questions using a wide variety of research methods, such as laboratory experiments, correlational studies, survey research, longitudinal studies, archival studies, and qualitative studies.

Sample projects

One of the emotions we focus on is envy – the emotion experienced when a person wants to have something someone else has. We have repeatedly shown that envy can result in self-promoting, other-demoting, and additional reactions that do not belong to these two categories (e.g., cognitive reappraisal, withdrawal). We now examine various personal and situational variables that influence the type of reactions to envy people can have. Other lines of research concerning envy examine its relationship with justice, interventions that might help people cope with envy, and identifying the antecedents of envy. 

We are also interested in jealousy and examine its occurrence in non-relationship contexts. Jealousy occurs whenever a person’s advantageous position is under threat of being taken away by someone or something else. This is a novel way of looking at jealousy and expands the range of situations in which jealousy operates and motivates behavior. It also highlights the differences between envy and jealousy and shows that both have significant implications at work.

We also examine stress, fear of leadership, fear of success, contempt, and firgun (being happy for someone else’s good fortune) as motivating behavior in and out of work. Recently, we have begun examining (and finding) the influence of the language we use to discuss emotions on how we feel about emotions and the people experiencing them.

In addition to our research on emotions, we study issues of fairness in organizations, especially the relationship between fairness and emotions.

In general, we are open to studying various emotions and emotion-related phenomena beyond those mentioned above.

Research Assistantship

The success of our research is dependent on the research assistants who work with us. We have research assistants at the undergraduate and graduate levels, from Baruch College and from other schools. Of our past research assistants, nearly 34% have gone on to pursue doctoral degrees in psychology or related fields at universities such as the University of Akron, Bowling Green, Hofstra, and the CUNY Graduate Center. Approximately 38% of our past research assistants have continued to MA/M.sc studies in universities like Columbia, NYU, and the CUNY system; 17% of our students pursued applied jobs, and the rest are still completing their BA. Our lab meets regularly to discuss lab projects as well as general research principles and trends and the applications of our research in the workplace. We also hold bi-semester labby hours (lab happy hours).

Interested in working with us?

To find out whether we have openings for research assistants, please email our lab manager, Dina Fleyshmakher at Dina.Fleyshmakher@baruch.cuny.edu

2021-2022 accepted publications and presentations

Lab Members

• Faculty Member: Yochi Cohen-Charash, Ph.D.

• Lab manager: Dina Fleyshmakher

• Ph.D. students: Kaitlin Busse, Yuliya Cheban, Dina Fleyshmakher, Joshua Nagel, Jonas Sutphin, Elizabeth Weglarz

• MS students: Diksha Mangtani

• Undergraduate students: Kacper Biel

Research Projects Currently Underway 

• Self-promoting and other-demoting reactions to envy– various projects with Elliott Larson, Manny Gonzalez, and Soohyun (Ashley) Lee.

• Being happy for the other’s good fortune (firgun)– with Elliott Larson, Charles Scherbaum, Miriam Erez (the Techinion, Israel), Alessa Natale, and Dina Fleyshmakher.

• Jealousy at work– with Elliott Larson and Gerben van Kleef (University of Amsterdam).

• Envy regulation through emotion attributions to self and others – with Elliott Larson and Agneta Fischer (University of Amsterdam)

• Envy and (in)justice– with Manny Gonzalez and Joshua Nagel.

• Envy meta-analysis – with Manny Gonzalez and Soohyun (Ashley) Lee, Kim Johnson (University of Southern Florida), and Paul Spector (University of Southern Florida)

• Boosting self-efficacy as a mechanism to manage reactions to envy – with Manny Gonzalez and Soohyun (Ashley) Lee, and Diksha Mangtani

• A theory of reactions to envy – with Manny Gonzalez, Soohyun (Ashley) Lee, Paige Alenick, and Elliott Larson.

• The influence of stress on just behaviors and decision making –with Paige Alenick.

• The influences of terminology on how people perceive everyday emotions – with Manny Gonzalez.

• Over-disclosure in the selection context: the case of engagement rings – with Yuliya Cheban, Kaitlin Busse, and Jonas Sutphin

• Fear of success: Bradley Gray

• Fear of leading: Elizabeth Weglarz

• Contempt at work: Dina Fleyshmakher

Principal Investigator: Kristin Sommer

Members of the Interpersonal Processes Lab are involved in several streams of research. Several studies examine antecedents and downstream consequences of social exclusion, broadly defined. We are particularly interested in how social rejection impacts ethical decision-making and interpersonal behaviors toward innocent third parties, as well as attributional responses to linguistic ostracism (exclusion based on language use). Other projects are geared toward understanding the factors that predict when and for whom ostracism is likely to occur. Special attention is given to how these exclusion-related processes are likely to unfold in a workplace setting. Additional research spearheaded by student members of the lab draw heavily from social psychological theory and research. 

Current Doctoral Advisees

• Allie Tumminia

• Joshua Nagel

Former Advisees (Ph.D. Alumni)

• Michael Covell, New York City Human Resources Administration

• Dan Benkendorf, Fashion Institute of Technology

• Stefanie Bruno-Forker, Northwell Health

• John Capman, Amazon

• Orly Dotan, Independent Consultant

• John Fernandez, Johnson and Johnson

• Julia Leone, Short Line Safety Institute

• Soohyun (Ashley) Lee, William Patterson University

• Tiwi Marira, Facebook

• Lauren (Mondo) Kane, Glint

• Chad Parson, Aon

• Jeremy Rothstein, Director, People Strategy at Roivant Sciences

• Juran Yoon, Merck

Principal Investigators: Charles Scherbaum and Harold Goldstein

The Personnel Selection and Employee Assessment lab focuses on issues of diversity in the context of employee selection, measuring individual differences, and assessing employee attitudes. We study sources of bias on cognitive tests, non-cognitive predictors of job performance, attitudes toward stigmatized employees, performance assessment, neuroscience, and employee selection. The research conducted in this lab draws heavily on recent advances in analytical and methodological techniques (e.g., eye tracking), and computer technology.

One of the main areas of research conducted in the lab examines possible explanations for racial differences on intelligence and cognitive ability tests. This research involves developing theoretically-based, modern cognitive ability tests as well as exploring the role of specific abilities in predicting job performance. It also involves applying neuroscience techniques, such as eye tracking, to understand the cognitive processes involved in completing cognitive ability tests.

Other current projects include: (1) detecting and deterring response distortion (i.e., faking) on measures of personality and biodata in employment contexts using statistical and behavioral methods (e.g., mouse tracking); (2) modeling intra-individual performance variability; (3) factors impacting the reliability of interview ratings; (4) examining rater source effects in job analysis ratings; (5) job components validation; (6) ability tilt in cognitive and non-cognitive individual differences; (7) impact of survey identification on employee response behavior; and (8) modeling inter-individual performance distributions as a team compositional factor.

The Personnel Selection and Employee Assessment Lab is part of Baruch College’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Interested undergraduates can find more information at the Baruch College NSF REU site.

Student Lab Members

• Paige Alenick

• Yuliya Cheban

• Vivian Chou

• Ben Goldstein

• Pat Lee

• Luke Kayga

• Annie Kato

• Alessa Natale

• Rachel Omansky

• Kajal Patel

• Ethan Ray

Lab Alumni

• Casey Smith

• Kristen Kirkland – RHR International

• Erik Pesner – Contemporary Leadership Advisors

• Laura Sywulak – Independent Consultant

• Elliott Larson — Siena Consulting

• Jennifer Sabet – Golden Lion Consulting

• Rachel Pascall-Gonzalez – Federal Bank of New York

• Ayanna Cummings – Moore Law, LLC

• Justina Oliveira – Southern New Hampshire University

• Mary Ignagni – Sacred Heart University

• Joe Kovatch – KPMG

• Kiki Nicolopoulos – Executive Coach and Independent Consultant

• Rachel Ryan – American Express

• Lilia Hayrapetyan – Citi Bank

• Victoria Blanshteyn – Chevron

• Kevin Ruminson – University of California, Irvine

• Brittany Boyd – Independent consultant

• Michael Kern – Northwell Health

• Paul Agnello – Research Foundation, City University of New York

Principal Investigator: Albert Zhou

Research Interests

• Workplace mistreatment:how various types of workplace mistreatment (e.g., workplace aggression, workplace incivility, abusive supervision, and CWB) occur in the workplace and affect employee and employer outcomes, and how organizations and employees can effectively prevent and cope with workplace mistreatment;

• Employee health and well-being: how various individual, organizational, and interpersonal factors affect employee health, safety, and well-being, and how employees can effectively cope with and recover from these effects;

• Work-nonwork interface: how work-related experiences and behaviors spill over to employees’ nonwork (e.g., family, social life, community life) domains, and vice versa;

• Illegitimate tasks: how various leadership and situational factors lead to the occurrenceof illegitimate tasks,and how illegitimate tasks might affect employee and employer outcomes.

Current Research Projects

• Leaders’ experiences and behaviors in work and nonwork domains (funded by NSF)

• Cross-cultural differences of employees’ appraisal and reactions to illegitimate tasks (funded by SIOP ICR Small Grant)

• Effects of email incivility (funded by PSC-CUNY Research Award Circle 51)

• Effects of personal and contextual factors on illegitimate tasks perception (funded by PSC-CUNY Research Award Circle 52)

• Spillover and crossover effects of job insecurity

Student Lab Members

• Kaitlin Busse

• Ethan Ray

• Kelly Nguyen

• Shivani Shah

• Stefanie Gisler

• Annalissa Thomas

• Josh Nagel

• Wiston Rodriguez

Lab Alumni

• Paige Alenick
• Ashley Lee
• Nicolette Rainone
• Danielle Wald

Principal Investigator: Wei Wang

Embracing cutting-edge quantitative methods and computational models, the Computational Psychology Lab strives to advance our understanding of questions in psychological, managerial, and educational areas. The Lab is currently conducting research around the following three themes: 1) social networks, 2) applied psychometrics, and 3) big data analytics and technology. Although these themes are seemingly independent, various situations can tap on two or even three themes simultaneously. For example, we combine psychometrics and big data to measure job stress and work emotions on Twitter, combine social networks and psychometrics to understand network properties with respect to individual differences, and social networks and big data are combined to understand online networks and their implications on behaviors. Below are some projects that are currently being studied in the Lab. 

1) Social Networks: 

• The effects of network contagion on behaviors and attitudes. For example, are turnover and unethical behaviors contagious via networks? What are the possible mechanisms underlying the network contagion?

•  Social networks and narcissism. How do narcissists perceive and possess networks differently than other individuals? 

2) Applied Psychometrics, 

• To develop assessments for personality, emotional intelligence, leadership potential by using computerized adaptive testing and computer simulation techniques. Novel algorithms are utilized for to maximize validity. 

• To revise and improve measures of work engagement. 

• To assess differential item functioning for various group settings

3) Big Data Analytics and Technology

• To study job stress and work emotions nationwide with social media data

• To understand students' teaching evaluations through millions of ratings and comments from www.ratemyprofessors.com

Link to my Graduate Center Lab site

Principal Investigator: Dia Chatterjee

The DC-Lab focuses on workplace diversity and inclusion, and careers research. We define diversity broadly to include identity groups that have been historically undervalued, and also identities that can become devalued (once stigma is ascribed).

We seek to understand and mitigate the barriers that people with undervalued and/or stigmatized identities encounter in the workplace. For example, recent projects have included work on structural inequities such as health disparities in racial/ethnic minorities and exploring mechanisms for why anti-Black racism persists. People with undervalued identities often face stigma at work. We study the impact of stigma on individuals with pervasively devalued identities (e.g., women and people of color) and those whose identities are in the process of being delegitimized (e.g., immigrants, occupations such as policing). We are particularly interested in studying how individuals manage and construct their identities, and the impact of identity management strategies on individual outcomes.

In addition to diversity and inclusion, we study careers in STEM (primarily biomedical) and careers in organizational settings. Broadly, we are interested in studying how people choose their career pathways based on their self-concepts, values, and identity influences, and what contextual forces propel and/or hinder their career search. For example, recent projects have included work on difficulty in recruiting candidates in policing, and problems diverse individuals face in STEM settings (using an intersectionality perspective).

Principal Investigator: Anna Gödöllei

At the Motivation and Technology (MAT) Lab, we conduct research related to two broad topics areas: (1) technology at work, and (2) employee motivation and self-regulation.

First, we study employees’ reactions to technology (e.g., AI, robots, computers), and technology driven changes (e.g., automation, gamification) at work. We approach these questions from an employee perspective rather than a systems or economic perspective. Representative projects include:

• Understanding people’s competing (optimistic vs. pessimistic) appraisals of the impact of automation on their job prospects

• Identifying the antecedents of employees’ preparation for automation at work, and developing interventions to encourage people to prepare for automation

• Studying applicants’ reactions to, and applicants’ performance on game-based selection assessments

Second, we study employees’ subjective experiences of goal progress, and the implications of these experiences on self-regulatory behaviours. In other words, we try to understand people’s thoughts and emotions as they make progress towards, or struggle to make progress towards their goals, and how these thoughts and emotions translate into further efforts to set, revise, and strive towards goals. Representative projects include:

• Exploring people’s definition of what it means to “make progress” towards ill-defined goals, and the implications of these definitions on feedback seeking, goal revision, and goal striving

• Summarizing the meta-analytic effects of boredom on workplace outcomes, with special attention on task performance and creative performance

• Identifying and harnessing the effects of momentary (i.e., state) fluctuations in promotion and prevention regulatory focus on task performance across differing performance domains