Research in our lab examines how cognition and affect interact and influence each other. Our research is particularly interested in understanding how affect shapes veridical and false memory (i.e., feelings of familiarity) and how feelings of familiarity shape social perceptions. Additionally, our research investigates how the experience of fluency (or the ease with which information is perceived, processed, and/or identified) influences perception and behavior. Moreover, on-going work is examining how cognitive appraisals of outgroups influence our emotional reactions to them and how the emotions we perceive in outgroups shape our impressions of them.

Lab personnel:

Director: Heather M. Claypool
Graduate Students: Michael J. Bernstein, Cliff Evans, Meghan K. Housley, & Steven Young
Alumni: Carrie E. Hall

Recent Lab Publications:

• Claypool, H. M., Hugenberg, K., Housley, M. K., & Mackie, D. M. (in press). Familiar eyes are smiling: On the role of familiarity in the perception of facial affect. European Journal of Social Psychology.
• Claypool, H. M., Hall, C. E., Mackie, D. M., & Garcia-Marques, T. (in press). Positive mood, attribution, and the illusion of familiarity. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
• Claypool, H. M., & DeCoster, J. (in press). Person memory. In W. Donsbach (Ed.), The international encyclopedia of communication. Blackwell.
• Claypool, H. M., Housley, M. K., Hugenberg, K., Bernstein, M. J., & Mackie, D. M. (under revision). Us and them: Familiarity disambiguates group membership.
  

Recent Lab Presentations:

• Claypool, H. M., & Housley, M. K. (2008, Feb). Ingroup pronouns non-consciously activate feelings of familiarity. Poster to be presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Albuquerque, NM.
• Housley, M. K., & Claypool, H. M. (2008, Feb). Initial stimulus valence as a moderator of the positivity-cues-familiarity effect: Evidence in support of a source awareness explanation of the phenomenon. Poster to be presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Albuquerque, NM.
• Claypool, H. M., Hugenberg, K., Housley, M. K., & Bernstein, M. J. (2007, Sept). Us and them: Familiarity and perceived group membership. Paper  to be presented at the British Psychological Society Social Section Conference: Groups, Politics, and Organizations, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.
• Hall, C. E., & Claypool, H. M. (2007, May). The effect of perceptual fluency on goal evaluation. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL. 
• Housley, M. K., Claypool, H. M., & Hugenberg, K. (2007, May). Subjective familiarity and perceptions of ingroup membership. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL. 
• Evans, C. D., & Claypool, H. M. (2007, May). Perceptions of those who express group pride. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
  
• Maitner, A., Mackie, D. M., Claypool, H. M., & Smith, E. R. (2007, Jan). Intergroup emotions impact information processing. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Memphis, TN.
• Hall, C. E., & Claypool, H. M. (2006, May). The effect of positive mood on perceived familiarity. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
  
• Maitner, A. T., Claypool, H. M., & Mackie, D. M. (2006, May).  Experiencing emotion on behalf of others: Interpersonal and intergroup sources of emotion. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
• Evans, C. D., & Claypool, H. M. (2006, May). Effects of status and expressions of pride on evaluation. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL. 
• Bernstein, M. J., & Claypool, H. M. (2006, May). Familiarity and the ingroup over-exclusion effect. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL. 
• Bernstein, M. J., & Claypool, H. M. (2006, May). Regulatory focus and group identification on the ingroup over-exclusion effect. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society conference, New York, NY.