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The Emotion,
Motivation, and Control Research (EMCOR) Group, under the
co-direction
of Drs. Judy G. Chipperfield and Raymond P. Perry, concerns how
individuals
respond to and overcome adverse conditions as manifest in achievement
and
social settings. Of particular interest is the psychological and
emotional
well-being across the lifespan, ranging from youth to elderly
individuals,
in attempting to meet and overcome life's challenges. The EMCOR
group
is comprised of approximately 10 research associates, post-doctoral
fellows,
and graduate students, and six professors from four different faculties
including Arts (Psychology), Education (Educational Administration,
Foundations,
and Psychology), Physical Education and Recreational Studies, and
Medicine
(Medical Rehabilitation).
Guided
by
social cognition and perceived control theory, EMCOR researchers focus
on the interplay between individual differences and the characteristics
of the settings in which they must function. Within the academic
achievement
domain, this has involved identifying failure-prone students and
teaching
practices which foster helpless and mastery orientations in
students.
Our research has also led to the development of innovations in
practical,
classroom-based teaching methods designed to assist high-risk,
failure-prone
students. We have also examined social motivation as it relates to
prejudice
and discrimination, the stigmatization of marginalized people, and the
adjustment of older individuals to the aging process and to their
changing
health status. In particular, we have explored how perceptions of
control
and discrete emotions, such as anger and gratitude affect health,
well-being,
use of health services (e.g., ambulatory physician visits,
hospitalizations),
and survival. Recent studies have examined how such perceptions of
control
and vulnerability relate to emotions and behavioral outcomes among
older
individuals, with a focus on those who have lived with a chronic health
condition such as arthritis or who have experienced health crises such
as heart attacks and strokes.
Currently,
the EMCOR group has collaborative projects with investigators in the US
(Universities of California at Los Angeles) and Germany (University of
Munich), and past projects have involved investigators at universities
in the US (Northwestern, Penn State, USC) and Germany (Max Planck
Institute,
University of Regensburg). Research by the EMCOR group has been funded
by several national granting agencies in Canada, including the Social
Sciences
and Humanities Research Council, the National Health Research
Development
Program, the Medical Research Council, the Canadian Institutes of
Health
Research, Employment and Immigration Canada, and the Secretary of State
of Canada, by local granting agencies such as the Manitoba Health
Research
Council and the Winnipeg Foundation, and by national granting agencies
in Germany (German Science Foundation, Max Planck Society, Alexander
Von
Humboldt Foundation), and in the US.
The
EMCOR
group is comprised of the Laboratory for Aging and Health Research
(LAHR),
Faculty Physical Education, and the Motivation and Academic
Achievement
(MAACH) Laboratory, Department of Psychology, at the University of
Manitoba. Both laboratories have developed longitudinal data bases that
provide training opportunities for graduate students. Additional
information
on the personnel and specific activities of the research laboratories
is
available by visiting the respective MAACH and LAHR websites.
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