RAW LAB NEWS

2024

Emily Impett's weiner dog, Cheerio, moonlights in an article about the love languages of pets.

RAWlab welcomes our newest graduate student in Fall 2024: Anil Topal.

Hanieh Naeimi received a graduate student grant from the Love Consortium (TLC) for her project titled “Co-occurrence of gratitude and indebtedness across cultures and types of relationships.”

Gideon Park received a graduate student grant from The Love Consortium (TLC) for his project titled "From fixed to growth: The links between implicit beliefs, perceived effort, and gratitude."

Former postdoc, Mariko Visserman (now Assistant Professor at the University of Sussex) received an early career grant from The Love Consortium (TLC) for her project titled "In dissonance of harmony? A cultural perspective on gratitude, indebtedness, and their interaction in predicting prosocial behavior."

A review of research on the love languages by Emily Impett, Gideon Park, and Amy Muise has been featured in news outlets around the world including an article and corresponding Post Reports podcast episode in the Washington Post, an NPR Podcast, an interview on Justin Lehmiller's Sex & Psychology podcast as well as an interview on Zoomer Radio.

Emily Impett, Gideon Park, and Amy Muise published an Opinion piece debunking the five love languages in New Scientist.

Graduate student Gideon Park received an Outstanding Research Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology for his research titled "Partner (in)congruence in gender role attitudes and relationship satisfaction”.

2023

Emily Impett received a Research and Scholarly Activity Fund (RSAF) from the Office VP-Research at UTM for a project titled "Sacrifice as an Opportunity for Self-Expansion in Intercultural Relationships."

Graduate student Hanieh Naeimi was awarded a SSHRC CGS-D Scholarship.

2022

Emily Impett's paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences was featured in a UTM news article and in the National Post.

Nicole Sell received the Undergraduate Poster Award at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference.

2021

Nathan Leonhardt received honorable mention for the Best Student Data Blitz Award at the Canadian Sex Research Forum (CSRF) annual conference.

Graduate student Natalie Sisson was awarded a SSHRC CGS doctoral scholarship.

Affiliated graduate student, Norhan Elsaadawy, received a Black, Indigenous, and Racialized Graduate Research Fellowship from UTM.

Undergraduate students Sarah Fahmi, Gabriela Murphy, and Nicole Sell all successfully defended their honours theses at the Undergraduate Research Day at UTM.

Graduate students Kristina Schrage and Natalie Sisson received Love Consortium Student Research Grants.

Postdoctoral fellow Mariko Visserman was awarded a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Grace Wang received the Undergraduate Student Poster Award at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference for her honours thesis titled “The impact of emotion regulation on personal, relational, and motivational outcomes.”

2020

Emily Impett begins a 4-year term as a Senior (Co-Lead) Editor of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin in January 2021.

Graduate student, Rebecca Horne, received a SSHRC Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement to conduct a research project on compromise in relationships with Dr. Francesca Righetti in Amsterdam.

Undergraduate thesis student, Grace Wang, received the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) Certificate of Academic Excellence for her undergraduate honours thesis.

Emily Impett received a Research and Scholarly Activity Fund (RSAF) from the Office VP-Research at UTM for a project titled “Love in the works: Promoting trailing partners’ well-being after job relocation.”

Graduate student, Natalie Sisson, was awarded a Research Training Award (2020) from MITACS to support her research on narcissism and partner change.

Emily Impett was elected a Fellow of the International Association for Relationship Research.

Emily Impett was awarded a five-year SSHRC Insight Grant for her research on sexual rejection titled ”Avoiding pain or approaching connection: Navigating sexual rejection in romantic relationships.”

2019

Graduate student Nathan Leonhardt was awarded a SSHRC Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. Congratulations Nathan!

Emily Impett was promoted to Full Professor, effective July 1, 2019.

Lab manager, Eric Tu, will begin as a Masters student at York University under the mentorship of Dr. Amy Muise in Fall 2019.

2018 and prior

Emily Impett (along with co-authors Samantha Joel, Stephanie Spielmann, and Geoff MacDonald) received a 2018 Preregistration Challenge Prize from the Center for Open Science for their paper: Joel, S., Impett, E. A., Spielmann, S., & MacDonald, G. (2018). How interdependent are stay/leave decisions? On staying in the relationship for the sake of the romantic partner. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 115, 805-824.

Graduate student Rebecca Horne was awarded a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship in the 2018-2019 competition. The Vanier scholarships are awarded to doctoral students who demonstrate a high level of academic excellence, research potential, and leadership. Congratulations Rebecca!

RAWlab will welcome three new members this fall: postdoctoral fellow Katie Carswell (who received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University), PhD student Nathan Leonhardt (who will receive his MA from Brigham Young University), and MA student Natalie Sisson (who will receive her Bachelor’s degree from Wilfrid Laurier University). Welcome Katie, Nathan, and Natalie!

Mariko Visserman received her Ph.D. (cum laude) in Psychology from Vrjie University, Amsterdam. Lab members Emily Impett, Bonnie Le, and Anik Debrot were there to celebrate and mark the occasion.

Mariko Visserman was awarded “Best Paper Award from the Kurt Lewin Institute (KLI) for the article “It’s the motive that counts: Perceived sacrifice motives and gratitude in romantic relationships”, received at the biannual KLI conference in Zeist, The Netherlands (April, 2018).

Mariko Visserman was awarded the 2018 Best Student Paper Award from the Relationship Researchers Interest Group (RRIG) from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology for her paper titled “It’s the perceived motive that counts! Perceptions of a romantic partner’s sacrifice motives and the emergence of gratitude” published in Emotion.

Emily Impett was awarded the inaugural UTM Annual Research Prize in the Social Sciences from the Office VP-Research, UTM.

Congratulations to James Kim for being awarded a SSHRC CGS Doctoral Scholarship.

Emily Impett was awarded a SSHRC Insight Development Grant for a project titled “Not in the mood? A conflict negotiation perspective on sexual rejection in romantic relationships.”

Emily Impett was awarded two SSHRC Insight Grants for her collaborative work with Dr. Amy Muise of York University (“Broadening Your Horizons: Self-Expansion and the Maintenance of Desire and Satisfaction in Romantic Relationships”) and Dr. Natalie Rosen of Dalhousie University (“From Partners to Parents: Sexual Expectations of Couples during the Transition to Parenthood”).

Emily Impett was elected as a Fellow to the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP).

Congratulations to Lisa Day for receiving honorable mention for the GEF (Graduate Expansion Fund) Research Impact Award from the Department of Psychology at UTM for her paper (co-authored with Amy Muise, Samantha Joel, and Emily Impett) titled “To do it or not to do it? How communally motivated people navigate sexual interdependence dilemmas” published in PSPB in 2015.

Former postdoctoral fellow Amy Muise will begin as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at York University in July 2016.

Postdoctoral fellow John Sakaluk will begin as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Victoria in July 2016.

Former postdoctoral fellow Amy Muise received the Canadian Psychological Association President New Researcher award in 2016.

Graduate student Lisa Day received a Graduate Student Poster Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP).

Postdoctoral fellow Jenny Stellar will start as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto Mississauga on July 1, 2016.

Postdoctoral fellow Amy Muise and Professor Emily Impett’s work has recently been featured in several hundred news outlets around the world:

Professor Emily Impett was awarded a SSHRC Insight Development Grant for her research titled: “An Interpersonal Goals Perspective on the Boons and Banes of Parenting.”

Emily Impett was awarded tenure — she is now an Associate Professor!

Emily Impett was awarded a Working Group Grant from the Office of VP-Research, UTM to fund the Toronto Relationships Interest Group.

Bonnie Le was awarded the Ken Dion Award for the 2014-2015 academic year. The Ken Dion Award recognizes one outstanding graduate student in the Social Personality Research Group for excellence in research.

Bonnie Le received the 2015 UTM Graduate Student Research award, a prestigious award that recognizes excellence in research across all graduate programs at UTM.

Bonnie Le was awarded the Best Graduate Student Talk award for 2014-2015 from the Social Personality Research Group at U of T.

Emily Impett was awarded a Research and Scholarly Activity Fund from the University of Toronto Mississauga, Office of the Vice-Principal, Research for a project titled: “Not in the Mood? Development and validation of the sexual rejection scale.”

Research by Emily Impett and postdoc Amy Muise has been featured on the website DatingAdvice.com in an article titled “7 Sex Studies That Will Blow Your Mind” http://www.datingadvice.com/studies/7-sex-studies-that-will-blow-your-mind

Congratulations to Bonnie Le who was selected as one of the five winners of the Graduate Student Committee Outstanding Research Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Bonnie will receive her award at the SPSP meeting this February in Long Beach, CA.

Emily Impett is the recipient of the 2015 Sage Young Scholar Award. This award, which is supported by a generous donation from Sage Publications, is presented annually to five young scholars to recognize their outstanding contributions to personality and social psychology. The awardees each receive a grant of $5,000 for research, study, or career development.

Research by Emily Impett, Amy Muise, and Lisa Day was featured in a 7-page article in the popular Canadian magazine, The Walrus. See here: http://thewalrus.ca/just-do-it/

Samantha Joel was the recipient of a 2014 Student Publication Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology for the paper: Joel, S., Gordon, A., Impett, E. A., MacDonald, G., & Keltner, D. (2013). The things you do for me: Perceptions of a romantic partner’s investments promote gratitude and commitment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39, 1333-1345.

Lisa Day, a doctoral student in the RAWLab, received the Certificate of Academic Excellence from the Canadian Psychological Association for her Masters thesis.

Research by postdoctoral fellow Amy Muise and Professor Emily Impett was featured in Women’s Health Magazine and Shape Magazine:

Professor Emily Impett was awarded an Early Researcher Award (Round 9) from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation.

Professor Emily Impett, along with postdoctoral fellow Amy Muise, was awarded a 5-year Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Professor Emily Impett received the Gerald R. Miller Award for Early Career Achievement from the International Association for Relationship Research. She will receive the award at the IARR conference this summer in Melbourne, Australia.

Research by Professor Emily Impett and graduate student Bonnie Le was featured in LiveScience:Money, Sleep and Love: What Makes a Happy Parent?

Research by Professor Emily Impett and graduate student Bonnie Le was featured in Psychology Today:Sacrifice in Relationships: Do You Go That Extra Mile?

Research by postdoctoral fellow Amy Muise and Professor Emily Impett was featured in an article in the Wall Street Journal: The Real Reason Couples Have Sex

Professor Emily Impett accepted an invitation to join the Board of Consulting Editors of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2014-2016 term).