Lara Kammrath

My research interests are in the area of close relationships, with specific interests on the topics of social self-regulation, social perceptions and beliefs, and social support seeking. Typically each student that works with me carves out some unique topic within the area of close relationship processes, as you can see below.

Social regulation

A primary area of my research involves the study of how people regulate their thoughts and behaviors in their social interactions with others, including friends, family members, romantic partners, and strangers. Johanna Peetz and I studied the factors that predict people’s ability to keep promises of change to their romantic partners (Peetz & Kammrath, 2013). Megan McCarthy and I studied the factors that impact a person’s likelihood to speak up about relational dissatisfactions (McCarthy & Kammrath, in prep). We also studied how different personality traits predict assertiveness within a close relationship in low versus high importance situations (Kammrath, McCarthy, Friesen, & Cortes, under review). Kassandra Cortes and I studied what happens when you take a typical self-regulation task and frame it as a task that benefits another person, that is, make it a social action instead of a personal action (Cortes, Kammrath, Scholer, & Peetz, 2013). Annie Locke and I studied how self-control depletion predicts the level of mindfulness (mindful attention) that people give to romantic partners (Locke, Kammrath, & Armstrong, in prep). Julia Brinton and I studied how psychological strains at work (negative affect and exhaustion) predict people’s failures to inhibit hostile responding at home (Brinton, Kammrath, & Wayne, in prep).

A primary area of my research involves the study of how people regulate their thoughts and behaviors in their social interactions with others, including friends, family members, romantic partners, and strangers. Johanna Peetz and I studied the factors that predict people’s ability to keep promises of change to their romantic partners (Peetz & Kammrath, 2013). Megan McCarthy and I studied the factors that impact a person’s likelihood to speak up about relational dissatisfactions (McCarthy & Kammrath, in prep). We also studied how different personality traits predict assertiveness within a close relationship in low versus high importance situations (Kammrath, McCarthy, Friesen, & Cortes, under review). Kassandra Cortes and I studied what happens when you take a typical self-regulation task and frame it as a task that benefits another person, that is, make it a social action instead of a personal action (Cortes, Kammrath, Scholer, & Peetz, 2013). Annie Locke and I studied how self-control depletion predicts the level of mindfulness (mindful attention) that people give to romantic partners (Locke, Kammrath, & Armstrong, in prep). Julia Brinton and I studied how psychological strains at work (negative affect and exhaustion) predict people’s failures to inhibit hostile responding at home (Brinton, Kammrath, & Wayne, in prep).

Education

• PhD Columbia University in the City of New York (1998 — 2004)
• BA University of Chicago (1994 — 1998)

Companies

• Assistant Professor Wilfrid Laurier University (2006)
• Adjunct Assistant Professor Columbia Business School (2004)