Nicole Legate

Illinois Institute of Technology | IIT · College of Psychology

Despite widespread plans to embed justice, equity, decolonization, indigenization, and inclusion (JEDII) into universities, progress toward deeper, systemic change is slow. Given that many community‐based conservation (CBC) scholars have experience creating enduring social change in diverse communities, they have transferable skills that could help...

Terror Management Theory (TMT) proposes that when people are made aware of their own death, they are more likely to endorse cultural values. TMT is a staple of social psychology, being featured prominently in textbooks and the subject of much research. The implications associated with TMT are significant, as its advocates claim it can partially exp...

Recent reviews of efforts to reduce prejudice and increase diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace have converged on the conclusion that prejudice is resistant to change and that merely raising awareness of the problem is not enough. There is growing recognition that DEI efforts may fall short because they do not effectively motivat...

Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is a broad theory of psychological growth and wellness that has revolutionized how we think about human motivation and the driving forces behind personality development. SDT focuses on people’s basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness and how social environments that support these needs fos...

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures...

Anti‐bias training has been viewed as the solution to prejudice in organizations, yet the evidence is mixed in real‐world settings. Some point to the broader organizational climate that training takes place in as critical, and herein we investigate one aspect: communicating about bias in autonomy‐supportive (i.e., non‐shaming) ways. Using the 2019...

Workplace prejudice‐reduction efforts tend to be short lived at best, and can even arouse defiance, or a desire to oppose requests or rules, in employees. The motivational approach of self‐determination theory (SDT) describes how communicating about prejudice‐reduction can be scaffolded in ways that inspire genuine motivation and avoid eliciting de...

Significance Communicating in ways that motivate engagement in social distancing remains a critical global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study tested motivational qualities of messages about social distancing (those that promoted choice and agency vs. those that were forceful and shaming) in 25,718 people in 89 countries...

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This crosscountry , preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted p...

Psychology majors typically conduct at least one research project during their undergraduate studies, yet these projects rarely make a scientific contribution beyond the classroom. In this study, we explored one potential reason for this—that student projects may not be aligned with best practices in the field. In other words, we wondered if there...

Being oneself in interpersonal relationships has many benefits, but research has yet to distinguish between (intrapersonal) feelings of authenticity and (interpersonal) authentic behaviors. Four studies developed and tested a scale designed to measure two types of self-expression: authentic and inauthentic. Findings consistently validated a two-fac...

Outcomes of conversations, including those dealing with controversial, deeply personal, or threatening disclosures, result not only from what is said but also from how listeners receive these messages. This paper integrates the motivational framework of self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2017) and the expanding literature on interpersonal...

Though many studies find health disparities experienced by lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals, few have examined the role of motivation in LGB health. In this study, we use self-determination theory, a broadly supported theory of motivation and well-being, to understand how the goals that people pursue in their lives and the autonomy supp...

Women’s oppression undermines and inhibits women but may also prompt an enterprising reaction. In this paper, three studies explored the extent to which women respond to awareness of the oppression of other women with an increased desire for self-expression, a reactive but constructive response. Study 1 explored reactions to two forms of other wome...

Effectively motivating social distancing—keeping a physical distance from others —has become a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country preregistered experiment (n=25,718 in 89 countries) tested hypotheses derived from self-determination theory concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of differen...

An extensive literature on ostracism shows clear costs for targets; less clear is whether sources of ostracism also face costs. Further, most ostracism experiments fail to speak to ostracism in “real life.” Two studies informed by self-determination theory (SDT) tested whether ostracizers suffer in comparable ways to targets of ostracism in real-li...

Evidence shows that current EDI (Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion) training initiatives within policing, including but not limited to unconscious bias training, often fail to reliably reduce prejudiced attitudes or increase overall inclusiveness within the organisation. This report is intended to provide concrete and employable strategies found t...

A multi-wave study across two months tested changes in motivation for staying at home at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in the UK and US in 683 living-alone older adults (mean age = 53 years), those that might experience greater psychological costs of being isolated for long periods of time. The study was focused on changes in two types of...

Psychology majors typically conduct at least one research project during their undergraduate studies, yet these projects rarely make a scientific contribution beyond the classroom. In this study, we explored one potential reason for this - that student projects may not be aligned with best practices in the field. In other words, we wondered if ther...

Over the past 10 years, Oosterhof and Todorov’s valence–dominance model has emerged as the most prominent account of how people evaluate faces on social dimensions. In this model, two dimensions (valence and dominance) underpin social judgements of faces. Because this model has primarily been developed and tested in Western regions, it is unclear w...

Theorizing from humanistic and motivational literatures suggests attitude change may occur because high quality listening facilitates the insight needed to explore and integrate potentially threatening information relevant to the self. By extension, self-insight may enable attitude change as a result of conversations about prejudice. We tested whet...

Compared to cisgender individuals, transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals report health disparities across various domains. These include general health, physical health, mental health, health behaviors, and health care access and utilization. Romantic partnership status is underexplored as a potential protective factor of health a...

Geosocial networking apps (GSN; e.g., Tinder, Grindr) have rapidly increased in popularity, showing associations with greater sexual risk-taking. This study sought to distinguish between risks associated with intensive partner-seeking (i.e., individuals seeking out casual sex frequently across many venues) and risks associated with specific venues...

Strong assumptions about Muslim women wearing a veil abound, yet few studies examine women’s felt experiences of wearing one. The current study applied self-determination theory to examine how individual differences in motives for wearing a veil relate to women’s experiences in the Muslim-majority countries of Iran and Saudi Arabia (N=791). Confirm...

Eskine, Kacinik, and Prinz’s (2011) influential experiment demonstrated that gustatory disgust triggers a heightened sense of moral wrongness. We report a large-scale multisite direct replication of this study conducted by labs in the Collaborative Replications and Education Project. Subjects in each sample were randomly assigned to one of three be...

Over the last ten years, Oosterhof and Todorov’s valence-dominance model has emerged as the most prominent account of how people evaluate faces on social dimensions. In this model, two dimensions (valence and dominance) underpin social judgments of faces. Because this model has primarily been developed and tested in Western regions, it is unclear w...

Social support cultivates mental health, but little is known about how social support is experienced in individuals with a stigmatized identity, such as those who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB). The present study explored how specific elements of social support: reliance, feeling understood, and support for self-expression, experienced...

Bisexual individuals face health disparities compared to heterosexual and other sexual minority individuals. Romantic partnership status is an underexplored protective factor of bisexual health, despite literature indicating romantic partnership generally relates to health advantages. Using U.S. population-level data (N = 3,272), we conducted the f...

Despite considerable progress, research on sexual minorities has been hindered by a lack of clarity and consistency in defining sexual minority groups. Further, despite recent recommendations to assess the three main dimensions of sexual orientation—identity, behavior, and attraction—it remains unclear how best to integrate such multivariate inform...

Little is known about how parents may protect against cyberbullying, a growing problem-behavior among youth. Guided by self-determination theory, a theory concerned with effectively motivating and regulating behavior, six preregistered hypotheses concerning parenting strategies of regulating cyberbullying behavior were tested in 1004 parent–child d...

The present article reports the results of a meta-analysis of nine student replication projects of Elliot et al.’s (2010) findings from Experiment 3, that women were more attracted to photographs of men with red borders (total 'n' = 640). The eight student projects were part of the Collaborative Replication and Education Project (CREP; https://osf....

Purpose: The aim was to provide the first broad assessment of partnership-health associations across partnership statuses among lesbian and gay individuals. Methods: Using population-level data from the 2016 U.S. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, specifically the 26 states/territories that assessed sexual orientation and gender identit...

Eskine, Kacinik, and Prinz’s (2011) influential experiment demonstrated that gustatorydisgust triggers feelings of moral disgust. This is a report of a large-scale multi-site directreplication of this study, conducted by participants in the Collaborative Replications andEducation Project (CREP). Participants in each sample were randomly assigned to...

Eskine, Kacinik, and Prinz’s (2011) influential experiment demonstrated that gustatory disgust triggers feelings of moral disgust. This is a report of a large-scale multi-site direct replication of this study, conducted by participants in the Collaborative Replications and Education Project (CREP). Participants in each sample were randomly assigned...

We discuss the Collaborative Replications and Education Project (CREP), the background and purpose of the CREP, and how students participate in the project. We also discuss how CREP facilitates and promotes dissemination of student work and the benefits of CREP.

Research on how sociopolitical factors differentially affect the health and well-being of individuals is nascent and mechanisms responsible have not yet been identified. This work examined how the civil liberties afforded across 79 countries differentially affect the health satisfaction of men and women and tested one potential reason for this link...

Previous studies have identified myriad negative consequences of internalized homophobia, or self-directed antigay prejudice, but few can speak to its developmental antecedents. This work explored whether parenting styles might affect the development of internalized homophobia and negative psychological health outcomes in sexual minority individual...

The present article reports the results of a meta-analysis of eight student replication projects of Elliot et al.’s (2010) Experiment 3. The eight student projects were part of the Collaborative Replication and Education Project (CREP; https://osf,io/wfc6u/), a research crowdsourcing project for undergraduate students. Studies to be replicated were...

Objective: Work on longevity has found protective social, cognitive and emotional factors, but to date we have little understanding of the impact of motivational dynamics. Autonomy orientation, or stable patterns of self-regulation, is theorized to be a protective factor for long-term mental and physical health (Ryan & Deci, 2017), and is therefor...

This replication meta-analysis explored the robustness of a highly cited study showing that those with low self-esteem perceived benefits for self-disclosure through Facebook compared to face-to-face interactions (i.e., Forest & Wood, 2012, Study 1). Seven preregistered direct replication attempts of this study were conducted by research teams as p...

This replication meta-analysis explored the robustness of a highly cited study showing that those with low self-esteem perceived benefits for self-disclosure through Facebook compared to face-to-face interactions (i.e., Forest & Wood, 2012, Study 1). Seven pre-registered direct replication attempts of this study were conducted by research teams as...

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals experience disparities in psychological well-being, including greater symptoms of depression and anxiety, relative to their heterosexual peers. One group of LGB individuals is particularly vulnerable—those with high levels of internalized homophobia, or sexual prejudice directed toward the self. The curr...

Important others' perceptions influence self-perceptions. This presents a challenge for the critical developmental task of integrating all aspects of identity, as identities that are devalued or stigmatized by society are harder to own than valued ones. Across 3 studies, we tested the idea that conflictual or stigmatized identities are harder to ow...

Using a daily diary methodology, we examined how social environments support or fail to support sexual identity disclosure, and associated mental and physical health outcomes. Results showed that variability in disclosure across the diary period related to greater psychological well-being and fewer physical symptoms, suggesting potential adaptive b...

We present the data from a crowdsourced project seeking to replicate findings in independent laboratories before (rather than after) they are published. In this Pre-Publication Independent Replication (PPIR) initiative, 25 research groups attempted to replicate 10 moral judgment effects from a single laboratory’s research pipeline of unpublished fi...

Perceiving autonomy support-or encouragement to be oneself-from a romantic partner or other close relationship partners has been shown to yield a variety of psychological health benefits, but it is less clear how perceiving autonomy support from partners is linked to physical health. In two studies we examine the associations between receiving auto...

Objective: Becoming a refugee is a potent risk factor for indicators of psychological distress such as depression, generalized stress, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), though research into this vulnerable population has been scant, with even less work focusing on interventions. The current study applied principles from self-determination...

This crowdsourced project introduces a collaborative approach to improving the reproducibility of scientific research, in which findings are replicated in qualified independent laboratories before (rather than after) they are published. Our goal is to establish a non-adversarial replication process with highly informative final results. To illustra...

The present study investigated how both mindfulness and managerial autonomy support affect work adjustment. Two hundred and fifty-nine working adults were recruited online, and they were assessed for individual differences in mindfulness and the autonomy-supportive versus controlling style of their management at work. Also assessed were indicators...

Most of the focus within the ostracism literature concerns the negative effects on the ostracized and how they cope following ostracism. Research is now beginning to illuminate negative psychological effects for ostracizers, yet no studies to date have examined their coping responses. This study continues this line of inquiry focusing on experience...

Though previous research indicates that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals may benefit from disclosing their sexual identity, or coming out, doing so also carries with it significant risks due to its stigmatized status. LGB individuals (N = 108) were surveyed regarding their initial experiences coming out, including the first person to wh...

Disclosing a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) identity to others, or coming out, yields mental health benefits, but it can carry the risk of stigmatization, rejection and even violence. We use a self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan RM, Deci EL. Am Psychol 55:68–78, 2000) framework to understand how relationships impact coming out and i...

Individuals perceive beauty as a function of physical attributes paired with the subjective experience of an object or a space. Yet, little or no research has investigated how either relational or emotional experiences shape perceptions of the physical world. Four studies were conducted to address this question using self-determination theory (Ryan...

Much research has documented the harmful psychological effects of being ostracized, but research has yet to determine whether compliance with ostracizing other people is psychologically costly. We conducted two studies guided by self-determination theory to explore this question, using a paradigm that borrows from both ostracism research and Milgra...

Prior research suggests that, on average, disclosing sexual identity (being “out”) yields wellness benefits for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals. LGB individuals vary, however, both in how much they disclose their sexual orientation in different social contexts and in the experiences that follow from disclosure. The present research exa...

When individuals grow up with autonomy-thwarting parents, they may be prevented from exploring internally endorsed values and identities and as a result shut out aspects of the self perceived to be unacceptable. Given the stigmatization of homosexuality, individuals perceiving low autonomy support from parents may be especially motivated to conceal...

In this final chapter we examine future directions in motivation research by looking through the individual lenses of our volume authors. We review each chapter for viewpoints on new directions for research. Each chapter offers some unique ideas relevant to the particular area of inquiry, but there is also overlapping emphasis on several issues fac...