Liberal Arts and Sciences
Florida Social Cognition and Emotion Lab
Led by Erin Westgate · Psychology
What we study
The lab studies emotions like boredom and interest, exploring why they happen and their effects on behavior. Research uses experiments and surveys with human participants.
What working here is like
- Surveys & interviews
- No organisms (data only)
- Human participants
- Coding helps
- Projects
- 6
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
Why Boredom is Interesting
Studies why boredom happens and how it affects behavior, using experiments and surveys with participants.
The Psychologically Rich Life
Studies what makes a life psychologically rich, meaning varied and full of interesting experiences, using surveys and experiments.
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Implicit LGBT Attitudes
Studies unconscious attitudes toward LGBTQ+ identities, using experiments and surveys with human participants.
Why Storms Are Exciting
Studies why people find storms exciting, including why some enjoy hurricane parties, using experiments and surveys with participants.
Project Underestimating the Meaning of Super Bowl Sunday
This study looks at how NFL fans predict how meaningful a win or loss will feel. Students will recruit 100 fans, ask them to forecast the importance of the outcome, and then compare those predictions to how they actually felt after the game.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 405
Scripture and Spiritual Experience: A Qualitative Study of Religious Narratives in Anglo‑Catholic and Evangelical Anglican Seminarians
The study interviewed 25 seminary students from two Anglican traditions to see how their church background shapes personal spiritual experiences and use of scripture, revealing clear differences linked to denominational culture.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 69
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Sites of meaning-making: Places of attachment afford psychological meaning
2026 · Journal of Environmental Psychology
- Psychological richness offers a third path to a good life
2025 · Trends in Cognitive Sciences
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- Differing worldviews: The politics of happiness, meaning, and psychological richness
2024 · Journal of Personality
Finds that conservative ideology is linked to happiness and meaning, but not necessarily a psychologically rich life.
- A socioecological look at authenticity: Rootedness underlies both personal and place authenticity
2024 · Self and Identity
Shows that feeling connected to a place or self boosts personal or place authenticity, but not equally.
- The cognitive complexity of a happy life, a meaningful life, and a psychologically rich life
2024 · Journal of Research in Personality
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Erin Westgate hasn't set up this page yet. Their UF Scholars profile lists their publications.