Red, Yellow and White Tulip flowers along the sidewalk with Fraser Hall in background. Sun glare from behind Fraser Hall

Department Research Labs

Affective Communication and Computing (AffCOM) Lab

We are an interdisciplinary research group based within the Department of Psychology at the University of Kansas. We develop, validate, and apply computational methods to advance the study of emotion, interpersonal communication, and mental health.

Behavioral Health Research Group

We seek to better understand substance misuse and other health-compromising behaviors, and to develop novel approaches to address negative health outcomes.

BRANCH Lab (Aging Lab)

The mission of our lab is to promote healthy lifestyles as people age. Our research projects and community outreach are centered on ways to increase physical activity and reduce risk of disease and cognitive decline that may occur with advancing age.

CARE Lab

Our mission is to improve the way eating disorders are assessed, diagnosed, and treated through cutting edge methods and research.

Close Relationships Interest Group

The main goal of CRIG is to develop a community that concentrates expertise and resources relevant to the study of close relationships here at KU (and in its surrounding area).

Cultural Psychology Research Group (CPRG)

The Cultural Psychology Research Group is a community of scholars and researchers who are broadly interested in the idea of “mind in context” (CPRG)

The Emotions in Context (EMIC) Lab

The EMIC Lab studies how context shapes the feelings, understandings, and behaviors through which we relate to ourselves, each other, and the world.

Hamilton Health Lab

The lab focuses on research related to sleep, chronic pain, and other health behaviors in college students and adults.

Health Behavior and Technology Lab

Our lab conducts research on topics at the intersection of addiction, obesity, and eating disorders. Specifically, our work is focused on reinforcement processes that drive reward-seeking behaviors, which may present risks to long term health.

Laboratory of Affective Sensory Research (LASR)

LEMMA Lab

Inspired by perspectives in experimental existential psychology, we study how deep-seated existential concerns fuel people's efforts to make meaningful sense of the social world and their own lives.

Pain, Addiction, and Translational Health (PATH) Lab

The PATH Lab is focused on understanding the connection between pain and substance use – especially in the context of chronic illness and cancer survivorship.

Sexuality Research Lab

This lab focuses on sexuality. Research topics include sexual consent, sexual coercion, ambivalence about sex, the meanings that people assign to sexual activity, etc. We welcome undergraduates who want to help with these studies.

Stereotyping and Social Judgment Lab

This lab's research points to the complex ways that stereotypes affect social judgment, and suggests that individual targets of judgments may sometimes receive contradictory feedback.

Teaching and Learning Innovation Lab (TLI Lab)

We conduct research on how cognitive and developmental science can enhance teaching and learning in higher education.

Trauma and Reproductive Psychology (TARP) Lab

The TARP Lab studies intersections between traumatic stress and women’s health across the reproductive lifecycle, with a focus on trauma-related psychopathology during the perinatal period.