Jonathan S. Gore, PhD

Physical Self-Construal

People with a highly physical self-construal define themselves based on their physical body and its capabilities. Our research on this form of self-definition is just getting started, but we already have developed a valid and reliable measure for it.

Relational Motivation

People who pursue goals for relationally-autonomous reasons (RARs) do so for the sake of their close relationships. This type of motive functions as a social version of intrinsic motivation, and has shown to be particularly effective for women.

Resources and Cultural Values

Many of the values people adopt from their culture can be traced to the availability of resources in the region of that culture's development. I focus primarily on the stability of those resources as an important factor that fosters values such as time orientation, individualism/collectivism, and tightness/looseness.

Self-Concept and Self-Change

Each person's concept of "me" is nurtured by their social environments. When entering new social environments, many people experience changes to their self-concepts. My research focuses on three elements that drive change: rewards, social comparisons, and cognitive accessibility.