LAUREN AGUILAR
PhD candidate
M.A. Phil., Columbia University, 2008
M.A., Columbia University, 2006
B.A., University California, Santa Barbara, 2002
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My research interests center around understanding social inequities and the effects they have on individuals and their social interactions. Do we transmit information about our social status and personality through verbal communication? How do identity and personality affect the process of communication itself? To answer these questions I am currently exploring how social variables and personality variables affect how we communicate verbally. My other interests are founded in investigating the individual and interpersonal effects of rejection and discrimination, and also the interpersonal effects of practicing yoga and meditation.

CHRISTOPHER M. CREW
Second Year Graduate Student
M.A., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008
B.A., University California, Riverside, 2004
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My current interests center on understanding the interplay of social-cognition and rejection sensitivity (RS) as they relate to the deployment of attention, thought suppression, perceptions of the legal system and the development interpersonal relationships. One line of research capitalizes on eye tracking and other psychophysical techniques (EEG) as a means for understanding attention deployment and self-regulation in individuals sensitive to rejection. Another line of research uses a combination of survey and statistical techniques as a means for understanding affluent African-American's perceptions of the legal system and young adults intimate relationship development as a function of RS. Both lines of research emphasize the role of RS in shaping ones psychological reality at the conscious and subconscious level. 

KAVITA REDDY
Fourth Year Graduate Student
M.A., Columbia University, 2008
B.A., University California, Los Angeles, 2005
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I am interested in how people construe their social identities and self-concept as a function of individual differences and situational cues. For example, how does anxiously expecting rejection affect one's identity or self-concept? What effect does this conceptualization have on subsequent thoughts, behavior and mental health? My other research interests include examining identity and affiliation processes in decision-making and the role of self-concept clarity and reactions to rejection among people who are highly rejection sensitive.

SYLVIA RODRIGUEZ
Fourth Year Graduate Student
M.A., Columbia University, 2008
B.A., Princeton University, 2006
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My current research interests range from rejection sensitivity, to motivation, to aspects of identity and culture. I am particularly interested in understanding factors that promote learning and engagement, and the contexts under which individuals are motivated within educational environments.