EPARG

Prof. Lynn O'Connor, Director

Prof. Jack Berry, Co-Director and Statistician

Our research group studies emotions, personality and empathy-based altruism, and their relationship to health and well-being, and to psychopathology.

Our work began with the observation that while people's problems are often a direct reflection of their socio-economic conditions, they are sometimes associated with an exaggerated or unrealistic concern about others and with high levels of interpersonal guilt.

Building on an evolutionary, feminist, and clinical theory (O'Connor, 1970; 2000; Weiss, 1986; 1993), we assume that altruism towards one's in-group is a fundamental human motivation in both clinical and non-clinical populations. Altruism is designed to hold the family and social group together and is a primary organizing principle in human life. However, when exaggerated or unrealistic, altruistic motivation may contribute to people's problems.

As we gathered data from many countries and cultures, we found ourselves puzzled over why we found guilt so often associated with psychopathology, particularly depression, and we began to see the need to study altruism directly, independent of guilt, as well as to continue our investigations of the regulation of guilt and other emotions. Our work has naturally branched into studies of personality, attachment, religion, forgiveness, and virtues (social norms).

While we are primarily interested in basic emotion and personality research from an evolutionary perspective, as scientist-practitioners, we are also interested in clinical and practical applications of emotion, personality and altruism research, such as the effects of clinical interventions including psychotherapy, counseling, and medications. Our clinical approach is based on positive relational theory. This theory is a highly integrative approach including contemporary biological, evolutionary and cognitive science, positive psychology, regulation-deregulation theory, feminist or what is now called "social-justice theory" and a relational theory of therapy (Lewis, Amini, & Lannon, 2000; O'Connor, 2000; Weiss, 1986; 1993). Our studies include clinical as well as non-clinical populations.