Kaitlyn M. Werner, PhD
Provost's Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Education and Experience
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Visiting Scholar, Social Psychology Research Group, 2023-
Ruhr University Bochum, Germany -
Visiting scholar, Stanford Psychophysiology Laboratory, 2022-
Stanford University, USA -
Provost's Postdoctoral Research Fellow, 2021-
University of Pennsylvania, USA -
SSHRC Banting Postdoctoral Research Fellow, 2019-2022
University of Toronto, Canada -
PhD in Social, Personality, and Health Psychology, 2015-2019
Carleton University, Canada
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Visiting Scholar, Social Cognition Center Cologne, 2018
University of Cologne, Germany -
MSc in Social Psychology, 2013-2015
University of Victoria, Canada -
BA (with distinction and honours) in Psychology, 2009-2013
University of Rochester, USA
I am a Provost's Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. I am also a research affiliate collaborating with the Stanford Psychophysiology Laboratory (Mentor: Dr. James Gross) at Stanford University and the Social Psychology Research Group (Mentor: Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Hofmann) at Ruhr University Bochum. Previously, I was a SSHRC Banting Postdoctoral Research Fellow and UTSC Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Affective Science and Health Laboratory (Mentor: Dr. Brett Ford) at the University of Toronto, and a PhD Student in Social, Personality, and Healthy Psychology in the Goal Pursuit and Self-Regulation Lab (Mentor: Dr. Marina Milyavskaya) at Carleton University.
My research takes a multi-method and interdisciplinary approach to understand the factors that facilitate successful self-regulation, goal pursuit, and well-being. I also have a strong interest in measurement (e.g., construct and ecological validity), advanced quantitative methods (e.g., multilevel SEM, Bayesian statistics), research design (e.g., experimental, longitudinal, EMA), and meta-science (e.g., transparent and reproducible research practices). Outside of the lab, I am also an Ambassador for the Center for Open Science.
Recent News
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Our theoretical paper, Self-control: An integrative framework (with Dr. Brett Ford), was recently accepted for publication at Social and Personality Psychology Compass! The revised pre-print has been updated on PsyArXiv.
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Starting January 2023, I will join the editorial board at Emotion!
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New empirical paper, Strategy repertoire and goal attainment, is now available as a pre-print! This work was conducted in collaboration with Raymond Wu (my wonderful former honours thesis student) and Dr. Malte Friese.
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New co-authored paper, The experience of obstacles during goal pursuit, was recently published in the Journal of Research in Personality! Led by PhD student, Isabelle Leduc-Cummings, in collaboration with myself, Dr. Marina Milyavskaya, Dr. Janna Dominick, and Dr. Shana Cole.
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Our new theoretical paper, An integrative model of goal pursuit (with Dr. Marina Milyavskaya), is now available as a pre-print!
Upcoming Presentations
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June 2023: Research presentation at the Self-Determination Theory Conference, Orlando, FL. Topic: Harnessing the power of motivation to promote lasting behaviour change (with Brett Q. Ford, Malte Friese, & Wilhelm Hofmann).
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April 2023: Research presentation in the Stanford Psychophysiology Lab in the Department of Psychology at Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Topic: TBD.
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March 2023: Poster presentation at the Society for Affective Science in Long Beach, CA. Topic: Motivation and the perception of desire (with Brett Q. Ford, Malte Friese, & Wilhelm Hofmann)
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March 2023: Research presentation at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Topic: TBD
Interested in having me speak to your group or organization on the science of self-control, motivation, and goal pursuit? Let's chat!
Email me at kaitlyn.werner [@] utoronto.ca