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KAITLYN M. WERNER, PHD

Provost's Postdoctoral Research Fellow
University of Pennsylvania
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Education and Experience

  • Visiting Scholar, Stanford Psychophysiology Laboratory, 2022-
    Stanford University, USA

  • Visiting Scholar, Social Psychology Research Group, 2023
    ​    Ruhr University Bochum, Germany

  • 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

  • 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. In October 2023, I will be an NIH Research Fellow in the Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab (Mentor: Dr. Elliot Berkman) at the University of Oregon. 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 Health Psychology in the Goal Pursuit and Self-Regulation Lab (Mentor: Dr. Marina Milyavskaya) at Carleton University.

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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). 

About Me

Recent News

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  • I was awarded an Unrestricted Travel Grant from Psi Chi: The International Honor Society in Psychology!
     

  • I was awarded an NIH Diversity Supplement Grant from the National Cancer Institute! In collaboration with Dr. Elliot Berkman, this grant supports our project, Regulatory flexibility and smoking behavior: Examining within-strategy variation in effectiveness as a function of craving intensity.
      

  • ​I received the Research Exchange Grant for Young Motivation Scientists from the Society for the Study of Motivation! This grant provides support for me to be a visiting scholar with Dr. Andrew J. Elliot at the University of Rochester for a month (TBD) during the 2023-2024 academic year.
     

  • Our theoretical paper, Self-control: An integrative framework (with Dr. Brett Ford) has been officially published open access at Social and Personality Psychology Compass! The final editorial print can be found on my publications page.
     

  • Our 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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Upcoming and Recent Presentations

  • November 2023: Research presentation in the Stanford Psychophysiology Lab in the Department of Psychology at Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Topic: TBD.

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  • October 2023: Symposium talk at Emotions 2023, Tilburg, Netherlands. Topic: Behaviour change in context: An affect science perspective to promote successful self-control (with Brett Q. Ford, Wilhelm Hofmann, Kate Petrova, Raymond Wu, Malte Friese, & James J. Gross). 
     

  • June 2023: Research presentation at the CPA Social and Personality Pre-Conference, Toronto, ON. Topic: The more the better? A polyregulation approach to regulating desires (with Brett Q. Ford & James J. Gross).
     

  • ​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).
     

  • April 2023:  Research presentation in the Stanford Psychophysiology Lab in the Department of Psychology at Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Topic: Affect science and behavior change: An emerging conceptual framework.

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​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 kmwerner [@] uoregon.edu

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