Motivational Influences and Social Cognition Lab

Motivational Influences and Social Cognition Lab (MISC Lab)

The lab investigates how interpersonal and intergroup dynamics shape people's propensity and capacity to engage in what we broadly refer to as socioemotional processes to build relatively challenging social connections and understanding. We study a range of individual and contextual factors that influence these processes, often focusing on people's desire to "opt-in" to them, and how these sorts of responses are perceived and desired from both sides (e.g., the "empathizer" and the "empathized with"). The lab aims to apply multiple methods, adapting from social and cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and psychophysiology

Values mandate

People

Dr. Julian Scheffer, Assistant Professor of Psychology

Principal Investigator (PI)

My research broadly examines the utility of socioemotional processes such as empathy and compassion for building interpersonal and intergroup connection. I study how mental effort perceptions, neural damage, and neurodegeneration impact people's propensity and capacity to share in and understand the perspectives of other people as well as foster concern for their well-being. Further, I examine how these same processes wax and wane across challenging interpersonal and intergroup contexts, such as in the context of political rivals, in caregivers of people diagnosed with neurodegenerative disease, and in forging allyship to address social injustices.

Prior to arriving at Western, Dr. Scheffer completed his HBSc at University of Toronto Scarborough, his MA at University of Iowa, his PhD at the Pennsylvania State University, and a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California Berkeley.

Curriculum vitae

Graduate Students

Emil Dzhunushaliev

MSc Y2 (SPDP)

I am an MSc student at the University of Western Ontario working under the supervision of Dr. Julian Scheffer. I completed my BA in Psychology (Hons.) at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. Broadly speaking, my research interests involve hope, optimism, intergroup relations, and empathy.

Honours Thesis

Amal Elbuluk

BSc Y4

I am a fourth-year (Hons. BSc) Psychology student at Western University. My main research interest is exploring how marginalization influences individuals' interpersonal and emotional functioning. Particularly in relation to empathy, compassion, and trauma symptom manifestation.

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Mehak Bhatia

BA Y4 (Huron University)

My research interests lie in understanding individual differences in personality and learning more about attitudes, norms and maladaptive behaviours.

Shagun Chander

BMSc Y4

I am a fourth-year BMSc student at Western University. In the MISC Lab, I hope to learn more about socioemotional processes and contribute to research on empathy.

Jack Cordingley

BSc Y3

I have a strong interest in behavioral psychology, clinical science, and the socioemotional processes that guide human connection. In the MISC Lab, I hope to explore how motivational factors shape decisions to engage with others emotionally, and how these insights can inform both clinical practice and broader interpersonal dynamics.

Research Lines

Factors that Influences Decisions to Engage in Interpersonal Emotional Processes (e.g., Empathy, Compassion).

When seeing someone in the distance asking people for spare change, or viewing a charity ad depicting people suffering on TV, how do people decide to engage with these people using empathy and compassion, or avoid these types of experiences altogether? The lab applies motivational frameworks such as effort-based decision-making (EBDM) to examine whether people would select into opportunities to experience empathy - sharing in the feelings and experiences of other people as if they were their own, compassion - feeling a warm and caring concern that may not necessarily involve sharing that person's suffering, or avoid these experiences by remaining emotionally detached so they can objectively evaluate the external situation. We investigate where mental effort emerges in these responses, as well as how we can overcome those costs to increase social engagement.

The Neural Substrates of Decisions to Experience Empathy and Moral Judgment

Leveraging a neurobiological approach and using patient models, the lab investigates the neural substrates that may influence people's decisions to engage in empathy. We study whether individuals with lesions to these regions would show differences in their willingness to cultivate empathy, and further explore whether differences would emerge when choosing in the context of a more affective form of empathy - experience-sharing, or a more cognitive form of empathy - involving imagining another person's emotional experience. The lab also studies neurodegenerative diseases which impact regions linked with socioemotional function, such as the insula, which is often seen in frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

Investigating the Other Side of Interpersonal Emotional Processes like Empathy

We may often attribute another person's socioemotional responses to be less adaptive or morally virtuous than our own. This can be due to differences in backgrounds, values, or even political affiliations. The lab examines perceptions of the people on the other side of an interpersonal empathic encounter, for how they view the person who cultivates empathy for them. We focus on interpersonal dynamics which often require cooperation in order to facilitate effective relationships, such as with political opponents, potential majority group member allies to marginalized minorities, and caregivers of people with neurodegenerative diseases with altered socioemotional function.

Selected Publications

Media

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Postdoctoral Fellows

Graduate Students

Undergraduate Research Assistants