Skip to main content

Research Team

Over the past 30 years, Dr. Jack Aiello’s research lab has been investigating the process by which people regulate and control their social interaction with others. Primary emphasis during the past decade has been on stress and performance in the workplace, leadership, group processes, supervisory feedback, computer performance monitoring, diversity, social facilitation, privacy, telework, and social justice. Scroll down to learn more about our research, the members of our research team, research opportunities, Social Psychology and Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and much more.

 

Current Studies

Below are short summaries of the research that the lab is currently undertaking.

    • Social Facilitation – Social Facilitation, one of the oldest phenomena in social psychology, is caused by social presence. Traditionally, social presence has been viewed as a dichotomous variable (an observer is either present or not present). However, we are testing the idea that social presence be viewed as a continuous variable differing on the salience of presence. We are also testing the effect of two other often overlooked types of presence: anticipatory and residual social presence. Anticipatory social presence relates to anticipating the arrival of an observer and residual social presence relates to the feeling of “presence” which lingers after observers have left. We are specifically exploring electronic performance monitoring and the stressors related to monitoring of managers and workers.


Joining the Research Team

We provide students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with the day-to-day operations of research in social and organizational psychology.  Students will participate in the excitement of discovery: they will learn how research is generated and hypotheses are formulated, how investigations are conducted, and how data are organized, analyzed, and interpreted.  There are many opportunities to participate in the training for and the execution of research, both in the field and in the lab.  Students are able to learn how to effectively research the literature on topics related to social and organizational psychology. Working as a team is a central part of our research, and students have a great opportunity to learn how best to work together.

Students will have an opportunity to acquire skills that are invaluable in graduate school and in the workforce.  These skills include literature searches, using SPSS to organize and analyze data, detecting and correcting problems that arise in the lab, and brainstorming ideas for future studies with the research team.  The more initiative students take, the more opportunities they will have to acquire these skills.

Applicants should have completed General Psychology (830:101) and Quantitative Methods (830:200). Additionally, it is recommended that applicants take the following courses: Social Psychology (830:321), Research Methods in Social Psychology (830:323), and Organizational & Personnel Psychology (830:373).

If you are interested in joining the lab, please email your completed application to Dr. Aiello (jack.aiello@gmail.com).  In your email, please provide the best times for you to meet and discuss your interest and potential fit with the team.

The application can be found and downloaded here.

 

Where are they now?

‘Where Are They Now?’ is one of the research lab’s highest priority projects.  This project consists of a compilation of responses given by past lab members, who have graduated from Rutgers University and have moved on to their graduate schools and careers.

All past lab members were sent a survey, which consisted of four questions:

  • What skills did you gain that you have found to be advantageous from being a part of the group?
  • What have you been doing since you graduated?
  • What are you doing now?
  • Do you have any tips for current lab members?

With an array of diverse career paths, former lab members can help to provide prospective students, lab members, and other former alumni an invaluable resource, evaluating significant experiences and skills gained in the lab.