Welcome

The CMU Relationships Lab conducts scientific research on relationships, specifically focusing on social interactions and their predictors and consequences.  An overarching goal of our research is to investigate the ways in which relationships help or hinder people in addressing life challenges and functioning to their full potential, and to learn about how relationships affect health and well-being. Some of our studies follow relationships over long periods of time to learn about how they (and the people within them) develop and change. Others are smaller-scale studies for which participants visit our lab once to help us learn about a specific interpersonal process. Our studies involve a diverse combination of methods. For example, participants may visit the lab to complete surveys and participate in a variety of activities and discussions together, they may complete daily diaries for a period of time, and some studies involve physiological and health assessments.