Welcome to the website of the Human Motivation and Affective Neuroscience (HuMAN) laboratory! Research at the HuMAN Lab aims at providing a better
understanding of the physiological, cognitive, affective, and behavioral
aspects of motivation in humans. Our research has a strong emphasis
on nonconscious (i.e., implicit) motivational processes that occur and
influence behavior without the person becoming aware of them. We also explore
how implicit motives relate to and interact with people's
conscious goals and beliefs about their motivational needs.
The methods we use to explore these questions include non-declarative personality
assessment,
measurement of salivary hormone levels, assessment of basic
cognitive
functions, Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning, and brain
imaging. The HuMAN Lab
is supported by grants from the National
Science Foundation, the National
Institutes of Mental Health, and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
To find out more, please use the navigation menu at the top of the page.
Self-report and grid motive measures are measures of explicit motives and should not be used in tests of theories about implicit motives
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In a recent commentary about a paper in which an author team examined the role of power motivation in anorexia based on McClelland’s and Winter’s theory of implicit power motivation, but used a grid self-report measure to test hypotheses, Oliver Schultheiss (2021) emphasized that grid-type measures, such as the Multi-Motive Grid (MMG), do not assess implicit motives. They therefore do not allow to test hypotheses based on McClelland’s motivation theory, which was built upon findings obtained with picture-story motive measures of implicit motives, which McClelland and others were always careful to set apart from the motivational needs that people ascribe to themselves and that are termed explicit motives...
[find out more...]
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The figure shows the likelihood of looking at an angry or a neutral face separately for high-power (red lines) and low-power (blue lines) participants (black lines = difference between high- and low-power participants)..
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Oliver C. Schultheiss (Friedrich-Alexander University) and Pranjal H. Mehta (University College, London) are the editors of the new Routledge International Handbook of Social Neuroendocrinology. The handbook is the first to bring together a broad variety of findings, topics, and perspectives emerging from the nascent field of social endocrinology. Featuring 39 chapters by author teams from the US, Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and Israel, it provides state-of-the-art accounts of research on dominance and aggression; social affiliation; reproduction and pair bonding (e.g., sexual behavior, sexual orientation, romantic relationships); pregnancy and parenting; stress and emotion; cognition and decision making; social development; and mental and physical health. |
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The HuMAN-Lab provides research opportunities for foreign students interested in doing work that is closely related to the Lab’s mission. However, due to the requirements of the German university system, regular 3-year positions with a teaching load of 3 courses/year are only available to applicants with documented oral and written fluency in German. Applicants who can obtain a stipend (e.g., through the DAAD or funding agencies from their home country) are also welcome to apply. All applicants must have a master’s degree in psychology and must submit, along with documentation of their degrees, a curriculum vitae, a list of at least two individuals who can comment on their academic achievements, and a letter of intent that sketches out in 2 pages or less the specific research aims and interests of the candidate and how they fit the HuMAN Lab’s mission.
Last updated:
14 April, 2022
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