Social Psychology Network

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Philip Gable

Philip Gable

Broadly, my program of research investigates the interplay of motivation, emotion, and cognition. In order to provide a better understanding of the processes involved in these areas, I integrate multiple measures such as personality traits, attitudes, and reaction times. Furthermore, I incorporate neurophysiological measures such as regional brain activation through electroencephalography (EEG), reflex physiology, and event related brain potentials (ERP). Utilizing these methods allows me to not only better understand the neural correlates of emotion and cognition, but more importantly identify the critical role of motivational and emotional processes when individuals do not or can not fully report them. Specifically, a large body of my research has focused on positive emotions and how they vary in motivational intensity. More broadly, however, I have investigated how diverse positive (and negative) affects influence general cognitive processes of attention and memory. My interest lies in bringing these methodologies and skill sets to bear on theoretical questions related to the nature of motivation and emotional processes.

Primary Interests:

  • Applied Social Psychology
  • Emotion, Mood, Affect
  • Motivation, Goal Setting
  • Neuroscience, Psychophysiology
  • Personality, Individual Differences

Research Group or Laboratory:

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Journal Articles:

  • Gable, P. A., & Harmon-Jones, E. (in press). The effect of low vs. high approach-motivated positive affect on memory for peripherally vs. centrally presented information. Emotion.
  • Gable, P. A., & Harmon-Jones, E. (2010). Late positive potential to appetitive stimuli and local attentional bias. Emotion, 10, 441-446.
  • Gable, P. A., & Harmon-Jones, E. (2010). The blues broaden, but the nasty narrows: Attentional consequences of negative affects low and high in motivational intensity. Psychological Science, 21, 211-215.
  • Gable, P. A., & Harmon-Jones, E. (2010). The motivational dimensional model of affect: Implications for breadth of attention, memory, and cognitive categorization. Cognition and Emotion, 24, 322-337.
  • Gable, P. A., & Harmon-Jones, E. (2009). Postauricular reflex responses to pictures varying in valence and arousal. Psychophysiology, 46, 487-490.
  • Gable, P. A., & Harmon-Jones, E. (2008). Approach-motivated positive affect reduces breadth of attention. Psychological Science, 19, 476-482.
  • Gable, P. A., & Harmon-Jones, E. (2008). Relative left frontal activation to appetitive stimuli: Considering the role of individual differences. Psychophysiology, 45, 275-278.
  • Harmon-Jones, E., & Gable, P. A. (2009). Neural activity underlying the effect of approach-motivated positive affect on narrowed attention. Psychological Science, 20, 406-409.
  • Harmon-Jones, E., & Gable, P. A. (2008). Incorporating motivational intensity and direction into the study of emotions: Implications for brain mechanisms of emotion and cognition-emotion interactions. Netherlands Journal of Psychology, 64, 132-142.
  • Harmon-Jones, E., Gable, P. A., & Peterson, C. K. (2010). The role of asymmetric frontal cortical activity in emotion-related phenomena: A review and update. Biological Psychology, 84, 451-462.
  • Peterson, C. K., Gable, P., & Harmon-Jones, E. (2008). Asymmetrical frontal ERPs, emotion, and behavioral approach/inhibition sensitivity. Social Neuroscience, 3, 113-124.

Other Publications:

  • Harmon-Jones, E., Peterson, C., Gable, P., & Harmon-Jones, C. (2008). Anger and approach-avoidance motivation. In A. J. Elliot (Ed.), Handbook of Approach and Avoidance Motivation (pp. 399-413). New York: Psychology Press.

Courses Taught:

  • Advanced Social Psychology
  • Biological Psychology
  • Emotion-Motivation
  • Introductory Psychology
  • Psychophysiology Methods

Philip Gable
Department of Psychology
University of Alabama
505 Hackberry Lane
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487
United States of America

  • Phone: (205) 348-7028
  • Fax: (205) 348-8648

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