(B.A., UCLA; Ph.D., University of Michigan).

Dr. Wurf teaches introductory, social, and personality psychology. She has also taught at Lehigh, Lafayette, Moravian, and Green Mountain College.

I am the daughter of a teacher (my father) and a book indexer (my mother) who was a graduate student in psychology at the time that I was born. I started reading my mother’s developmental psychology books (to make sure that I was “on track” for meeting developmental goals), and case history books (for entertainment) when I was about 10. I didn’t think I would become a psychologist, however, until I was in college. Until then, I had first wanted to be a musician (I play the flute) and then a biologist (but I’m a klutz in the lab). I was torn between majoring in psychology or journalism in college. Both would allow me to pursue an interest in social behavior and would allow me to pursue a wide range of interests. I turned to social psychology because I was attracted to the scientific approach that psychology takes, and eventually to a focus on social cognition and the self because I was interested in the “psycho”-logic—the normal processes of our psychological systems--that allows rational people to make irrational and sometimes self-defeating decisions.

Teaching

In my teaching, I try to focus as much on the process of learning as I do on the content of what I teach. As the discipline of psychology progresses, much of the specific content that we teach becomes dated or even obsolete, but the processes of critical thinking, empirically investigating hypotheses, and writing never do. Thus these are the elements that I emphasize in my teaching. For this reason, I particularly enjoy teaching in smaller class settings where there is increased opportunity for interaction with students, and in working one-on-one or in small research teams with students. Even in my larger lecture classes, I try as much as is feasible to pursue a commitment to “hands-on” learning, to discussion, and to writing, and students typically pursue several small projects either in class or outside of class to help make the topic come alive.

Research

I am interested in the psychology of the self, particularly in self-defeating and self-improving behaviors. These involve the conflict of motives to try to protect one’s self-esteem (which people to avoid or distort negative feedback) versus to try to improve oneself (which requires that people confront and deal with such negative information). I am interested in how people deal with this conflict in both public and in private, and in differences between men and women in how they tend to deal with such conflicts.

Representative Publications and Presentations

• Langer, S. L.*, & Wurf, E. (1999). Effects of channel consistent interpersonal feedback on the formation of metaperceptions. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 23, 43-65.

• Markus, H., & Wurf, E. (1987). The dynamic self-concept: A social psychological perspective. In M. R. Rosenzweig & L.W. Porter (Eds.), Annual Review of Psychology, 38, 299-337.

• Mello, D.*, & Wurf, E. (1997). The self in self-handicapping: Differential effects of public and private audiences. Current Psychology, 15, 319-331.

• Wurf, E. (1989, August). Coping with negativity in the self- concept. Presented at symposium on Personality and Cognition: Conceptualizing selves, others, and life tasks at the meetings of the American Psychological Association, New Orleans, LA.

• Wurf, E., Costello, K.*, & Protomastro, M* (1991, June). Self affirmation eliminates self-handicapping. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, Washington, D.C.

• Wurf, E., & Markus, H. (1991). Possible selves and the psychology of personal growth. In D. J. Ozer, J. M. Healy, & A. J. Stewart (Eds.), Perspectives in personality: Self and emotion (Vol. 3a, pp. 39-62). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.