Predicting Human Flourishing
James Cornwell directs the Morality, Truth, and Motivation lab, which studies the ways in which morality provides us with a guiding framework for life in our social world, how the pursuit of truth provides our lives with meaning and strengthens relationships, and how differences in motivational dynamics can predict human flourishing as well as patterns of psychological distress. The lab’s research is based in psychological theory developed in conversation with insights from theology, philosophy, literature, as well as other sciences.
Anyone who is interested in big questions about how we respond to and make sense of the good, the true, and the beautiful, how we organize ourselves socially, and why we either flourish or languish is welcome to join the lab.
Research Areas
Moral Injury
Moral injury is a concept that has been around for decades, but has only recently been targeted to improve its measurement and tighten its theoretical precision. We approach the question of moral injury in our lab from a social psychological perspective, emphasizing how particular professional contexts (i.e., those whose moral rules differ most dramatically from society at large) and relational dynamics (i.e., particularly beliefs about morality shared with trusted members of those professional contexts) drive the moral injury experience, and how this plays out in a variety of ways with implications for mental health and human flourishing.
Representative Publications:
Cornwell, J. F. M., Wetzler, E. L., Wood, M. D., & Erbe, R. G. (in press). Moral context, coping strategies, and mental health outcomes among military veterans. International Journal of Social Psychiatry.
Cornwell, J. F. M., Krauss, S. W., Wood, M. D., & Wetzler, E. L. (2025) Moral injury moderates the effect of battlefield experiences on suicidal ideation and help-seeking. Journal of Traumatic Stress.
Wetzler, E., Erbe, R., Cornwell, J. F. M., & Wood, M. (2024). Dispositional mindfulness moderates the links between potentially morally injurious events and anxiety and depression, but not suicidal ideation. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 37(4), 574-585.
Moral Character
Moral character encompasses both the positive (virtues) and negative (vices) dynamics of the self with respect to ethical demands and opportunities. In our lab, our investigation has primarily examined the assessment of moral character, whether this involve global assessments of moral vice (i.e., the motivation to be virtuous combined with the persistent failure to do so) or specific assessments of particular moral virtues (e.g., humility). We approach these questions of character through a motivational lens, investigating both the motivation to be moral more generally, and the ways in which different virtues and vices function as an expression of different orderings of fundamental motives.
Representative Publications:
Cornwell, J. F. M. & Korenman, L. M. (2021). Regulatory focus and (un)ethical behavior within an organization. Motivation Science, 7(2), 225-228.
Cornwell, J. F. M. & Higgins, E. T. (2015). The “ought” premise of moral psychology and the importance of the ethical “ideal.” Review of General Psychology, 19(3), 311-328.
Moral Judgments
As a lab, we're interested in the different motivations that play a part in forming judgments of others. This involves both the application of existing motivational measures to moral judgment paradigms to determine ways in which they systematically alter their outcomes, as well as examining the forces that drive moral judgments of different kinds of individuals in different contexts, including social influence and emotion.
Representative Publications:
Cornwell, J. F. M. & Bella, A. F. (2022). Morals for the sake of movement: Locomotion and sensitivity to norms in moral dilemmas. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 101, 104322.
Cornwell, J. F. M., Mandelbaum, O., Bajger, A. T., Crookes, R. D., Krantz, D. H., & Higgins, E. T. (2021). Locomoting larks and assessing owls: Mornings, morality, and regulatory mode. Social Cognition, 39(1), 59-80.
Cornwell, J. F. M. & Higgins, E. T. (2019). Beyond value in moral phenomenology: The role of epistemic and control experiences. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2430.
Cornwell, J. F. M., Jago, C. P., & Higgins, E. T. (2019). When group influence is more or less likely: The case of moral judgments. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 41(6), 386-395.
Cornwell, J. F. M. & Higgins, E. T. (2016). Eager feelings and vigilant reasons: Regulatory focus differences in judging moral wrongs. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145(3), 338-355.
Shared Reality
A fundamental way that human beings establish what is real is through shared reality: the process by which the "subjective" becomes "objective" through sharing inner states with others. Our research explores both the particular dynamics of shared reality creation as well as how our motivations to share reality with others can lead to unexpected consequences, both good and bad.
Representative Publications:
Rossignac-Milon, M., Schmalbach, B., Keller, V., Cornwell, J. F. M., Higgins, E. T., & Echterhoff, G. (2024). The role of target-specific shared reality in interpersonal interactions and protective health behaviors. European Journal of Social Psychology, 54(7), 1431-1445.
Goal Pursuit
We also investigate motivation and goal pursuit more broadly, particularly as they relate to human flourishing for the self and for others. Our investigations of these dynamics examine flourishing and well-being, moral behavior, and also more specific social decision making (e.g., the decision to adopt a child).
Representative Publications:
Cornwell, J. F. M., Franks, B., Nakkawita, E., & Higgins, E. T. (2025). Life attunement experience: Well-being and morality from the truth of a life. Motivation and Emotion, 49, 530-551.
Cornwell, J. F. M., Nakkawita, E., Franks, B., & Higgins, E. T. (2023). Motivation and well-being across the lifespan: A cross-sectional examination. Journal of Positive Psychology, 18(5), 688-694.
Measures
Life Attunement Experience Test (LAET)
Measure:
Life Attunement Experience Test
Reference Paper:
Cornwell, J. F. M., Franks, B., Nakkawita, E., & Higgins, E. T. (2025). Life attunement experience: Well-being and morality from the truth of a life. Motivation and Emotion, 49, 530-551.