Catalina Kopetz, PhD

My research focuses on self-regulation phenomena from the perspective of motivation as cognition. I am particularly interested in identifying and understanding the mechanisms that underlie goal pursuit and the management of multiple goals and goal conflict. My research investigates these basic mechanisms that govern human action in general, and in particular it attempts to understand their functioning in health-relevant judgment and behavior (e.g. dieting, substance use, HIV risk behavior).

In several projects, my current research attempts to address the following questions:

• Why do people fail to pursue goals that are important for them (e.g. exercising more often, maintaining a healthy diet)?
• How do people deal with goal conflicts?
• Why do people continue to engage in health-compromising behaviors (HIV risk-behavior, drunk driving, smoking) despite their best intentions not to do so?
• Could so-called “impulsive” behaviors (e.g. substance use, self-harm) be in fact strategic goal-pursuit whereby such behaviors represent means to individual’s chronic and momentary goals?
• How does social context (social rejection, early psycho-social deprivation) may influence individual’s vulnerability to risk behavior?
• How can we use basic self-regulation principles to design and implement prevention and intervention strategies?