Research
Interests
My research focuses on the interplay between children’s motivational and interpersonal processes. For example, I study the effects of particular parenting styles on children’s motivation, the formation of children’s first impressions of adults and how those impressions influence subsequent engagement with the adults, and the role that motivationally relevant constructs play in the development of children’s relationships.
Publications
Gurland, S. T. & *Glowacky, T. (Under review). Children’s lay theories of motivation.
*Wiechman, B. M. & Gurland, S. T. (2009). What happens during the free-choice period?: Evidence of a polarizing effect of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 716-719.
*Lam, C. F. & Gurland, S. T. (2008). Self-determined work motivation predicts job outcomes, but what predicts self-determined work motivation? Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 1109-1115.
Gurland, S. T. & Grolnick, W. S. (2008). Building rapport with children: Effects of adults’ expected, actual, and perceived behavior. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 27, 226-253.
*King, L. & Gurland, S. T. (2007). Creativity and experience of a creative task: Person and environment effects. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 1252-1259.
Gurland, S. T. & Grolnick, W. S. (2005). Perceived threat, controlling parenting, and children’s achievement orientations. Motivation and Emotion, 29, 103-121.
Gurland, S. T. & Grolnick, W. S. (2003). Children’s expectancies and perceptions of adults: Effects on rapport. Child Development, 74, 1212-1224.
Grolnick, W. S., Gurland, S. T., DeCourcey, W., & Jacob, K. (2002). Antecedents and consequences of mothers’ autonomy support: An experimental investigation. Developmental Psychology, 38, 143-155.
Grolnick, W. S., Gurland, S. T., Jacob, K., & DeCourcey, W. (2002). The development of self-determination in middle childhood and adolescence. In A. Wigfield (Ed.), The Development of Achievement Motivation (pp. 147-172). San Diego: Academic Press.
Grolnick, W. S. & Gurland, S. T. (2001). Mothering: Retrospect and prospect. In J. P. McHale & W. S. Grolnick (Eds.), Retrospect and Prospect in the Psychological Study of Families (pp. 5-33). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Carpenter, K. M. & Gurland, S. T. (2000). Talking to family and friends about graduate school and research in psychology. Newsletter of the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students, 12, 13.
Grolnick, W. S., Kurowski, C. O., & Gurland, S. T. (1999). Family processes and the development of children’s self-regulation. Educational Psychologist, 34, 3-14.
Gurland, S. T. & Carpenter, K. M. (1999). Interpersonal dynamics in the graduate student - faculty advisor relationship. Newsletter of the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students, 11, 21-22.
Sparrow, S. S. & Gurland, S. T. (1998). Assessment of gifted children with the WISC-III. In A. Prifitera & D. H. Saklofske (Eds.), WISC-III clinical use and interpretation: Scientist-practitioner perspectives (pp. 59-72). San Diego: Academic Press.
Presentations
Friendly, R. W., Grolnick, W. S., & Gurland, S. T. (2008, June). The role of expectations in children’s experience of novel events. Symposium presented at the annual meeting of the Jean Piaget Society, Québec City, Canada.
*Lam, C. F., & Gurland, S. T. (2008, April). Causality orientations and basic need satisfaction as predictors of self-determination. Poster presented at the 23rd annual meeting of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, San Francisco, CA.
*Evangelista, J. & Gurland, S. T. (2008, March). An evaluation of teacher-student relationships in the context of the No Child Left Behind Act. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, MA.
*Groetzinger, K. & Gurland, S. T. (2008, March). Do behaviorally disruptive students have lower expectations of their teachers? Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, MA.
*Lau, C. & Gurland, S. T. (2008, March). Teacher-student agreement on relationship quality: Advantages of autonomy supportive teaching. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, MA.
Friendly, R. W., Grolnick, W. S., & Gurland, S. T. (2007, August). Role of expectations in children’s experience of novel events. Poster presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA.
Gurland, S. T. (2007, May). Children’s lay theories of motivation: Implications for the classroom.. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Self-determination Theory, Toronto, Ontario.
Gurland, S. T. (2007, April). Children’s lay theories of motivation. Symposium presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Boston, Massachusetts.
Gurland, S. T. & Grolnick, W. S. (2007, April). Child-adult rapport: Do children believe what they see or see what they believe? Symposium presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Boston, Massachusetts.
*Evangelista, J. & Gurland, S. T. (2006, October). Priming effects and chronic motivational styles. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the New England Psychological Association, Manchester, NH.
*Murphy, F. & Gurland, S. T. (2006, October). Consequences of gender differences in motivational orientations. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the New England Psychological Association, Manchester, NH.
*Weiser, J. J. & Gurland, S. T. (2006, March). Nonverbal behavior and rapport. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Baltimore, MD.
Gurland, S. T. & *Glowacky, V. (2006, January). Transmission of motivational orientations: “Do children inherit our motivational styles?” and “Cycles of motivationally-relevant labeling and expectancies.” Full-day in-service workshop presented at Bristol Elementary School, Bristol, VT.
Gurland, S. T. (2005, October). Detecting malingering: A classroom demonstration. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the New England Conference on the Teaching of Psychology, New Haven, Connecticut.
Gurland, S. T. (2005, August). Interacting with children: What works with which kids? Half-day in-service workshop presented at Bristol Elementary School, Bristol, VT.
Gurland, S. T. & *Bowman, M. R. (2005, August). Patterns of motivation over time. Poster presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
Gurland, S. T. (2005, April). Proximal and distal determinants of children’s perceptions of their interactions with adults. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, Georgia.
Gurland, S. T. (2003, April). Enhancing children’s experience of adults. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa, Florida.
Gurland, S. T. (2001, April). Children’s stereotypes of adults. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Gurland, S. T. & Grolnick, W. S. (2000, August). Adult styles of interaction and children’s creativity. Poster presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
McConnell, M. C., Gurland, S., Lauretti, A., Zaslavsky, I., & McHale, J. P. (2000, July). Context-related shifts in coparenting behavior during infancy. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the International Society for Infant Studies, Brighton, England.
Gurland, S. T. (2000, February). Effective rapport-building with children: A review of research findings. Presented at Integration à Innovation, February 4, 2000, Worcester, Massachusetts.
Fish, K., Gershenson, I., DeCourcey, W., Berkman, J., McConnell, M., & Gurland, S. (2000, July). Infant Temperament and Family Group Interaction at One Year. Poster presented at the biennial meetings of the International Society for Infant Studies, Brighton, England.
Ciottone, R. A., Gurland, S. T., Iselin, M. G., & Olsen, N. (1999). Overview of Child Assessment. Presented to third-year psychiatry fellows at University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Grolnick, W. S. & Gurland, S. T. (1999, April). Women and mothering: Retrospect and prospect. Presented at Interiors: Retrospect and prospect in the psychological study of the family, April 9-11, 1999, Worcester, Massachusetts.
Gurland, S. T. (1999, April). A developmental perspective on adult-child rapport: The role of expectations and autonomy support. Poster presented at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, Albuquerque, New Mexico.