WISH Lab News and Updates

April 2025 
Many of our students will be presenting at Psychology Undergraduate Research Community (PURC) Symposium 2025. View program here, and come by to learn more!  
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November 2024
Chris Wong, undergraduate researcher at WISH Lab, was awarded the Psychology Department's George Mandler Research Award to support and fund his research on the Motivations for Gender Affirming Gear.

​September 2024
I'm excited to announce my two recent publications, Inclusion and protection in tension: Reflections on gathering sexual orientation and gender identity data in the workplace and The opportunities and limits of open science for LGBTIQ+ research as part of a special issue of the Journal of Social Issues called "Reimagining LGBTQ+ Research"

May 2023
Dr. Will Ryan was awarded The Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP) Early Career Psychologist Travel Grant to fund my attendance at the Self-Determination Theory Conference this June. 

December 2022
Our paper, "We know this much is (meta-analytically) true: A meta-review of meta-analytic findings evaluating self-determination theory" was accepted at Psychological Bulletin. 

January 2025
Paniz Salehi, undergraduate researcher at WISH Lab, was awarded the Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Fund (URF) to support and fund their research on Inclusive Syllabus Design.  

​June 2023
I will be presenting our research on the dual effects of attaining extrinsic goals on well-being at the Self-Determination Theory Conference




May 2023
Dr. Will Ryan's excited to announce that he has accepted a continuing-status Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream position in the Psychology Department at the University of Toronto, St. George. "Grateful for the opportunity to continue to work with my wonderful students and colleagues long-term!"
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(The section bellow is under construction) 

Motivations for Wearing GAG & Well-Being

This project investigates how the reasons behind the choice to wear or not wear gender-affirming gear (GAG) affect the well-being of transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) individuals. We explore whether approach motivations such as seeking gender affirmation and euphoria are associated with higher well-being compared to avoidance-focused reasons such as avoiding negative reactions from others or minimizing discomfort. The study will also examine associations with feelings of authenticity and alignment with one's gender identity.
 
Student Roles:

• Recruiting participants
• Coding and analyzing data
• Reviewing literature
• Writing up findings

Project Lead: Chris Wong