Conflict and Well-being (CoWell) Lab

Principal Investigator: Zhixu (Rick) Yang

At the Conflict and Well-being (CoWell) Lab, we investigate how people experience and navigate conflict across multiple levels, with the aim of improving worker and organizational well-being.

• At the intrapersonal level, we study how individuals sustain motivation and well-being while pursuing multiple competing goals in work and life. We develop measures of individual differences in multiple goal pursuit and goal conflict management strategies.

• At the interpersonal level, we examine how people with divergent interests or values can maintain positive relationships and psychological well-being during conflict communication, such as negotiations and disagreements.

• At the intercultural level, we explore how employees from marginalized backgrounds (e.g., Asian workers in the US) experience mistreatment and dehumanization. We aim to identify opportunities to address intercultural tensions and create more harmonious and humanizing work environments.

Our research uses a range of methods—including psychometric, dyadic, longitudinal, experimental, qualitative, and mixed approaches—carefully chosen to ensure rigor and relevance for each research question.

We welcome collaboration from graduate and undergraduate students, research assistants, and organizational or community partners who share our interest in transforming conflict to improve worker well-being. If you are interested in joining the lab or collaborating, please contact us at zhixu.yang@baruch.cuny.edu.