research Interests
Relationship Breakup
dysfunctional commitment
Identity recovery, rekindling, and health outcomes after dissolution.
Committing to low quality relationships; Social barriers to commitment in LGBTQ+ relationships
Check out this Slidedeck showcasing some of the topics we research in the lab!
projects
project ex
Although we may not want them to, relationships often end. Their termination can lead to a variety of outcomes for the affected individuals, ranging from moderate distress to severe psychological turmoil, and even suicidal ideation. These negative thoughts and emotion have been attributed at least in part to the loss of one's own sense of self upon breakup, which occurs when partners can no longer be included in individuals understanding of who they are. This loss of self can lead people to engage in myriad behaviors. Some will choose to grow from the experience, while others may find themselves in more harmful scenarios like on-again off-again cycles.
Project Ex examines how people recover their lost sense of self after breakup. The overall aim? Understanding how self-protection affects post-relational decisions, and how we can encourage people to choose options that promote recovery instead of prolonged distress.
project lovestory
Researchers have identified important variables that help predict whether a relationship will progress to the next stage, or come to an end. Most people want their relationships to move forward, especially if their partner makes them happy. But others will commit to unhappy relationships and find themselves in painful situations. Why?
Project LoveStory is dedicated to answering this question. By investigating the personal motives underlying commitment to bad relationships, this project uncovers the good reasons people have for ending up in bad situations; from psychological distress and dyadic conflict to interpersonal manipulation and abuse.
project lovesick
The psychological effects of losing a romantic relationship are well documented. However, less attention has been given to the physiological ramifications of significant social loss and its associated stress. Project LoveSick is a new line of research examining the intersection of health and romantic relationship breakup to determine how individuals physically experience and recover from losing a close other using.
*Scott, K., Cope, M. A., & Maniaci, M. R., (2023) You are still a part of me: Effects of residual identity integration with ex-partners on current relationship outcomes. Presented at the SPSP Annual Conference. Atlanta, GA.
Cope, M. A. (in prep) From heart break to body ache: Trajectories of physiological experiences shortly following romantic dissolution.
Research Mentorship
Undergraduate mentorship is integral to our lab's productivity and culture. Students training in our lab become certified human subjects researchers through the University Institutional Review Board allowing them to get hands-on experience conducting in-person research. They also create independent project presentations unique to their interests in the field of relationship science. Those participating in the lab in the Spring semester present their work at national and campus research conferences.
Meet the students: Fall 2024
Massiel Mora Fernandez
Role: Assistant Researcher
Pronouns: she/her
Year: Senior
Major: Psychology
Interests: Therapy and practice with refugee and child populations
Claire Yungbluth
Role: Assistant Researcher
Pronouns: she/her
Year: Junior
Major: Psychology
Interests: School Psychology, Education, Development
Around Campus: Trumpet player in the Centre Symphony Orchestra, Centre Ambassador, After School Program volunteer.
Claire Henson
Role: Social Media Coordinator
Pronouns: she/her
Year: first-year
Major: undeclared
Interests: nursing, community engagement
Around Campus: 2028 Student Government Rep, Norton Centre for the Arts
Peyton Gahm
Role: Assistant Researcher
Pronouns: she/her
Year: Senior
Major: Psychology
Interests: Mental health and school counseling
Around Campus: Field Hockey, Greek Life, PSY/BSN Club
Turner Roach
Role: Assistant Researcher
Pronouns: she/her
Year: Senior
Major: Psychology and Spanish
Interests: Law and Psychology
Around Campus: Cheerleader
rebecca fakunle
Role: Associate Researcher (Joining Spring 2025)
Pronouns: she/her
Year: senior
Major: Behavioral Neuroscience
Interests: TBA
Around Campus: President of Sister to Sister, Resident Advisor
'24-'25 Student projects
not you, boo:
Examining the differential effects of ghosting and being ghosted on the self-concept
bad blood:
The role in uncertainty in predicting distress in platonic versus romantic relationship dissolution
Student researcher archives
Before the Relationship Science Centre at Centre College, there was the Close Relationships Lab at Florida Atlantic University. For five years, undergraduate researchers were mentored under Dr. Cope (a graduate student at the time) and Dr. Michael Manaici. They completed novel lab projects, conducted independent research, produced honors theses, and submitted professional scientific manuscripts. Check out these archived images of the Close Relationship Lab's fabulous alumni from 2020 - 2024!
Research Alumni
We are thrilled to celebrate the contributions and future plans of student researchers who have graduated after doing research with Dr. Cope! Those who completed independent lab experiences are prepared to take on whatever their chosen next steps are. In addition to securing employment in a field related to psychology, many alum continue their education in psychological science and services and gain acceptance to graduate MA, PhD, PsyD, MSW programs, and more!
FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
Close Relationships Lab
Destiny fava, '24, honors
I am so proud to announce the graduation of Destiny Fava! Destiny accomplished so much with and beyond the Close Relationships Lab. She not only completed an honors thesis project under the mentorship of Dr. Cope and Dr. Maniaci, but she served as the manager of the Social Neuroscience Lab for Dr. Chad Forbes. She conducted over five independent studies in the CRL alone, and has submitted scientific manuscripts for review based on personal projects. On top of these accomplishments, she serves her community by serving as a guardian ad litem in the South Florida Area. Destiny is pursuing her PhD in Clinical Psychology with a concentration in post-traumatic growth and relationship functioning. She is currently managing a clinical research lab at the University of Miami and will be applying to doctoral programs in the near future!
Ryu Morrison, '24, honors
We celebrate the graduation of Ryu Morrison! Ryu was a researcher in the CRL for several semesters, during which time he completed an independent honors thesis and collected data for lab projects, including Dr. Cope's dissertation. Personally he brought light, comedy, and sincerity to our team, while also making rich theoretical contributions to the field of self and identity research with his honors project, wherein which he created a new scale assessing bi-dimensional self-ambivalence. Ryu is pursuing a career in clinical psychology where he can practice in applied therapeutic settings. In the mean time, he is working to publish his honors thesis in a peer reviewed journal!
ISabella Klopukh, '24
Congratulations Isabella! As a student serving as a researcher in two separate research labs, Isabella accomplished a great deal during her time at FAU. Not only was she the winner of the 2024 Undergraduate Research Symposium presentation competition, she has just published her first first-author publication with Dr. Kevin Darby in the field of Cognitive Psychology! Isabella is committed to the study of cognition, which she will continue as a PhD candidate at the University of Maryland beginning in Fall 2024. We cannot wait to see what she does next!
scott ledain
We celebrate Scott! A soon-to-be graduate of FAU, Scott greatly contributed to the largest and most intensive project the CRL conducted in recent years. He contributed meaningful time and effort in the lab day after day, working to execute a mouse paradigm study with complex data collection procedures. After earning his degree he is interested in pursuing a career in mental health counseling! We are so thrilled to see what he accomplishes.
markeith st val
Markeith, once a student in Dr. Cope's Social Psychology class, has serve the CRL for several semesters. He collected a large amount of data for the mouse paradigm project alongside his lab mates. However, he also conducted his own independent study alongside Destiny Fava examining the effects of parental divorce on subsequent parental involvement in children's education! We are so proud of Markeith as he pursues a certification as an ABA, and a career in counseling with children.
Emily schultz
Congratulations Emily! After a successful semester in Dr. Cope's Social Psychology course, Emily joined the Close Relationships Lab to which she brought unique interests in relationship and rekindling dynamics in military families. Later in her time with the CRL she significantly contributed to data collection for lab projects including the large-scale mouse paradigm breakup study. Moving forward Emily is pursuing a career in audiology/speech and language pathology. Best wishes!
Dylan Ravid
Congrats Dylan! After a successful semester in Dr. Cope's Social Psychology course, Dylan joined the Close Relationships Lab to which he explored topics of PTSD in relationship functioning early on. He would go on to collect a generous amount of data for lab projects including the mouse paradigm breakup study. Dylan is pursuing a career in applied psychology in the field of audiology/speech pathology!
Jeremy Jean, '23
Congrats to Jeremy Jean on graduating in the Summer of 2023! Jeremy has been involved with our lab for over a year. He has collected data, served as a linguistic coder, presented research at SPSP, and pursued his own independent project conducing a scoping review on the literature on empathic accuracy. He also served as a member of Dr. Paul Peluso's at FAU where he gained experience in a clinical lab that examines patient-therapist interactions and trust. Jeremy will be continuing his education at FAU's School of Social work in Fall 2024!
Lanesha bailey, '23
Lanesha graduated from FAU in the Summer of 2023. She was one of our primary data collectors for the mouse paradigm, contributing to our new research on breakup narrative trajectories. Lanesha is preparing to continue her education by working as a mentor in children in the Florida courts. She is also planning to pursue a law degree - we cannot wait to see what great things she does next!
Kaylah Scott '23, Honors
Kaylah graduated from FAU in the Spring of 2023 after a full academic year in our lab. She served an integral role in collecting data for our mouse paradigm project, and she dedicated her last semesters with us to carrying out her own honors thesis, project. Kaylah represented out lab at international and local conferences, and produced a complete scientific manuscript that she will continue to revise for future publication. Kaylah will be continuing her education in FAU's Experimental Psychology Master's program under the advisement of Dr. Chad Forbes where she will study social neuroscience.
Felipe julio '23
Felipe graduated from FAU in the Summer of 2023 after a semester in our lab. Although he was with us for a short time, Felipe made a large impact on our lab's culture, creating a strong sense of community and understanding among researchers. He was one of the first RA's to collect data for our new study using the mouse paradigm to assess thoughts about breakup - and he provided key insights into the mechanisms of the study procedure which allowed us to successfully launch data collection. It is no surprise that Felipe will be continuing his education at FAU's Master's program in Mental Health Counseling - we know he will excel!
Laura Gust '23, HOnors
Laura graduated from FAU in the Spring of 2023 after a full academic year in our lab. Not only did she help with our lab's collective mouse paradigm project, but she conducted her own independent honors thesis, presented at an international and local academic conference, and produced a complete scientific manuscript that she will continue to revise for future publication. Laura will be continuing her education in FAU's Experimental Psychology PhD program under the advisement of Dr. Andrzej Nowak where she will study human-machine interaction.
Danny Zweben '23, Honors
Danny graduated from FAU in the Spring of 2023 after working as a research assistant in the Close Relationships Lab for nearly two years. He was crucial in the development of the mouse paradigm and went on to conduct his own honors thesis, which he is continuing to push through to publication. Danny also presented at many international and local conferences including the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Danny is moving to Philadelphia this Fall to continue working as a researcher in a lab at Temple University!
Taniya Davis '22
Taniya graduated from FAU in the Fall of 2022 after a full academic year in our lab. She was with us from ground-zero of our mouse-paradigm project, and was essential to the development and execution of data collection across the study. She was trained in linguistics coding and delivered multiple excellent oral presentations on research at public and lab events on topics including romantic relationship breakup and racial identity. Taniya will be continuing her education at FAU's Masters program in Experimental Psychology in the Fall of 2023!
Emily weser '22
Emily graduated from FAU in the Summer of 2022 after working with us for two semesters. She was an important part of establishing the Mouse Paradigm method which continues to be used in the lab! She also presented independent research at FAU's Undergraduate Research Symposium in the Spring of 2022 where she drew large crowds discussing her work on relationship breakup, attachment styles, and people's desire to rebound or rekindle (get back together with an ex). Emily is now applying to PhD programs in Social Psychology!
Alyson Winderbaum '22
Alyson graduated from FAU in the Summer of 2022 after working with us for two semesters. Her passion for mental health science and advocacy made her a strong presence in our lab where she worked with our Principal Investigator to locate, code, and analyze methods of handling dyadic data in studies using Actor-Partner Interdependence Models (project on-going). Alyson is continuing her graduate training at FAU earning her Master's in Social Work!