Welcome to the Motivation & Adaptive Thinking Lab!

The Motivation and Adaptive Thinking (MAT) Laboratory, directed by Dr. Patti Parker at Thompson Rivers University, investigates how people respond to setbacks, uncertainty, and challenges encountered while pursuing meaningful goals. Our research seeks to understand why some individuals adapt and persist following setbacks, whereas others become discouraged, disengage, or struggle to recover.
Guided by social psychological and motivation theories, we examine how individuals interpret setbacks and how these interpretations, along with other contextual factors, influence emotions, motivation, well-being, and persistence.

Although much of our research is conducted in sport, the psychological processes we study extend to various achievement settings. Current projects explore topics including achievement emotions, cognitive and emotional adaptability, individual differences, and interventions designed to promote adaptive responses to adversity. Through quantitative, qualitative, experimental, and intervention-based research, we aim to advance understanding of how people adapt to setbacks while informing approaches that promote motivation, well-being, and goal engagement.