McGill Laboratory of Affiliation and Prosociality
LAB DIRECTOR | DR. JENNIFER BARTZ
Principal Investigator
Graduate Students
Lab Coordinators
| NICHOLAS DERBY |
Nicholas graduated from McGill University with a bachelor's in Psychology, and is currently working as a lab coordinator for the Bartz Lab. He is interested in how attachment stability and change can be understood through prediction error minimization by examining how individuals with different attachment styles update beliefs in response to unexpected social experiences.
EMAIL: nicholas.derby@mail.mcgill.ca
| JENNIFER BARTZ |
Dr. Bartz completed her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology in 2004 with Dr. John Lydon at McGill University. She then went on to a Post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Eric Hollander at the Seaver Autism Center in the Department of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, NY. In 2007 she became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai, and in 2011 she retuned to McGill University. She is now a Professor in the Department of Psychology and serves as the Undergraduate Program Director.
​
| SELMA TOUBAL-SEGHIR |
Selma graduated from McGill University with a BA in Psychology, and is currently working as a lab coordinator for the Bartz Lab. Broadly, she is interested in the factors that may contribute to the malfunctioning of close relationships. Additionally, she is interested in how varying levels of empathy influence relational outcomes.
EMAIL: selma.toubal-seghir@mail.mcgill.ca
| MELISSA SHEMIRANI |
Melissa is a Master’s student in Experimental Psychology at McGill University. Her research focuses on the effects of intranasal administration of oxytocin on memory recollection and the moderating effects of attachment style. Melissa holds a B.Sc. in Psychology from McGill University.
​
| AUDREY-ANNE FORGET |
Audrey-Anne is a Ph.D. Student in Clinical Psychology at McGill University. Having experience in forensic psychology, her academic interests lie in the psychological mechanisms behind antisocial behaviors and their broader impact on society. More specifically, her research focuses on understanding the interpersonal behavior, societal functioning and empathy deficits in individuals exhibiting traits of the Dark Triad—narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy.
​
| WILLIS KLEIN |
Willis is a PhD candidate in Experimental Psychology at McGill University. He is interested in the epistemic function of close relationships. His research focuses on better understanding the psychological consequences of gaslighting and how to recover from epistemic abuse. He is also interested in how close relationships alter the self-concept. Willis holds a BSc in Psychology and Cognitive Science from the University of Toronto.
​​
| AMY GREGORY |
Amy is a PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology at McGill University. Her research focuses on identifying situational factors and individual differences that impair demonstrated empathic accuracy. She is also interested in the relational consequences of fluctuations in empathic accuracy and cognitive empathy, which a specific interest in support provision.
​
EMAIL: amy.gregory@mail.mcgill.ca
| MERYL YU |
Meryl is a Master's student in Experimental Psychology at McGill University. She is interested in evidence-based approaches to fostering prosociality, with a special focus on empathy—a cornerstone of social cognition. Her current research line explores potential inverted-U effects of excessive empathy, exploring both the benefits and detriments for social affiliation. Meryl is a 2025 McCall MacBain Scholar and holds a B.A. (Honors) in Psychology from the National University of Singapore (Yale-NUS College).
​
EMAIL: meryl.yu@mail.mcgill.ca
| JADE STOBBART |
Jade Stobbart is a PhD student in the Experimental Psychology Program at McGill University. She is interested in how interpersonal relationships are established and maintained, as well as the biological, physiological, and cognitive processes that facilitate and hinder these relationships. Her PhD work focuses on how (and why) pre-reflective awareness of one’s own body influences empathy. She is also interested in the role of aggressive and coercive behaviours in fostering social bonds, as well as the contexts and individual differences that influence these processes
​
EMAIL: jade.stobbart@mail.mcgill.ca
Current Undergraduate Research Students
Hassan Bially (PSYC 488)
Emma Dahan (PSYC 380)
Gabriel Ferland (PSYC 488)
Kayla Payne (PSYC 450)
Kaitlin Puddy (PSYC 380)
Collaborators
Dr. Niall Bolger
Dr. Sue Carter
Dr. Melanie Dirks
Dr. Ian Gold
Dr. Eric Hollander
Dr. Christopher Hopwood
Dr. Lauren Human
Dr. Heejung Kim
Dr. Harold Koenigsberg
Dr. Alexander Kolevzon
Dr. Matthew Lieberman
Dr. John Lydon
Dr. Meghan Meyer
Dr. Jeffrey Mogil
Dr. Debbie Moskowitz
Dr. Kevin Ochsner
Dr. Jens Pruessner
Dr. Signy Sheldon
Dr. A. Ting Wang
Dr. Jamil Zaki
Dr. Phyllis Zelkowitz
Dr. David Zuroff
