Staff profile

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I am currently not looking to recruit PhD students or research assistants. Please check back Summer 2025. 

Research Profile

Research interests:

My current research mainly focuses on observing people's experiences when spending time alone and understanding personality and contextual factors that predict the quality of their solitude.

​I mostly use experimental and diary study design to investigate my research questions. My most often go-to paradigm is to have participants sit quietly by themselves for a brief period of time (15 minutes) and observe how they react to that experience. I am looking to explore other data collection methods besides self-reported measures by incorporating physiological and biological markers to look at changes in parasympathetic responses.

Background:

My doctoral training is in motivational science with a focus on Self-Determination Theory (SDT). SDT focuses on integration of behavioral values and satisfaction of the basic psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence as the basis for sustainable behavioural changes and wellness.

• solitude
• self-regulation
• motivation
• well-being

• 2020: Solomon Asch Best Paper Award for Early Career Researchers. Social Psychological Bulletin Journal.:

Journal Article

• Nguyen, T. T., Konu, D., & Forbes, S. (online). Investigating solitude as a tool for downregulation of daily arousal using ecological momentary assessments. Journal of Personality, https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12939
• Nguyen, T., & Rodriguez, M. (2024). Deconstructing Solitude and Its Links to Well‐Being. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 18(11), Article e70020. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.70020
• Weinstein, N., Nguyen, T.-V., Adams, M., & Knee, C. R. (2024). Intimate sounds of silence: its motives and consequences in romantic relationships. Motivation and Emotion, 48(3), 295-320. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-024-10078-x
• Nguyen, T.-V. T. (2024). Culturally relevant mentoring is important. Nature Human Behaviour, 8, Article 797. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01880-1
• Weinstein, N., Hansen, H., & Nguyen, T.-V. (2023). Definitions of Solitude in Everyday Life. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 49(12), https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672221115941
• Weinstein, N., Hansen, H., & Nguyen, T. (2023). Who feels good in solitude? A qualitative analysis of the personality and mindset factors relating to well‐being when alone. European Journal of Social Psychology, 53(7), 1443-1457. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2983
• Weinstein, N., Vuorre, M., Adams, M., & Nguyen, T.-V. (2023). Balance between solitude and socializing: everyday solitude time both benefits and harms well-being. Scientific Reports, 13(1), Article 21160. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-44507-7
• Zhou, T., Liao, L., Nguyen, T.-V. T., Li, D., & Liu, J. (2023). Solitude profiles and psychological adjustment in Chinese late adolescence: a person-centered research. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14, Article 1173441. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1173441
• Weick, M., Couturier, L.-C., Vasiljevic, M., Ross, P., Cory, C., Crisp, R., Leite, A., Marcinko, A., Nguyen, T., & Van de Vyver, J. (2022). Building bonds: A pre-registered secondary data analysis examining linear and curvilinear relations between socio-economic status and communal attitudes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 102, Article 104353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2022.104353
• Legate, N., Nguyen, T.-V., Weinstein, N., Moller, A., Legault, L., Vally, Z., Tajchman, Z., Zsido, A. N., Zrimsek, M., Chen, Z., Ziano, I., Gialitaki, Z., Ceary, C. D., Jang, Y., Lin, Y., Kunisato, Y., Yamada, Y., Xiao, Q., Jiang, X., Du, X., …Primbs, M. A. (2022). A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(22), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2111091119
• Nguyen, T.-V. T., Weinstein, N., & Ryan, R. M. (2022). Who enjoys solitude? autonomous functioning (but not introversion) predicts self-determined motivation (but not preference) for solitude. PLoS ONE, 17(5), Article e0267185. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0267185
• Nguyen, T.-V., Weinstein, N., & Deci, E. (2022). Alone With Our Thoughts: Investigation of Autonomy Supportive Framing as a Driver of Enjoyment During Quiet Time in Solitude. Collabra: Psychology, 8(1), https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.31629
• Weinstein, N., Nguyen, T.-V., & Hansen, H. (2021). What Time Alone Offers: Narratives of Solitude From Adolescence to Older Adulthood. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 714518. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.714518
• Zhou, T., Nguyen, T.-V. T., Zhong, J., & Liu, J. (2020). A COVID-19 descriptive study of life after lockdown in Wuhan, China. Royal Society Open Science, 7(9), Article 200705. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200705
• Weinstein, N., & Nguyen, T.-V. (2020). Motivation and preference in isolation: a test of their different influences on responses to self-isolation during the COVID-19 outbreak. Royal Society Open Science, 7(5), Article 200458. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200458
• Nguyen, T.-V. T., Werner, K. M., & Soenens, B. (2019). Embracing me-time: Motivation for solitude during transition to college. Motivation and Emotion, 43(4), 571-591. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-019-09759-9
• Nguyen, T.-V. T., Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2018). Solitude as an Approach to Affective Self-Regulation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 44(1), 92-106. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167217733073