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Research

Research focuses on affective processes including emotion, attitudes, and subjective well-being.

Current directions

Separability of Positivity and Negativity
Ambivalence and Mixed Emotion
Affective Construals

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LAB MEMBERs

Jeff T. Larsen
Principal Investigator

Jeff’s primary research interest concern the structure of core affect. Whereas affective processes have traditionally been characterized as falling along a single bipolar dimension, his research has examined the separability of positive and negative affect. In addition, Jeff is interested in affective influences on motor behavior, context effects on affective reactions, the role of effortful and controlled processes in affect, and psychophysiological indices of affect (e.g., event-related potentials, facial electromyography).

Nicholas A. Coles
Ph.D. Student

Nicholas is interested in how the body and the mind interact to shape our experience of emotion. He currently focuses on the relationship between facial expressions and emotional experience, examining whether facial expressions can influence emotional experience, whether bittersweet events elicit mixed smiles, and the various ways facial expressions can be measured to index emotional experience.

Dean K. Jordan
Ph.D. Student

Dean is interested in the utility of emotion. She currently focuses on affect as a learning signal and how emotion regulation strategies may disrupt and promote this learning process. Relatedly, she is interested in the mechanisms of mindfulness in emotional experience and their potential benefits.

Current RAs