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Our research is funded by the
National Institute of Health (NIH). A major research focus is on identifying and
describing the multiple pathways through which converging psychological,
socio-emotional, and cultural processes contribute to positive development
across the lifespan, from young adulthood through old age. Ongoing research
projects include: Resilience
and Positive Emotions This project is concerned with
understanding the mechanisms underlying the relationship between trait
resilience and daily positive emotions. Using a daily process paradigm, this
project tests hypotheses concerning the multiple mechanisms that contribute
to the frequent daily experience of positive emotions reported by high
resilient individuals. We propose that there are four distinct, but
interrelated, processes—differential engagement, differential
responsiveness, differential appraisal, and positive mood savoring—that
reinforce each other to comprise a ‘‘resilience
cascade.’’ Aging
and Emotional Complexity One major postulate of
contemporary lifespan theories of emotion is that from youth to middle adulthood,
the capacity for emotional differentiation increases, but significant
declines emerge and continue thereafter. Using experimental and
individual-difference methods, one goal of this project is to better
understand the role that personality (i.e., openness to experience, trait
resilience) plays in one’s ability to sustain attention to positive
emotions under stress. A second goal is to understand the underlying
cognitive (i.e., working memory) and emotional (i.e., positive emotions)
processes that support effective emotion regulation. Ethnic
Minority Mental Health This project examines the role
of race-related uplifts in ethnic minority mental health. Using a
mixed-method approach, a major focus is to probe the ways in which cultural
resources may avert individual exposure and reactivity to racial
micro-aggressions. A second goal is to explore the ways in which chronic and
episodic positive race-related life events are contoured by individual (i.e.,
ethnic identity) and family (i.e., ethnic family socialization)
resources. Longitudinal
Investigations of Health and Well-Being Longitudinal studies that
chart development from midlife to old age are rare, especially those with
rich measures of health and well-being. Using an accelerated longitudinal
design to help separate developmental effects from cohort influences, this
project examines developmental trajectories of health and well-being, from
midlife through old age. An underlying assumption is that health disparities
(i.e., physical and self-rated health), which are in clear evidence in late
life, may be anchored in conditions originating in midlife. A major aim is to
describe how key psychological resources (e.g., environmental mastery,
autonomy, purpose in life) in midlife develop, to identify the factors that
threaten and undermine their maintenance, and to elucidate those factors that
support and promote their growth. Social
Connectedness and Chronic Pain This project assesses
emotional, experiential, and social responses in individuals with chronic
pain. This research investigates the emotional pathways by which nurturing
aspects of social relationships (i.e., affection, attachment, intimacy) contribute to positive adaptation to stress and
pain for populations with chronic illness. A second aspect of this work is to
understand the role of individual differences (i.e., mindfulness) in basic
emotion and emotion regulation processes |