My approach is to balance laboratory-based experimentation, often with psychophysiological assessment, with more naturalistic descriptive studies. In one line of research, I study the functions of positive emotions at both psychophysiological and cognitive levels. Negative emotions are generally seen as preparing individuals for specific actions by recruiting heightened physiological activation. This link between emotions and specific action tendencies is often taken as definitional for all emotions, even though supportive data from positive emotions is lacking. I propose an alternative model to describe the form and function of a subset of positive emotions, including joy, interest, contentment and love.
Positive emotions speed recovery from the cardiovascular sequelae of negative emotions.
Cognition and Emotion . Review of General Psychology . Manuscript under review. In closely related research projects, my colleagues and I have examined individual differences in emotion regulation as manifest in variations in the magnitude and duration of negative emotional arousal. The psychophysiology of crying.