Research Overview
Affective experiences and the ability to regulate them have tremendous implications for well-being and health. To understand these affect and affect regulation processes, we integrate theoretical and methodological approaches from social-personality, clinical, health psychology, affective neuroscience, and behavioral medicine. Moreover, we use a multi-method approach that includes lab and longitudinal experiments, correlational designs, daily diaries, qualitative elements, systematic reviews, and psychophysiological techniques (e.g., EEG, heart rate, blood pressure, etc.) relevant to short- and long-term health.
Although not exhaustive, below is a simple conceptual framework of how we think about some of our research.
Harnessing placebo effects in affect regulation
Placebos offer a powerful way to help regulate a variety of clinical symptoms and non-clinical conditions. However, there is a ubiquitous belief that in order for placebos to work, people need to be deceived into thinking they are receiving an active treatment. Fortunately, new research has provided evidence that placebos may still work even without deception. This opens up the possibility of leveraging placebo effects without deception in regulating a variety of affective experiences, including mood, stress, pain, and emotion. My collaborators and I are testing and exploring how non-deceptive placebos can manage different affective processes compared to other well-established regulation strategies.
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Guevarra, D. A., Webster, C. T., Moros, J. N., Kross, E., & Moser, J. S. (2024). Remotely administered non‐deceptive placebos reduce COVID‐related stress, anxiety, and depression. Applied Psychology: Health and Well‐Being. Open access link
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Guevarra, D. A., Kross, E., & Moser, J. S. (2024). Harnessing placebo effects to regulate emotions. In J. J. Gross & B. Q. Ford (Eds.), Handbook of Emotion Regulation (3rd ed.). The Guilford Press.
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Geers, A. L., Faasse, K., Guevarra, D. A., Clemens, K. S., Helfer, S. G., & Colagiuri, B. (2021). Affect and emotions in placebo and nocebo effects: What do we know so far? Social and Personality Psychology Compass, e12575.
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Guevarra, D. A., Moser, J. S., Wager, T. D., & Kross, E. (2020). Placebos without deception reduce self-report and neural measures of emotional distress. Nature Communications, 11 (1), 3785. Open access link
Using language in affect regulation
The language that we use, the way we label our feelings, and the way we talk to ourselves have implications for our emotional life. In this line of research, we study how we can use language to regulate affect and improve mental health. For example, my collaborators and I examined how talking to oneself in third-person can lead to self-distancing and reduced negative emotions. We are also beginning to test how labeling feelings in different contexts can have regulation effects.
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Moser, S., Dougherty, A., Mattson, W. I., Katz, B., Moran, T. P., Guevarra, D. A., Shablack, H., Ayduk, O., Jonides, J., Berman, M., & Kross, E. (2017). Third person self-talk facilitates emotional control without engaging cognitive control: Converging evidence from ERP and fMRI. Scientific Reports, 7 (1), 4519. Open access link
Improving well-being
Enhancing well-being and positive emotions is associated with a host of individual and societal benefits. In this line of research, we study well-being and the many different ways people maintain and enhance it. My collaborators and I have examined how different purchasing behaviors impact well-being. We are also now beginning to do work on examining how brief activities can enhance well-being and who benefits the most from them.
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Guevarra, D. A., & Howell, R. T. (2015). To have in order to do: Exploring the effects of consuming experiential products on well-being. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 25 (1), 28-41.
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Zhang, J. W., Howell, R. T., Caprariello, P. A., & Guevarra, D. A. (2014). Damned if they do, damned if they don’t: Material buyers are not happier from material or experiential consumption. Journal of Research in Personality, 50 (1), 71-83.
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Howell, R. T., & Guevarra, D. A. (2013). Buying happiness: Differential consumption experiences for material and experiential purchases. In A. M. Columbus (Ed.), Advances in psychology research (Vol. 98, pp. 57-69). Nova Science Publishers.
Other research topics
What are people’s beliefs and perceptions of different strategies and treatments? How does it impact usage and efficacy?
What are some psychosocial factors that make people more vulnerable or resilient to stressors or common affective disorders?
What is the socio-demographic and psychological profile of people who respond best to different strategies/interventions?
Can we leverage our ability to think about time to help manage distressing events?
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Guevarra, D.A.,Dutcher, E., Crum, A.J., Prather, A., & Epel, E. (2024). Examining the association of vaccine-related mindsets and post-vaccination antibody response, side effects, and affective outcomes. Brain, Behavior, & Immunity-Health, 100818. Open access link
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Guevarra, D. A., Louis, C. C., Gloe, L. M., Block, S. R., Kashy, D. A., Klump, K. L., & Moser, J. S. (2023). Examining a window of vulnerability for affective symptoms in the mid-luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 147, 105958.
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Penner, L. A., Guevarra, D. A., Harper, F. W. K., Taub, J., Phipps, S., Albrecht, T. L., & Kross, E. (2016). Self-distancing buffers high trait anxious pediatric cancer caregivers against short- and longer-term distress. Clinical Psychological Science, 4 (4), 629-640.