Functions of Emotions in Everyday Life (FEEL) Research Lab

Research Overview

Visit the Functions of Emotions in Everyday Life (FEEL) website

Emotions are present in almost every moment of our daily lives, adding colour to our experience of the world. Emotions can range from mild enjoyment or annoyance–often triggered by everyday pleasures or hassles, to intense joy or sadness–usually in response to more momentous events. Although emotions have traditionally been defined as very brief, psychologists are discovering that they can last anywhere from seconds to hours or days. While our emotions are often very helpful, at times we also seek to control and manage how and when our emotions unfold. This ability to regulate emotions is thought to be critical to health and well-being.

Scientists studying emotions are only beginning to understand the complexities of how emotions function in daily life. Although important discoveries have been made in the lab, we don't know how much these findings apply to how people experience and manage their emotions in the "real world". The FEEL Lab aims to discover how emotions function in the rich and complex environments we encounter in our daily lives.

Staff

Peter Koval, Co-director of Lab

Katie Greenaway, Co-director of Lab

Elise Kalokerinos, Co-director of Lab

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2020

• Annabelle Patten (Honours student)
• Emma McIntosh (Honours student)
• Lachlan Anthony (Honours student)
• Melissa Petrolo (Honours student)
• Rachel Sobel (Honours student)
• Tammy Lim (Honours student)
• Christine Beckett (Research intern)
• Patrick Burnett (Research intern)
• Nicholas Cheng (Research intern and Honours student)
• Dominik Kristen-Parsch (Research intern)
• Harry Speagle (Research intern)
• Sophie Yeung (Research intern)

2019

• Amani Nasarudin (Honours student)
• Jardine Louise Mitchell (Honours student)
• Jessica Mortlock (Honours student)
• Sylvia Chu Lin (Honours student)
• Bruce McIntyre (Research intern)
• Steven Leu (Research intern)
• Julia Schreiber (Visiting Master's student)
• Yaoxi Shi (Visiting Master's student)

2018

• Jordan Hinton (Research Assistant and Lab Manager). Now at the Australian Catholic University
• Ami Mane (Honours student)
• Aamna Shah (Honours student)
• Khai Shin Lee (Honours student)
• Ann Ee Ching (Honours student)
• Sarah Paling (Visiting Master’s student)
• Orsi Benke (Visiting Master’s student)
• David Mussoff (Research intern)
• Stephanie Au Yeung (Research intern)

Collaborators

• Professor John Gleeson  Australian Catholic University
• Professor Peter Kuppens KU Leuven, University of Leuven
• Associate Professor Tom Hollenstein Queen's University, Canada

Research Outcomes

SEMA (Smartphone Ecological Momentary Assessment) is a suite of software for conducting intensive longitudinal survey research using iOS and Android smartphones. Primarily designed for Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), also known as the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), SEMA has the flexibility to deliver smartphone surveys at fixed or random intervals ranging from minutes to months, as well as allowing participant-triggered surveys (a.k.a. event-contingent sampling). Visit the SEMA website for more information: https://sema3.com

The Psychology of Secrecy.

Katie Greenaway. PsychTalks. 2019.

Is emotional stability all it's cracked up to be?

Peter Koval. PsychTalks. 2019

Shame, guilt, and secrets on the mind.

Elise Kalokerinos. ABC Newcastle Radio. 2019.

Research Publications

Kalokerinos, E. K.,* Erbas, Y.*, Ceulemans, E., & Kuppens, P. (2019). Differentiate to regulate: Low negative emotion differentiation is associated with ineffective emotion regulation use, but not strategy selection. Psychological Science. 30(6), 863–879. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838763

Slepian, M. L., Kirby, J. N.,  Kalokerinos, E. K. (2019). Shame, guilt, and secrets on the mind. Emotion. Advance Online Publication. doi: 10.1037/emo0000542. Download PDF

Dejonckheere, E., Kalokerinos, E. K., Bastian, B., & Kuppens, P. (2019). Poor emotion regulation ability mediates the link between depressive symptoms and affective bipolarity. Cognition and Emotion. Advance Online Publication. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2018.1524747

Millgram, Y., Sheppes, G., Kalokerinos, E. K., Kuppens, P., & Tamir, M. (2019). Do the ends dictate the means in emotion regulation? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 148(1), 80-96. doi: 10.1037/xge0000477

Kalokerinos, E. K., Tamir, M., & Kuppens, P. (2017). Instrumental motives in negative emotion regulation in daily life: Frequency, consistency, and predictors. Emotion, 17(4), 648-657. doi: 10.1037/emo0000269

Koval, P., Holland, E., Zyphur, M., Stratemeyer, M., Makovec-Knight, J., Bailen, N. H., Thompson, R. J., Roberts, T-A., & Haslam, N. (2019). How does it feel to be treated like an object? Direct and indirect effects of exposure to sexual objectification on women’s emotions in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000161

Alvarez-Jimenez, M., Bendall, S., Koval, P., Rice, S., Cagliarini, D., Valentine, L., ... & Gleeson, J. F. (2019). HORYZONS trial: protocol for a randomised controlled trial of a moderated online social therapy to maintain treatment effects from first-episode psychosis services. BMJ Open, 9, e024104.

van Berkel, N., Goncalves, J., Koval, P., Hosio, S., Dingler, T., Ferreira, D., & Kostakos, V. (2019). Context-Informed Scheduling and Analysis: Improving Accuracy of Mobile Self-Reports. Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 51, 1–12.

Panaite, V., Koval, P., Dejonckheere, E., & Kuppens, P. (2018). Emotion regulation and mood brightening in daily life vary with depressive symptom levels. Cognition and Emotion. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2018.1543180

Erbas, Y., Ceulemans, E., Kalokerinos, E., Houben, M., Koval, P., Pe, M. L., & Kuppens, P. (2018). Why I don't always know what I'm feeling: The role of stress in within-person fluctuations in emotion differentiation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 115, 179-191.

Dejonckheere, E., Mestdagh, M., Houben, M., Erbas, Y., Pe, M., Bastian, B., Koval, P., Brose, A., & Kuppens, P. (2018). The bipolarity of affect and depressive symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114, 323-341.

De Leersnyder, J., Koval, P., Kuppens, P., & Mesquita, B. (2018). Emotions and concerns: Situational evidence for their systematic co-occurrence. Emotion, 18, 597-614.

Greenaway, K.H., Haslam, S.A., & †Bingley, W.J. (in press). Are “they” out to get me? A social identity model of paranoia.Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, Advance Online Publication.

Greenaway, K.H. & Cruwys, T. (in press). The source model of group threat: Responding to internal and external threats. American Psychologist, Advance Online Publication.

Greenaway, K. H., & Kalokerinos, E. K. (2019). The intersection of goals to experience and express emotion. Emotion Review. Advance Online Publication. doi: 10.1177/1754073918765665

Hornsey, M.J., Greenaway, K.H.,Harris, E.A., & Bain, P.G. (in press). Are there cultural differences in the extent to which people perceive and desire control? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Advance Online Publication.

Slepain, M.L. & Greenaway, K.H.(2018). The benefits and burdens of keeping others’ secrets. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 78, 220–232.

Greenaway, K.H., Kalokerinos, E.K., Murphy, S.C., & McIlroy, T. (2018). Winners are grinners: Expressing authentic positive emotion enhances reputation in performance contexts. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 78, 168–180.

Greenaway, K.H.& Aknin, L.B. (2018). Conspicuous identification: Do people signal group identity in times of challenge? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 48(4), 205–216.

Greenaway, K.H.,Kalokerinos, E.K., & Williams, L.A. (2018). Context is everything (in emotion research). Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 12(6), e12393.