Studies

Children’s Responses to Parents’ Emotions

The purpose of this study is to investigate how children learn about emotions. We are especially interested in children’s responses to others’ happiness and to their parents’ emotions.  Children and their parents visited our lab when the children were 5 years old.  We are now running a follow-up study that reassesses children’s emotional development at age 9.  Click here for a newsletter reporting the study’s findings.

SHAPE JOY: A Program to Nurture Empathic Happiness in Children

Young children are wired to notice and enjoy the happy experiences of others, but this tendency to experience “empathic happiness” seems to fade in later childhood. The goal of this project is to develop and evaluate the SHAPE JOY (Socializing Happiness and Promoting Empathic Joy in Our Youth) program.  SHAPE JOY is a parent-mediated program to help parents develop mindful parenting to support children’s self-regulation and mindful awareness of their empathetic happiness.

Family Stress and Coping during the COVID-19 Pandemic

We are currently conducting a study to investigate family stress and coping during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will be conducting a random drawing for five families to receive a $20 gift card. The drawing will take place on 11/1/2020 at 12pm. Members of the public who do not participate in the research study and who are age 18 or older may also enter the drawing. If you would like to enter the lottery, please email GSUFeelingsLab@gmail.com with your name and your request to enter the lottery. You will be notified of the results of the lottery by email, after the drawing on November 1^st, 2020. Each person may enter only once.

Children’s Emotion Regulation Group at the GSU Psychology Clinic

The Psychology Clinic at Georgia State University offers low-cost group therapy for children (ages 3-13) who have difficulties expressing and managing their emotions. This group is appropriate for children who are experiencing grumpiness, guilt, anxiety, irritability, worry, and/or fear.  There is a child component and a parent component.  Detailed information can be found on our website: http://psychologyclinic.gsu.edu/emotion-regulation-group-children/.

Upcoming Studies

We are recruiting participants for upcoming research studies at Georgia State University. If you are interested in participating in a study, please click here to provide your contact information. 

The GSU Child Research Group is also recruiting families for studies.  Please see their website.