Research Interests
The ultimate goal of my research is to explain the development of adult psychopathology, with a focus on the role of emotional processes. My research is not limited to a single circumscribed etiological factor or experimental paradigm. This is important because of the overwhelming evidence that psychopathological conditions are complex and multidetermined. The vast majority of work in my lab has been guided by a framework for describing emotional disturbances that was proposed by my students and me (Berenbaum et al, 2003). Specifically, we proposed that there are three broad types of emotional disturbances (each of which includes several subtypes): (a) disturbances in emotional valence (e.g., excessive levels of unpleasant emotion); (b) disturbances in emotional intensity/variability/regulation; and (c) disturbances in emotional awareness. In recent years, my work has focused on the following phenomena: (a) emotional awareness and other meta-emotion factors; (b) emotional intensity and variability; (c) peculiarity; and (d) worry.
Research Description
The ultimate goal of my research is to explain the development of adult psychopathology, with a focus on the role of emotional processes. My research is not limited to a single circumscribed etiological factor or experimental paradigm. This is important because of the overwhelming evidence that psychopathological conditions are complex and multidetermined. The vast majority of work in my lab has been guided by a framework for describing emotional disturbances that was proposed by my students and me (Berenbaum et al, 2003). Specifically, we proposed that there are three broad types of emotional disturbances (each of which includes several subtypes): (a) disturbances in emotional valence (e.g., excessive levels of unpleasant emotion); (b) disturbances in emotional intensity/variability/regulation; and (c) disturbances in emotional awareness. In recent years, my work has focused on the following phenomena: (a) emotional awareness and other meta-emotion factors; (b) emotional intensity and variability; (c) peculiarity; and (d) worry.
Education
Ph.D. from Indiana University
Additional Campus Affiliations
Affiliate, Center for Social and Behavioral Science
For prospective students:
Professor Berenbaum is not planning to recruit any new doctoral students in the foreseeable future.
Recent Publications
Chow, P. I., Berenbaum, H., Boden, M. T., & Flores, L. E. (2023). All for one or one for all? Examining a parsing of emotion that is informed by lay people’s values. Motivation and Emotion, 47(3), 333-346. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-022-10002-1
Eckland, N. S., & Berenbaum, H. (2023). Clarity of Emotions and Goals: Exploring Associations with Subjective Well-Being Across Adulthood. Affective Science, 4(2), 401-412. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-022-00179-6
Seo, D., Balderston, N. L., Berenbaum, H., & Hur, J. (Accepted/In press). The interactive effects of different facets of threat uncertainty and cognitive load in shaping fear and anxiety responses. Psychophysiology. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14404
Ariss, T., Fairbairn, C. E., Sayette, M. A., Velia, B. A., Berenbaum, H., & Brown-Schmidt, S. (2022). Where to Look? Alcohol, Affect, and Gaze Behavior During a Virtual Social Interaction. Clinical Psychological Science, 11(2), 239-252. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/21677026221096449
Castro, A. A., Hur, J., & Berenbaum, H. (2022). A bifactor approach to modeling the structure of repetitive thinking: Replication and extension. Personality and Individual Differences, 189, Article 111472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111472
