Culture and Positive Regard Lab
The Culture & Positive Regard lab, as a nod to Carl Rogers’ core conditions of therapy, is dedicated to research on the role of positive regard in the psychotherapeutic relationship. In the past, the lab has extensively investigated client and therapist perceptions of positive regard, including, most recently, client perceptions of positive regard in teletherapy. This year, the lab is studying the nature of therapists' provision of positive regard as it is expressed in different cultures. Doctoral student Mossie Lierle leads this lab.
*The Culture & Positive Regard lab is not currently recruiting new members.
Culture & Positive Regard Lab Members
Xiaotian Chang is a first-year M.A. student in Clinical Psychology at Teachers College and received a B.A. in psychology and Asian studies from University of Michigan. Before starting her studies at TC, Xiaotian worked with the National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, a lab based in China, on topics such as psychopharmacology and child psychopathology. During her work there, Xiaotian developed a strong interest in social correlates of mental health. Specifically, she became interested in how people's cultural identity shaped their experience with psychotherapy and how such insight could be used to construct more culturally adapted/sensitive measurements and therapeutic procedures. In this coming year, Xiaotian looks forward to being part of the Culture and Positive Regard team as they investigate the role of positive regard in psychotherapy across different cultural contexts. She can be reached at xc2654@tc.columbia.edu.
Dalia Schneider is a second-year master’s student in the Psychology in Education program at Teachers College, where she is concentrating in forensic psychology and psychotherapy. Dalia received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from University of Rochester and is hoping to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology after graduation.
Mica Poerio is a second-year master’s student in the clinical psychology program at Teachers College. Originally from Atlanta, GA, Mica earned his BA in both English and Viola performance from Georgia State University. After earning his BA degrees, he earned his MM in viola performance from New York University. Mica currently teaches violin and viola lessons in Manhattan and considers his past and present teaching experience as the main informant of his interest in human development as well as positive regard and its role in the therapeutic dyad.
Zhaohe (Bob) Chang is a first-year master’s student at Teachers College, hailing from China. He likes to be called Bob because of his unreasonable passion and love for SpongeBob
cartoons. In his spare time, Bob enjoys playing tennis and badminton, swimming, and jogging. He also loves Chinese calligraphy and has a long history of practicing it. Chinese calligraphy allows him to find his inner peace, stay focused, and get away from a chaotic and fast-paced life to enjoy moments of tranquility. Bob joined the Culture and Positive Regard lab aiming to explore how therapists’ semantics and word choices could affect the perception of warmness, empathy, and positive regard by people they work with, as he believes that client and therapist could both benefit from this finding. Bob hopes that through our work and effort in this lab, we can make a remarkable contribution to the psychotherapy field!