About Us!

One of the most vexing conundrums facing a clinical psychologist is how to address the dual nature of emotions. Emotions confer many benefits – they allow us to savor a beautiful sunrise, form deep connections with others, and escape from life-threatening danger. However, emotions also can lead us astray. At pathological levels, emotions can be debilitating – derailing promising careers and drawing individuals into isolation. 

The WEC Lab, within the Psychology Department at Amherst College, aims to improve our understanding of psychological factors that can influence how individuals regulate their unwanted emotions, and how differences in emotion regulation relate to well-being and psychological distress. In particular, the lab’s research seeks to clarify the role of beliefs about emotion and the degree to which individuals believe that emotions are malleable versus fixed then relate to emotion regulation, emotional reactivity, and emotional recovery. The lab’s research has clarified the link between emotion malleability beliefs, emotion regulation, and negative affect in healthy individuals, at-risk individuals, and individuals with moderate levels of depressive symptoms. As part of this research, the lab has developed, and is continuing to refine, a brief intervention to change emotion malleability beliefs to promote effective emotion regulation and enhance resilience.

Overall, the WEC lab integrates scientific and experimental methods from social, clinical, and health psychology to answer these research questions. The WEC Lab strongly believes in collaboration between lab members and in the dissemination of research findings to the general public.