Publications

 Visit Elizabeth T. Kneeland's Google Scholar here.

Past Student Theses

Ashley Loh, Class of 2023. Cognitive Reappraisal and its Relationship to Emotion Malleability Beliefs and Emotional Clarity in Depressed Individuals

This thesis examined whether emotion malleability beliefs and emotional clarity are related to the use of cognitive reappraisal in depressed individuals. Hypotheses predicted that individuals with more malleable beliefs of emotions will show increased trait and state reappraisal and individuals with higher emotional clarity will show increased trait and state reappraisal. Hypotheses were somewhat supported. There were no significant interactions found between emotion beliefs and state reappraisal, but both emotional clarity and beliefs about emotion malleability are significantly related to depressed individuals' use of cognitive reappraisal. The findings suggest that emotional clarity is not associated with cognitive reappraisal in depressed individuals. Depressed individuals with high emotional clarity showed decreased use of cognitive reappraisal. 


Ashley Loh (she/her/hers)

Ashley is from New York City and graduated from Amherst in 2023. At Amherst, she majored in psychology and was involved in the Amherst Symphony Orchestra and Amherst Christian Fellowship. After graduating, she is working at the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease as a clinical research coordinator. In addition to her work at MGH, she is also interested in child and adolescent clinical psychology, spiritual counseling, and minority mental health, and she plans to apply to PhD programs in clinical psychology. Her favorite ways to relax and take care of her emotional wellbeing include crocheting, taking photos of the sunset, and reading historical fiction. 

Kathryn Parker, Class of 2023. Clarifying the Relationship Between Early Emotion Experience and Adult Mental Health.

This thesis examined the relationship early emotion experiences have to present mental health factors, such as emotion regulation and depression symptomology. Hypotheses predicted that negative early emotion experiences will demonstrate higher use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies and have more depressive symptoms at present than individuals who report positive early emotion experiences. Frequent use of withdrawal as a way to cope with negative emotions in childhood was significantly correlated to higher use of present maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, including consumption of alcohol, catastrophizing, self-blame, and rumination. Additionally, more frequent expression of emotions to caregivers as a way to regulate emotions in childhood had a significant association with more present use of a cognitive reappraisal and positive refocusing.


Kathryn Parker (she/her/hers)

Katie was a research assistant in the WEC Lab from Long Island, New York who double-majored in psychology and Spanish while at Amherst. She was also a member of the Women’s squash team and was a tutor for A Better Chance. During her time working in the WEC Lab, she wrote a thesis with Professor Kneeland about how childhood emotional experiences relate to emotion regulation and depression in young adults. Katie now works as a clinical research assistant in the PediMIND Lab at McLean Hospital researching irritability and its implications for psychiatric conditions and treatment in 8 to 16 year olds. 

Gyselle Hennessey, Class of 2022. Lean on me: Ramifications of emotion regulation in a social context among college students  

This thesis examined how 6 interpersonal emotion regulation strategies related to the social and mental wellbeing of college students. Hypotheses predicted that the interpersonal regulatory strategies problem solving, reappraisal, and acceptance would correlate with improved depression and stress symptoms, while also positively associating with senses of belongingness and negatively associating with senses of loneliness. Hypotheses were somewhat supported; acceptance stood out as correlating strongly with higher belongingness and lower loneliness while reappraisal and problem solving were also positively linked to belongingness. 

Gyselle Hennessey (she/her/hers)

Gyselle majored in Psychology and Mathematics from Amherst, MA, and she graduated in 2022. She intends to have a part in providing clinical services for youth before pursuing a PsyD or PhD in Psychology. She was a member of the Amherst College Bluestockings, an acapella group on campus, and coaches two swim teams in the town of Amherst: the Tritons and the Hurricanes. In her free time, she enjoys weightlifting, listening to true crime podcasts, and spending time with family and friends.

Lauren Simpson, Class of 2021. Stuck in your feelings or biologically blue: The influence of beliefs about emotion malleability and the causes of depression on perceptions of depression 

This thesis examined the influence of two sets of beliefs—emotion malleability beliefs and beliefs about the causes of depression—on how depressed individuals think and feel about their own depression in the present and future. Emotion malleability beliefs refer to the extent to which individuals believe emotions are changeable with individual effort. Beliefs about the causes of depression refer to whether individuals believe their depression is caused by more environmental or biological factors. We have found that both sets of beliefs significantly influence perceptions individuals have about their own depression.

Lauren Simpson (she/her/hers)

Lauren Simpson (she/her/hers): Lauren majored in Psychology and is from New York City. After graduating from Amherst, she now works as a research assistant and plans  to apply to PhD programs in clinical psychology, specifically studying PTSD and trauma. Outside of the lab, she was a Peer Advocate for Sexual Respect on campus, a member of the Amherst College Sabrinas (a cappella), and a research assistant at the Clinical Affective Sciences Lab (CASL) at UMass Amherst.

Maggie Azu, Class of 2021. Lean on me: Social support and mental health in the transition to college

This thesis examined how first-year college students’ mental health at the beginning of their first semester predicts the specific strategies their peers use to support them when they experience emotional distress during the semester. It also explored how first-year students’ mental health at the beginning of the semester relates to their desire for counseling and their actual treatment-seeking behavior during the semester.

Maggie Azu (she/her/hers)

Maggie was Psychology major from Oxford, Massachusetts. Outside of classes, she sang in the Resurrect Gospel Choir and led 3D: Difference for the Developmentally Disabled. Maggie is interested in helping children with developmental disorders overcome the social and behavioral challenges they face and hopes to work as a clinical child psychologist in the future. After graduation, she went on to conduct research on the neuroscience of Autism Spectrum Disorder at the Yale Child Study Center.

We will be accepting new thesis students for Fall 2024!