We examine how mindfulness practices and interventions relate to anxiety, stress, and psychological well-being, including how expectations and other contextual factors shape outcomes.
We investigate how physical activity and other lifestyle behaviors contribute to psychological health and the prevention and treatment of anxiety-related problems.
We study the cognitive and behavioral processes involved in how people respond to distress, engage with their environments, and make meaningful changes.
Collecting data. An experimental study examining mindful eating and the role of expectations.
Josef Kaplan - Collecting data · An online, single-session study examining how expectancies influence mindfulness and well-being.
Review in progress. Synthesizing research on the relationship between mindfulness and cognitive biases.
Marissa Weimer - Data collection complete · A brief mindful walking study examining mindfulness and related psychological outcomes, including rumination, decentering, relaxation, and affect.
Gabriel Simerly - Data collection complete · Investigating whether experiential avoidance mediates the relationship between mindfulness and psychological distress over time.
Marissa Marcus - Data collection complete · Examining thought-action fusion as a mediator of the relationship between mindfulness and obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
Our research includes experimental studies, intervention research, and investigations of mechanisms of psychological change. Students contribute across the research process, from designing study protocols and materials to recruitment, data collection, analysis, presentation, and publication.
Our 15-week reading series connects foundational work on anxiety with research on exercise, mindfulness, and mechanisms of change. We discuss one article each week, practice evaluating methods and evidence, and consider how the findings can inform our next study. The series culminates in shared laboratory research standards.