Research

The intersection of emotion and existential psychology offers valuable insights into how people cultivate a meaningful life, especially in the face of uncertainty and adverse experiences. Emotions act as a gateway to understanding how individuals create purpose, confront challenges, and build authentic human connections. Profound human experiences, from hope to awe, illuminate how people transcend difficulties and embrace life’s richness with resilience and inspiration.

Emotion

Hope

What is Hope?

My first line of work focuses on hope as an emotion. While much of research has focused on hope as cognition or motivation, neglecting it's emotional aspects. I aim to expand hope's definition to include it's affection qualities. Does hope's affective qualities contribute uniquely to consequences of hope? How does the affective experience of hope contribute to our perceptions of the situation?

Hope as a Meaning-Making Emotion.

How do people maintain meaning in the face of adversity? Hope is a key meaning-making emotion amid adversity. Hope is attached to the desired futures, promoting purpose; hope connects the present to future possibilities, supporting coherence, and can be shared or felt for others, facilitating social connections and boosting significance.

Relevant Publications

Edwards, M. E., Cook, K. King, L. A. (2024). A new hope induction. Emotion. Online Publication.

Edwards, M. E., Booker, J. A., Cook, K., Gan, Y., Miao, M., & King, L. A. (2025, in press). Hope as a meaningful emotion: Hope, positive affect, and meaning in life. Emotion.

Miao, M., Wen, J., Gan, Y., Edwards, M. E., & King, L. A. (2025, in press). The central role of daily hopeful feelings in predicting well-being: A network perspective. Journal of Personality.

Awe

Existential Benefits and Costs

Awe is a unique positive emotion in that it has both positive and negative consequences. I am interested in examining the mechanisms by which awe promotes or harms well-being and social behaviors, from existential isolation, meaning in life, and prosociality.

Relevant Publications

Edwards, M. E., Mendenhall, K., Sanders, C., & King, L. A. (2025, in press). Small but still significant: Awe and the Self. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Edwards, M. E., & Van Capellen, P. (in press). Awe. In K. Vail, D. Van Tongeren, R. Schlegel, J. Greenberg, L. King, R. Ryan, The Handbook of the Science of Existential Psychology.

Edwards, M. E., Helm, P. J., Pratscher, S., Bettencourt, B. A., Arndt, J. (2024). The impact of awe on existential isolation: Evidence for contrasting pathways. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 50(5), 715-732.

Existential Psychology

Meaning in Life

Meaning in life is understood as the perception that life feelings purposeful, makes sense, and matters in the grand scheme.

My research addresses - Where do people find meaning in life? How do people maintain meaning amid hardships and suffering? I am driven by questions that aim to examine how people maintain meaning in the face of adversity. What role do discreet emotions play in our human need for meaning?

Relevant Publications

Edwards, M. E., Booker, J. A., *Cook, K., Gan, Y., Miao, M., & King, L. A. (in press). Hope as a meaningful emotion: Hope, positive affect, and meaning in life. Emotion.

Edwards, M. E., Van Tongeren, D. R. (2020). Meaning mediates the association between suffering and well-being. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 15(6), 722-733.

Religion

How do emotions function within religious practices? From the embodiment of emotion in prayer and worship to positive emotions as a mechanism toward spiritual flourishing, I am interested in examining the role of positive emotions within the context of religious and spiritual practices.

Relevant Publications

Van Cappellen, P. & Edwards, M. E. (2021). Emotion expression in context: Full body postures of Christian prayer orientations compared to secular emotions. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 45, 545-565.

Van Cappellen, P., Edwards, M. E., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2021). Upward spirals of positive emotions and religious behaviors. Current Opinion in Psychology, 40, 92-98.

Van Cappellen, P. & Edwards, M. E. (2021). The embodiment of worship: Relations among postural, psychological, and physiological aspects of religious practice. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion, 6(1-2), 56-79.

Isolation

Existential isolation is the feeling or awareness that we cannot truly share our subjective experiences with others—creating an ultimate separation between the self and others.

I'm curious by how experiences that challenge or shape our perceptions of the world impact feelings of isolation. And importantly, how we can reduce them.

Relevant Publications

Helm, P. J., Jimenez, T., Galgali, M., Edwards, M. E., Vail III, K. E., Arndt, J. (2022). Divergent effects of social media use on meaning in life via loneliness and existential isolation during the coronavirus pandemic. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 39(6), 1768-1793.

Research without Borders

Moshi, Tanzania

"What is Hope?" involves an ongoing collaboration with Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center, in Moshi, Tanzania. Collecting qualitative research on the lived experience of hope.

Funded by: John Templeton Foundation and Bass Connections, Duke University.

Team Photo Featuring: Chris-Ann Bennett (undergraduate) and Fr. Mannes Matous (doctoral student)

Mauritius

In Mauritius, our team studied how awe and self-transcendence impact meaning in life.

In addition, we examined Hindu religious embodied practices and rituals (see for fuller project funded by John Templeton Foundation).

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