We are interested in how emotion and cognition interact to influence feelings, decisions and behavior. We study how people feel depending on how they think about (construe) an emotional event – whether more abstractly (i.e., thinking why it happened) or more concretely (i.e., thinking about what has happened). We study how these specific emotions further influence central psychological phenomenon like self-control, pro-social behavior, cheating, and emotion regulation.
We also study what enables and what prevents people from accurately reading other people’s mental states – their emotions, attitudes, and desires. We aim to identify cognitive and motivational barriers to accurate mind perception as well as strategies that can overcome these barriers and promote interpersonal understanding.
For more information about our research projects, visit Research, Publications, and Members, or contact us: taleyal@bgu.ac.il.