Self-Focused Attention and Negative Affect

For the past several years I have been working with Dr. Nilly Mor at Hebrew University on research investigating how depression, anxiety, and negative moods are associated with the way people focus their attention on themselves. We began our collaboration by conducting a meta-analysis of the existing literature. One of the findings of the meta-analysis was that specific types of self-focus are associated with different mood states. Based on this finding we conducted four studies looking at the causal nature of this relationship. More recently we have turned our attention to the automaticity of self-focus. Specifically, we are trying to determine if self-focus occurs automatically when people experience a negative mood. In particular, does self-focus occur automatically for everyone or is it only automatic for people prone to depression and/or anxiety? An extension of this is determining if self-focus occurs automatically when people experience a positive mood. If so, does this occur only for people who are not prone to depression and/or anxiety? Furthermore, because Nilly lives in Israel, we have a unique opportunity to gain a cross-cultural perspective on these processes.

Sarah Severson and Kristen Durnbaugh presented their work on this project at the 2005 VU undergraduate research conference.
Ben Dunham-Freer and Liz Stelter presented their work on this project at the 2004 VU undergraduate research conference. Click here to read their abstract
Rachel Tillman and Hillary Knipstein presented their work on this project at the 2003 VU undergraduate research conference. Click here to read their abstract.


Are You Interested in Doing Research?

If you are a VU student who is interested in doing research just email, call, or drop by my office (click here for contact info). In order to receive credit for this experiece you must be a junior or a senior who has taken statistics and research methods. You must also have a GPA of at least 3.0.

Each semester I usually have two or three students working with me on various projects. I think that most students find this to be a very useful experience when they are deciding if they want to go to a research based graduate program. It is also a great experience to have had when you are applying to graduate school. If you are interested in doing this, be sure to contact me a few weeks before the end of the semester in which you want to do research.