There are several projects currently ongoing in the MAPS Lab. See below for brief descriptions of a few of these projects and please feel free to contact us if you are interested in participating in any way.
Kindness Studies
Individuals with depression and anxiety often report a decreased sense of social connection, yet traditional therapies, such as CBT, may not be effective at improving social connection. Previously, we have conducted research showing that acts of kindness not only improve social connectedness, but also improve depression/anxiety symptoms and life satisfaction for individuals with depressive and anxiety disorders. Currently, we are interested in determining what characteristics of acts of kindness make them a more effective intervention compared to other well-being interventions, such as social activities and cognitive reappraisal. Specifically, we are working to examine whether individuals are able to complete acts of kindness at a higher quality compared to other well-being interventions.
Representative Publications:
Cregg, D. & Cheavens, J. S. (2023). Healing through helping: An experimental investigation of kindness, social activities, and reappraisal as well-being interventions. Journal of Positive Psychology, 18(6), 924 – 941. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2022.2154695
Nguyen, M. C., Gabbe, S. G., Kemper, K. J., Mahan, J. D., Cheavens, J. S., & Moffat-Bruce, S. D. (2020). Training on mind-body skills: Feasibility and effects on physician mindfulness, compassion, and associated effects on stress, burnout, and clinical outcomes. Journal of Positive Psychology, 15, 194 – 207. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2019.1578892
Hope Studies
Currently, we are involved in testing some of the more basic tenets of hope theory. For example, it has long been theorized that hope is related to the ability to generate solutions to potential problems and the ability to persist in goal pursuits in the face of goal blockages. We are testing these and related tenets in an effort to continue to adapt and refine therapeutic interventions designed to increase hope.
Representative Publications:
McLouth, L. E., Shelton, B. J., Bursac, V., Burris, J., Cheavens, J. S., Weyman, K., Peterman, A. H., Corum, L., Studts, J. L., & Arnold, S. M. (2024). “Pathways”: A hope-enhancing intervention for patients undergoing treatment for advanced lung cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 33, e6316. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.6316.
Rogers, S., Whitted*, W. M., Rand, K. L., & Cheavens, J. S. (2024). Hope Scale – Short Form: Validation of a shortened measure of hope. International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, 9, 411 – 434. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41042-023-00132-3.
Cheavens, J. S. & Whitted*, W. M. (2023). Hope Therapy. Current Opinions in Psychology, 49, 101509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101509
Social Media Studies
Social media engagement is a prominent feature in everyday life, especially amongst young adults. The impact that social media use has on mental health has varying effects based on several factors, such as the purpose of use, length of use, and the content being viewed. We are interested in studying the double edged sword of social media and how leveraging the content can produce wide reaching impacts on mental health in both beneficial and detrimental ways. Specifically, we are interested in how various language patterns in social media posts have differential effects on beliefs about mental illness about the self, others, and the world.
Representative Publications:
Whitted*, W. M., Southward, M. S., Howard, K. P., Wick, S., Strunk, D. R., & Cheavens, J.S. (2024). Seeing is believing: The effect of subtle communication in social media on viewers’ beliefs about depression and anxiety tractability. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 80, 1050 – 1064. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23647.
Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Studies
We are currently conducting studies investigating interpersonal emotion regulation processes (i.e., how people use others to regulate their emotions) in people with and without psychopathology. We are interested in how different approaches to interpersonal emotion regulation, such as the upregulation of positive emotions and downregulation of negative emotions impact the well-being (and symptoms of psychopathology) of both those providing and receiving emotion regulation over time. We are also interested in how characteristics of the individual and their social network impact the efficacy of interpersonal emotion regulation.
Representative Publications:
Howard, K. P. & Cheavens, J.S. (2025). A direct examination of interpersonal emotion regulation partners across personality pathology. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, & Treatment, 16(3), 260 – 271. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000667.
Howard, K. P., Heiland*, A., & Cheavens, J. S. (2025). Characterizing interpersonal emotion regulation across dimensions of personality pathology. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 16(3), 249 – 259. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000668.
Howard, K. P. & Cheavens, J. S. (2023). Interpersonal emotion regulation in the context of social networks: A focus on borderline personality disorder. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 14(2), 182 – 195. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000566
Emotion Regulation Studies
Individuals with mood and personality disorders often report difficulties in changing the course and intensity of their emotional experiences. We are interested in the addressing emotion regulation difficulties through therapeutic interventions as well as bettering our understanding of the particular contexts in which regulation is most difficult. Specifically, we are currently conducting studies examining flexibility in emotion regulation and specificity of emotion language.
Representative Publications:
Brownlow*, B. N., Cheavens, J. S., Vasey, M. W., Thayer, J. F., & Hill, L. K. (2024). Culturally compelled coping and depressive symptoms in Black Americans: Examining the role of psychophysiological regulatory capacity. Emotion, 24, 1003 – 1015. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001323.
Daniel, K. E., Moulder, R. G., Southward, M. W., Cheavens, J. S., & Boker, S. M. (2024b). Trait Neuroticism is associated with how often people switch between emotion regulation strategies used to manage negative emotions in daily life. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 48, 1098 – 1113. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-024-10493-x.
Southward, M. W., Howard, K. P., & Cheavens, J. S. (2023). Less is more: Decreasing the frequency of maladaptive coping predicts improvements in DBT more consistently than increasing the frequency of adaptive coping. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 163, 104288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2023.104288