Dr. Michelle "Lani" Shiota is an Assistant Professor of Social Psychology. Lani is a multimethod emotion scientist with particular interests in positive   emotion differentiation, implications of awe for cognitive processing, emotion regulation, and the role of positive emotions in close relationships. She   received her B.A. in Communication from Stanford, and her Ph.D. in Social/Personality Psychology from UC Berkeley. In cahoots with Jim Kalat at NCSU,   she is the author of Emotion (Wadsworth/Cengage). In addition to her core calling in Psychology, Lani teaches jazz and ballet at a local dance studio, and sings the blues. She joined the ASU faculty in 2006.

GRADUATE STUDENTS affiliated with the SPLAT Lab

  Samantha L. Neufeld is a 6th year student and doctoral candidate in Social Psychology, having successfully defended her Comps in September 2011. Sam's research examines action tendencies associated with the emotion of guilt, asking how type of relationship between the guilty person and the person harmed moderates behavior, as well as the implications of self-conscious emotions for sustainable behavior intervention.  Sam was the 2011 recipient of ASU's Linder Graduate Fellowship in Social Psychology. Contact: samantha.neufeld@asu.edu

  Elizabeth Osborne is a 3rd-year student in the Social Psychology doctoral program. Her research examines the effect that physiological sensations such as warmth and humidity have on the perception of vulnerability to disease, and subjective experience of disgust. Beth is the SPLAT Lab manager for the 2011-2012 academic year.  Contact: Elizabeth.A.Osborne@asu.edu

 Alexander Danvers is a 1st-year student in the Social Psychology doctoral program. His research interests include the role played by positive emotions in facilitating the development of intimacy in close relationships, social functionalist explanations of emotion, and positive psychology. He has worked in research labs at the College of William and Mary, studying aggression in romantic relationships, and at George Mason University, studying cognitive vulnerabilities to anxiety. He was the recipient of a 2011 ASU Research Excellence Fellowship, and is a member of APA, APS, and IARR.  His outside interests include fantasy baseball and improv comedy.  Contact: Alexander.Danvers@asu.edu  

RESEARCH ASSISTANTS, Fall 2011