Freshman class II

Anger management

Maya Tamir, assistant professor of psychology

Ph.D., University of Illinois

Specialization: Emotion and personality

Representative publication: "Knowing Good from Bad: The Paradox of Neuroticism, Negative Affect, and Evaluative Processing," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

My research is built on the assumption that emotions don't always just happen to people. Instead, individuals can sometimes be actively involved in shaping their emotions. I am interested in whether individuals can use their emotions in ways that help them in everyday life. For example, might an athlete make herself feel angry if she believes that anger can help her play more aggressively? Would a student want to maintain some level of anxiety if he thinks it would motivate him to study harder?

Thus far, my research has yielded fascinating answers. Sometimes people are motivated to experience emotions that can be helpful to them, even if experiencing these emotions is unpleasant. I've also learned that people differ in their knowledge about the utility of emotions and in their preferences for emotional experiences in different contexts. I hope my research will enable us to understand how people come to know which emotions are useful and when.