Genevsky, A., & Knutson, B. (2015). Neural affective mechanisms predict market-level microlending. Psychological Science. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/0956797615588467 Researchers investigate the neural mechanisms in which microloans receive approval based on the elicitation of positive affect by applicant’s photographs in two separate studies: one internet and the other a neuroimaging study.  The internet study showed that positive affect in applicant photographs promoted loan success. …

Jazaieri, H., Lee, I. A., McGonigal, K., Jinpa, T., Doty, J. R., Gross, J. J., & Goldin, P. (2015). A wandering mind is a less caring mind: Daily experience sampling during compassion meditation training. Journal of Positive Psychology. doi:10.1080/17439760.2015.1025418  The effects of the Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) program, a 9-week, twice daily compassion meditation, was found to reduce mind wandering towards …

Neff, K., & Seppala, E. M. (in press). Compassion, well-being, and the hypoegoic self. In K. W. Brown & M. Leary (Eds.), Handbook of Hypo-egoic Phenomena. 

Seppala, E. M., Hutcherson, C. A., Nguyen, D. T. H., Doty, J. R., & Gross, J. J. (2014). Loving-kindness meditation: A tool to improve healthcare provider compassion, resilience, and patient care. Journal of Compassionate Healthcare. doi:10.1186/s40639-014-0005-9 Stress and burnout is prevalent in the healthcare industry. Numerous research focused on reducing these strains on healthcare professionals can be time-consuming and intensive. …

Martin, D., Seppala, E., Heineberg, Y., Rossomando, T., Doty, J., Zimbardo, P., Shiue, T.-T., Berger, R., & Zhou, Y. Y. (2015). Multiple facets of compassion: The impact of social dominance orientation and economic systems justification. Journal of Business Ethics, 129(1), 237-249. doi:10.1007/s10551-014-2157-0 Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) is a hierarchical worldview that ascribes people to social rankings and is often found in high …

Seppälä, E. M., Nitschke, J. B., Tudorascu, D. L., Hayes, A., Goldstein, M. R., Nguyen, D. T. H., Perlman, D., & Davidson, R. J. (2014). Breathing-based meditation decreases posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in U.S. military veterans: A randomized controlled longitudinal study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 27, 397–405. doi:10.1002/jts.21936 This study examined the effects of a breathing-based meditation intervention, Sudarshan Kriya yoga, …

Feinberg, M., Antonenko, O., Willer, R., Horberg, E. J., & John, O. P. (2014). Gut check: Reappraisal of disgust helps explain liberal-conservative differences on issues of purity. Emotion, 14(3), 513-521. doi:10.1037/a0033727 In a series of three studies, this article examines the extent to which the emotion-regulation strategy, reappraisal, drives the disgust-conservatism relationship. This article presents evidence that conservatives instructed to …

Feinberg, M., & Willer, R. (2013). The moral roots of environmental attitudes. Psychological Science, 24(1), 56-62. doi:10.1177/0956797612449177 This article highlights three studies on the attitudes Americans have about the environment and examines the causes that lead to the political polarization of environmental issues. The first of the three studies found that liberals consider the environment issues in moral terms. The second …

Ruchelli, G., Chapin, H., Darnall, B., Seppala, E., Doty, J., & Mackey, S. (2014). Compassion meditation training for people living with chronic pain and their significant others: a pilot study and mixed-methods analysis. The Journal of Pain, 15(4), S117. doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2014.01.479 A pilot study of limited female participants with chronic pain who received 9, two-hour weekly sessions of compassion meditation training (Compassion Cultivation Training or …

Feinberg, M., Willer, R., & Schultz, M. (2014). Gossip and ostracism promote cooperation in groups. Psychological Science, 25(3), 656-665. doi:10.1177/0956797613510184 This study examined how gossip promotes cooperation among groups while preventing exploitation of ostracized individuals.  The excluded individuals, in turn, respond by cooperating at levels comparable to those of non-ostracized individuals.  The study suggests that gossip promotes prosocial behavior due to …

Genevsky, A., Västfjäll, D., Slovic, P., & Knutson, B. (2013). Neural underpinnings of the identifiable victim effect: Affect shifts preferences for giving. The Journal of Neuroscience, 33(43), 17188-17196. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2348-13.2013 This study measured compassion and giving at the level of brain function. The investigators found that emotional reaction toward the recipient impacted the neural and behavioral correlates of giving. In particular, …

Seppala, E., Rossomando, T., & Doty, J. (2013). Social connection and compassion: Important predictors of health and well-being. Social Research, 80(2), 411-430.

Jazaieri, H., McGonigal, K., Jinpa, T., Doty, J. R., Gross, J. J., & Golden, P. R. (2013). A randomized controlled trial of compassion cultivation training: Effects on mindfulness, affect, and emotion regulation. Motivation and Emotion. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1007/s11031-013-9368-z

Berger, R., Gelkopf, M., & Heineberg, Y. (2012). A teacher-delivered intervention for adolescents exposed to ongoing and intense traumatic war-related stress: A quasi-randomized controlled study. Journal of Adolescent Health, 51, 453–461

Koopmann-Holm, B., Sze, J., Ochs, C., & Tsai, J. L. (2013). Buddhist-inspired meditation increases the value of calm. Emotion, 13, 1528-3542 doi: 10.1037/a0031070

Simon-Thomas, E. R., Godzik, J., Castle, E., Antonenko, E., Ponz, A., Kogan A., & Keltner, D. J. (2012). An fMRI study of caring vs self-focus during induced compassion and pride. Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience, 7(6), 635-648.

Jazaieri, H., Jinpa, G., McGonigal, K., Rosenberg, E., Finkelstein, J., Simon-Thomas, E., Cullen, M., Doty, J., Gross, J., & Goldin, P. (2012). Enhancing compassion: A randomized controlled trial of a Compassion Cultivation Training program. Journal of Happiness Studies. doi: 10.1007/s10902-012-9373-z

Berger, R., & Zimbardo, P. (2012). Creating a partner: A qualitative study of political extremists and ex-gang members who have chosen the antiviolence path. The Council on Foreign Relations.

Dastjerdi, M., Foster, B., Nasrullah, S. et al. (2010). Differential electrophysiological response during rest, self-referential, and non–self-referential tasks in human posteromedial cortex. PNAS Early Edition.

Yizhar, O., Fenno, L. E., Prigge, M., Schneider, F., Davidson, T. J., O’shea, D. J., & … Deisseroth, K. (2011). Neocortical excitation/inhibition balance in information processing and social dysfunction. Nature, 477(7363), 171-178. doi: 10.1038/nature10360

Bocchiaro, p., & Zimbardo, P. G. (2010). Defying unjust authority: An exploratory study. Current Psychology, 29(2), 155-170. doi: 10.1007/s12144-010-9080-z

Goetz, J. L., Keltner, D., & Simon-Thomas, E. (2010). Compassion: An evolutionary analysis and empirical review. Psychological Bulletin, 136(3), 351-374. doi:10.1037/a0018807

Cooper, J. C., Kreps, T.A., Wiebe, T., Pirkl, T., & Knutson, B. (2010). When giving is good: Ventromedial prefrontal cortex activation for others’ intention. Neuron, 67(67), 511-521. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2010.06030