About the Positive Psychology & Health Investigation Group (PPHIG)
Research
We study the unique mental and physical health effects of positive emotion, with a particular focus in the context of life stress and serious illness.
Traditionally stress and coping research has focused on the (very natural and often adaptive) negative emotions that occur in the context of stress: anxiety, sadness, and depressive mood. However, our work shows that even in the context of life stress such as serious illness or death of a loved one, positive emotions can and do occur, and have unique coping correlates and adaptive consequences. For example, among people living with HIV/AIDS or diabetes, positive emotion is associated with lower risk of mortality, controlling for negative emotion, and other predictors of mortality.
Positive Affect & Coping
Building on studies demonstrating that positive emotion occurs in the context of serious health-related stress and has unique, longer-term consequences for psychological and physical well-being, our lab’s current work expands beyond observational studies to develop and test a positive emotion skills intervention with the aim of increasing the frequency of daily experience of positive emotion and, ultimately, improving psychological and physical well-being. The hypothesized model that underlies all of these studies is that these positive emotion skills help to build coping resources, improve health behaviors, and, perhaps, directly impact physiological mediators, leading to better physical and psychological well-being, regardless of the type of stress the individual is experiencing.
Selected Studies
ORCHID | A hybrid type 2 implementation-effectiveness stepped wedge trial of a positive affect skills intervention for people living with comorbid HIV and depressive symptoms receiving care at Ryan White clinics in Chicago (R01MH124632; MPI with Alida Bouris, University of Chicago).
FOREST | A phased intervention development project to implement positive affect skills intervention for frontline staff at READI Chicago, a community-based gun violence prevention program (R21AT011863).
LEAF | A RCT of a positive affect skills intervention for family caregivers of people living with Alzheimer’s Disease (R01AG058613.)
PARK | A randomized waitlist-controlled trial of a positive affect skills intervention for frontline healthcare workers (privately funded; PI Charlesnika Evans, Northwestern University).
MOST EMPOWER | Using the Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST), to determine which intervention components are effective in reducing distress and promoting well-being in young adult cancer survivors (R01 CA24849; MPI with John Salsman, Wake Forest).
Judy's research has been featured in:
The New York Times - article, NPR Radio - article & radio interview, NPR's WBEZ 91.5 - radio interview, and NorthwesternU - podcast interview
Ask Dr. Moskowitz
Q: What is your go-to skill for increasing positive affect?
A: Positive reappraisal. I'm a natural positive reappraiser but since I've been working on developing the intervention, I've really honed that skill. I can reappraise anything. It can be really annoying for people around me...
Q: What would you say to a skeptic on the research of positive affect?
A: It's good to be skeptical of positive affect as a miracle cure for whatever stress you happen to be experiencing. The danger of advocating the benefits of positive affect in the context of stress is that it can seem to minimize the very real pain and negative consequences of stress. What we try to emphasize is that it is possible to experience positive emotion alongside negative emotions even when you are experiencing extreme stress. The goal of our intervention is to help people learn the skills that can help them experience more frequent positive emotion, even in the midst of distress.
Q: Where can I find out more about the positive affect skills that you're teaching?
A: You can read more about them here.