If you missed Dr. Pressman on my show today,
you can hear the entire show here.
you can hear the entire show here.
About Dr. Sarah Pressman
Dr. Pressman is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Irvine. Her research focuses on the associations between social relationships, emotions and physical health, with a focus on the underlying physiological and behavioral processes that might connect positive emotions to wellbeing. She has published in a variety of well regarded peer-reviewed journals (e.g., Psychological Science, Psychological Bulletin, Health Psychology), and her work has been featured in top media outlets like the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CBS, USNews and many other popular magazines and papers. Among her numerous awards from psychological societies and universities, one of Dr. Pressman's papers was selected as one of the most cited and influential papers in the field of Psychiatry and Psychology.
Dr. Pressman seeks to understand if and how positive emotions are beneficial for objective physical health and longevity. She has done extensive reviews of the literature to better understand this relationship, and has more recently examined this association at the worldwide level with Gallup. Her experimental work has also focused on the possible pathways by which positive emotions, such as feeling excited, happy, or calm, might “get under the skin” to influence biology. These diverse physiological pathways have included immune function, cardiovascular activity, and neuroendocrine pathways.
Dr. Pressman is also interested in the role of positive psychosocial factors in the stress process. Is it the case that positive emotions buffer an individual’s reactivity or recovery to psychological stressors? Is this one pathway by which positive individuals have longer, healthier lives? Her current research focuses on examining the properties of both emotion and social relationships in laboratory stress scenarios, as well as in the real world with the goal of trying to better understand these resilience factors.
Dr. Pressman seeks to understand if and how positive emotions are beneficial for objective physical health and longevity. She has done extensive reviews of the literature to better understand this relationship, and has more recently examined this association at the worldwide level with Gallup. Her experimental work has also focused on the possible pathways by which positive emotions, such as feeling excited, happy, or calm, might “get under the skin” to influence biology. These diverse physiological pathways have included immune function, cardiovascular activity, and neuroendocrine pathways.
Dr. Pressman is also interested in the role of positive psychosocial factors in the stress process. Is it the case that positive emotions buffer an individual’s reactivity or recovery to psychological stressors? Is this one pathway by which positive individuals have longer, healthier lives? Her current research focuses on examining the properties of both emotion and social relationships in laboratory stress scenarios, as well as in the real world with the goal of trying to better understand these resilience factors.
