#  Visiting Speaker ~ Mark S. Chen, Ph.D., Yale University 

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **December 11, 2024** 

 03:00PM - 04:15PM EST 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **William James Hall - Seminar room 1550**  



 

 



 

 **Mark S. Chen, Ph.D., Yale University**

 **Title:** Emotion Regulation and Psychopathology: Capturing Context and Flexibility

 **Abstract:**  Emotion regulation plays a central role in various forms of psychopathology, yet it remains challenging to study, as emotional situations are dynamic and constantly evolving. Assuming that “one size fits all” and relying on one-time, static assessments of emotion regulation fails to capture the complexity of this construct. My work, therefore, focuses on two critical and unique aspects of emotion regulation: (1) context—how developmental, situational, and cultural contexts shape emotion regulation; and (2) flexibility—how individuals adapt their emotion regulation to changing situational demands—and the role of this flexibility in psychopathology.

 In this talk, I will first briefly present evidence from longitudinal studies showing that, while the habitual use of emotion regulation strategies predicts resilience and affective psychopathology following major life stressors, these effects are generally small, reflecting that discrete strategies are not universally adaptive across time and situations. I will then share meta-analytic and experimental findings on how situational and cultural contexts, including national culture and experiences of discrimination, shape the effectiveness of emotion regulation. This work also underscores the importance of considering flexibility in adapting emotion regulation across situations. To illustrate this, I will present evidence from ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and laboratory psychophysiology studies demonstrating the affective benefits of flexibility across different stages of emotion regulation—evaluation, implementation, and monitoring—in both healthy and clinical samples and across cultures. Together, these findings underscore the need for a more comprehensive examination of person-context interactions in psychopathology and highlight flexibility as a key target for developing personalized, context-sensitive interventions. I will conclude by discussing future directions.

 **Bio:**  Dr. Mark S. Chen is a Susan Nolen-Hoeksema Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Psychology at Yale University. He earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University in 2024 and completed his clinical internship at Weill Cornell Medical College. His research uses a person-situation-culture approach to examine the role of emotion regulation processes and their contexts in affective psychopathology and resilience to adverse life events. His work has been published in leading journals, including Nature Human Behaviour, Nature Mental Health, American Psychologist, Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, and Clinical Psychological Science. He has received multiple awards, such as the Career Development Leadership Program Award from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, the Distinguished Dissertation Award from the Society of Clinical Psychology, the President’s Award from the Society for Research in Psychopathology, and the Spotlight on a Mentor Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.



 

 



 

 See also:- [ Research Seminar in Clinical Science ](/event-type/research-seminar-clinical-science)
- [ Clinical Science ](/research-areas/clinical-science)
- [ Emotion ](/research-themes/emotion)
 
 

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