Season 2 is here and we're focused on stress in context! In this episode, I chatted with Dr. Wendy Berry Mendes about the evolution of stress and emotion research and how these fields have grown together. We also talk about distinctions between stress and emotions, and how their differences lead to meaningful differences in measurement. We wrap up with a discussion around the importance of contextual factors (like culture or social status) in stress and emotion research and give examples of how context can affect the experience and expression of emotions.

Dr. Wendy Berry Mendes is the Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology at Yale University, where she also leads the Emotion, Health and Psychophysiology lab. She's an international leader in social psychophysiology and has trained generations of students. She's a rigorous experimentalist, which has led to dozens of discoveries about the human social stress response. Her research on stress often goes beyond thinking about the individual to characterize how one person's stress impacts another person's emotions and physiology. Learn more about her research: https://www.wendyberrymendes.com/

Topics Discussed:

• Emotions, Emotion Regulation, Emotion Measurement
• Acute Stress, Chronic Stress, Good vs. Bad Stress
• Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous System Responses
• Stress and Coping, Coping Styles, Coping Strategies
• Cognition and Emotion

Papers and Resources Discussed:

• Shenhav, A., & Mendes, W. B. (2014). Aiming for the stomach and hitting the heart: dissociable triggers and sources for disgust reactions. Emotion, 14(2), 301–309.
• Stress Measurement Network's Physiological Toolbox: https://www.stressmeasurement.org/physiological-measures
• Ekman, P. (1992). An argument for basic emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 6(3–4), 169–200.
• Ekman, P. (1989). The argument and evidence about universals in facial expressions of emotion. In H. Wagner & A. Manstead (Eds.), Handbook of social psychophysiology (pp. 143–164). John Wiley & Sons.

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The Stress Puzzle is hosted by Dr. Ryan L. Brown (https://www.ryanlinnbrown.com/) and supported by the UCSF Stress Measurement Network, an NIH/NIA funded network which aims to better understand the relationship between stress and health by improving the measurement of stress in research studies. Learn more about available resources to support stress research at: www.stressmeasurement.org.

Have burning questions about stress? Email us at [email protected] and we may feature your question in a future episode!