My current interest is mainly how people appraise the self-relevant situations they are in, and how these appraisals influence their emotions and the things they do to cope with the self-relevant situations.

Specifically, I am interested in how people appraise self-relevant situations, and how these appraisals generate self-critical and/or negative feelings such as felt shame, felt inferiority, felt guilt, and felt rejection. I am also interested in the responses that might follow from such appraisals and feelings. Typically, these involve self-defensive and aggressive responses, but also opposite reactions, such as self-critical feelings of internalized anger and blame, as well as the more pro-social and self-reformatory responses of empathy with others, the wish to repair damaged/hurt relations, and wanting to become a better person.

I am also interested in other things where my colleagues and I do research, such as morality, trust, social anxiety, ethical perceptions, forgiveness, stigma, and emotional abuse.