Todd B Kashdan

George Mason University | GMU · Department of Psychology

Traditionally, positive emotions and thoughts, strengths, and the satisfaction of basic psychological needs for belonging, competence, and autonomy have been seen as the cornerstones of psychological health. Without disputing their importance, these foci fail to capture many of the fluctuating, conflicting forces that are readily apparent when peop...

Purpose-a cognitive process that defines life goals and provides personal meaning-may help explain disparate empirical social science findings. Devoting effort and making progress toward life goals provides a significant, renewable source of engagement and meaning. Purpose offers a testable, causal system that synthesizes outcomes including life ex...

Being able to carefully perceive and distinguish the rich complexity in emotional experiences is a key component of psychological interventions. We review research in clinical, social, and health psychology that offers insights into the adaptive value of putting feelings into words with a high degree of complexity (i.e., emotion differentiation or...

Psychological flexibility (PF), defined as the ability to pursue valued life aims despite the presence of distress, is a fundamental contributor to health (Kashdan & Rottenberg, 2010). Existing measures of PF have failed to consider the valued goals that give context for why people are willing to manage distress. Using 4 independent samples and 3 f...

Curiosity is a fundamental human motivation that influences learning, the acquisition of knowledge, and life fulfillment. Our ability to understand the benefits (and costs) of being a curious person hinges on adequate assessment. Synthesizing decades of prior research, our goal was to improve a well-validated, multi-dimensional measure of curiosity...

Research has shown that curiosity plays a crucial role in human performance and well-being. Based on multi-dimensional models of curiosity, we examined potential underlying mechanisms for this relationship. Extending prior research, we expected state and trait variants of curiosity to predict more challenge and less threat appraisals for novel task...

The multitude of definitions, models, and measures of positive mental health has hindered academic precision and therefore the ongoing scientific evolution of this important area. This umbrella review aimed to synthesize the theoretical landscape of positive mental health, by reviewing measures that were designed to capture overarching, multi-dimen...

The unbridled positivity toward curiosity and creativity may be excessive. Both aid species survival through exploration and advancement. These beneficial effects are well documented. What remains is to understand their optimal levels and contexts for maximal achievement, health, and well-being. Every beneficial element to individuals and groups ca...

The present study examines two self-regulation traits, grit and curiosity, in predicting creative achievement in an adult sample (N = 522). Grit has been related to achievement in various domains, and although prior empirical work failed to find associations with everyday creative activities in adolescent and young adult samples, theoretically it i...

Research has shown that curiosity plays a crucial role in human performance and well-being. Based on multi-dimensional models of curiosity, we examined potential underlying mechanisms for this relationship. Extending prior research, we expected state and trait variants of curiosity to predict more challenge and less threat appraisals for novel task...

Theoretically, purpose serves as a basic dimension of healthy psychological functioning and an important protective factor from psychopathology. Theory alone, however, is insufficient to answer critical questions about human behavior and functioning; we require empirical evidence that explores the parameters of purpose with respect to measurement,...

Much of the scientific work on emotion regulation has examined strategies in isolation. Now that we have a better understanding of emotion regulatory strategy use and frequency, there is an opportunity to explore new psychological territory. As a starting point, we illustrate how a highly touted strategy, cognitive reappraisal, supercharges a criti...

Background: Stress generation theory suggests that people engage in certain behaviors that causally generate "dependent" stressful life events. Stress generation has primarily been studied in the context of depression with limited consideration of anxiety. People with social anxiety exhibit maladaptive social and regulatory behaviors that may uniq...

Much of the scientific work on emotion regulation has examined strategies in isolation. Now that we have a better understanding of emotion regulatory strategy use and frequency, there is an opportunity to explore new psychological territory. As a starting point, we illustrate how a highly touted strategy, cognitive reappraisal, supercharges a criti...

If one struggles with depression, anxiety, or suicidal impulses, what is the best outcome that one can hope for? Can psychopathology be a bridge to a better place where people operate with autonomy and self-mastery, enjoy healthy relationships, experience frequent positive emotions, and view life as meaningful and purposeful? Studies of national sa...

Optimal functioning after psychopathology is understudied. We report the prevalence of optimal well-being (OWB) following recovery after depression, suicidal ideation, generalized anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, and substance use disorders. Using a national Canadian sample ( N = 23,491), we operationalized OWB as absence of 12-month psychopatho...

Optimal functioning after psychopathology is understudied. We report the prevalence of optimal well-being (OWB) following recovery after depression, suicidal ideation, generalized anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, and substance use disorders. Using a national Canadian sample (N = 23,491), we operationalized OWB as absence of 12-month psychopathol...

People with social anxiety disorder (SAD) are at increased risk for alcohol-related problems. Most research exploring social anxiety and alcohol use has examined negative drinking consequences, with less consideration of positive consequences—namely positive social experiences—that may reinforce alcohol use. In this daily diary study, we examined h...

When individuals communicate enthusiasm for good events in their partners' lives, they contribute to a high-quality relationship; a phenomenon termed interpersonal capitalization. However, little is known when individuals are more ready to react enthusiastically to the partner's success. To address this gap, we examined whether positive and negativ...

Much has been discovered about well-being since 1998, when positive psychology entered the lexicon. Among the wide range of areas in positive psychology, in this commentary we discuss recent discoveries on (1) distinctions between meaning in life, a sense of purpose, and happiness, (2) psychological or personality strengths and the benefits of part...

To what extent does a suicide attempt impair a person’s future well-being? We estimated the prevalence of future well-being (FWB) among suicide attempt survivors using a nationally representative sample of 15,170 youths. Suicide attempt survivors were classified as having high FWB if they reported 1) a suicide attempt at Wave I; 2) no suicidal idea...

Can positive events and positive emotions reduce the impact of a stressful event in people with depression? In previous research, studies have found that positive events and positive affect (PA) that co-occur with daily stressors can reduce – or offset – the emotional impact of the stressors. However, this effect has not been examined in people wit...

Objective To examine the main and interactive effects of the amount of daily television exposure and frequency of parent conversation during shared television viewing on parent ratings of curiosity at kindergarten, and to test for moderation by socioeconomic status (SES). Study design Sample included 5100 children from the Early Childhood Longitud...

Self-compassion (SC) facilitates healthy responses to stressful events among athletes. Existing findings are predominantly retrospective, however, and questions remain about the role of SC in college athletes’ daily emotion regulation and sport performance. Sixty-seven college athletes completed daily diaries for 14 consecutive days during their co...

Quality contact with other people serves as a reliable mood enhancement strategy. We wondered if the emotional benefits of socializing are present even for those with a psychological disorder defined by social distress and avoidance: social anxiety disorder (SAD). We conducted two ecological momentary assessment (EMA) studies and analyzed 7,243 tot...

Judgments about the self compared to internalized standards are central to theoretical frameworks of social anxiety. Yet, empirical research on social comparisons-how people view themselves relative to others-and social anxiety is sparse. This research program examines the nature of everyday social comparisons in the context of social anxiety acros...

Background: Although preliminary research has explored the possibility of optimal well-being after depression, it is unclear how rates compare to anxiety. Using Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Panic Disorder (PD) as exemplars of anxiety, we tested the rates of optimal well-being one decade after being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Base...

Background : Although preliminary research has explored the possibility of optimal well-being after depression, it is unclear how rates compare to anxiety. Using Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Panic Disorder (PD) as exemplars of anxiety, we tested the rates of optimal well-being one decade after being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Bas...

Much is known about the types of strategies people use to regulate emotions. Less is known about individual differences that influence emotion regulation strategy selection. In this study, we tested the moderating role of negative emotion differentiation (NED; i.e., the ability to label and describe subtle differences among negative emotions) on th...

A person can reap psychological benefits when sharing their accomplishments or capitalizing with a partner. These benefits often depend on whether a partner responds with enthusiasm; however, it is unknown what prompts enthusiastic responses. In two experiments, we aimed to examine whether partners reciprocate enthusiastic responses to capitalizati...

Over 48,000 people died by suicide in 2018 in the United States, and more than 25 times that number attempted suicide. Research on suicide has focused much more on risk factors and adverse outcomes than on protective factors and more healthy functioning. Consequently, little is known regarding relatively positive long-term psychological adaptation...

Background Despite increasing interest in positive psychological states, we know little about how regulatory responses to positive (savoring) compared to negative events (e.g. acceptance, cognitive reappraisal) influence emotional functioning. Savoring may be particularly helpful for athletes who are often trained to attend more to negative (e.g. r...

We know relatively little concerning the links between the events and emotions experienced in daily life and long-term outcomes among people diagnosed with depression. Using daily diary data from the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), we examined how positive daily life events and emotions influence long-term (10 years later) depress...

Psychological flexibility is the tendency to respond to situations in ways that facilitate valued goal pursuit. Psychological flexibility is particularly useful when challenges arise during goal pursuit that produce distress. In acceptance and commitment therapy, psychological flexibility is considered the pinnacle of emotional health and well-bein...

Approximately 15-20% of adult women in the United States have been sexually assaulted. Given the high prevalence of sexual assault, it becomes increasingly important to understand immediate responses to sexual assault. A lack of information prior to sexual assaults contributes to a literature that is unable to showcase the presence and amount of ch...

Several decades of research on well-being has resulted in a plethora of measurement models created by psychological scientists. In this review, we synthesize the measurement of well-being literature and present a hierarchical framework that subsumes many of the existing models. We outline the rationale and empirical evidence behind five hierarchica...

In an earlier paper (Goodman et al., 2018), we found that two models of subjective well-being demonstrated substantial overlap, with correlations between .85-.98. We concluded that these two models do not capture distinct types of well-being – a conclusion consistent with a growing list of studies that have found high correlations between various m...

If a company wants to be successful and grow, innovation is essential. This exploratory pilot study has examined the efficacy of a team training program, targeting workplace curiosity and innovative work behavior. We designed an online video tutorial-based team training, the ACTIVATE CURIOSITY program. The content was tied to four curiosity dimensi...

Experiential avoidance (EA), or the unwillingness to remain in contact with aversive thoughts, feelings, and sensations, has been implicated as a risk and maintenance factor of anxiety. Yet research is mixed on the extent to which EA contributes to symptom exacerbation. Cross-sectional studies suggest EA has a large influence on anxiety whereas lon...

High reappraisal and low suppression are generally seen as desirable outcomes of therapy, but this combination may not benefit those who typically use reappraisal and suppression together. A daily diary study (N=187; Mage = 23.9; 71% females; 3,852 days; M=20.59 days/person) showed that the group-level correlation between reappraisal and suppressio...

This study examines relationships between emotion beliefs and emotion regulation strategy use among people with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and a psychologically healthy control group. Using experience-sampling methodology, we tested group differences in 2 types of emotion beliefs (emotion control values and emotion malleability beliefs) and whet...

Background:Retrospective studies have found that people with elevated social anxiety (SA) show a preference for digital/online communication, which may be due to perceptions of enhanced emotional safety. Whether these preferences for/benefits of digital compared to face-to-face communication manifest in the real world has yet to be explored. Method...

Understanding how individuals with varying levels of social anxiety respond to daily positive events is important. Psychological processes that increase positive emotions are being widely used as strategies to not only enhance well-being but also reduce the symptoms and impairment tied to negative emotional dispositions and conditions, including ex...

People with social anxiety disorder (SAD) display maladaptive attitudes towards emotions. In this experience-sampling study, we explored the extent to which people with SAD viewed anxiety and pain as an impediment to pursuing personal strivings and deriving meaning in life. Participants were adults diagnosed with SAD and a control comparison group...

Curiosity is a fundamental human motive that is beginning to garner closer attention by researchers and practitioners interested in workplace functioning. Recent work suggests that rather than designating someone as possessing curiosity or not, there is benefit in detailing the various elements of curiosity. To date, there is no research on how mul...

Curiosity is a fundamental human motivation that influences learning, the acquisition of knowledge, and life fulfillment. Our ability to understand the benefits (and costs) of being a curious person hinges on adequate assessment. Synthesizing decades of prior research, our goal was to improve a well-validated, multi-dimensional measure of curiosity...

Approximately 15-20% of adult women in the United States have been sexually assaulted. To our knowledge, there are no studies capturing prior functioning and near immediate psychological reactions of sexual assault survivors. In the present study, each night over the course of three weeks, we asked college students to report on their sexual activit...

Abstract: Although hospitality is a valued social and cultural phenomenon, it has been largely overlooked in the psychology research literature. Our studies are designed to advance the understanding of hospitality by creating a brief measure of it that can be used across cultures. In Study 1, we employed a large sample of Americans to create and be...

Despite growing research interest in distress tolerance (DT), studies have routinely neglected the role that DT plays in close, interpersonal relationships and how DT fluctuates from 1 day to the next. In addition, an understanding of DT hinges on the presence of distress, yet existing studies have failed to include distress in conceptual and analy...

For decades, researchers and practitioners have theorized psychological disorder and health as opposite ends of a single continuum. We offer a more nuanced, data driven examination into the various ways that people with psychological disorders experience well-being. We review research on the positive emotions, meaning and purpose in life, and socia...

Over 48,000 people died by suicide in 2018 in the United States, and more than 25 times that number attempted suicide. Research on suicide has focused much more on risk factors and adverse outcomes than on protective factors and more benign trajectories. Consequently, little is known regarding good long-term psychological adaptation in those who at...

Understanding how individuals with varying levels of social anxiety respond to daily positive events is important. Psychological processes that increase positive emotions are being widely used as strategies to not only enhance well-being but reduce the symptoms and impairment tied to negative emotional dispositions and conditions, including excessi...

Can people achieve optimal well-being and thrive after major depression? Contemporary epidemiology dismisses this possibility, viewing depression as a recurrent, burdensome condition with a bleak prognosis. To estimate the prevalence of thriving after depression in United States adults, we used data from the Midlife Development in the United States...

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People with anxiety disorders tend to make decisions on the basis of avoiding threat rather than obtaining rewards. Despite a robust literature examining approach-avoidance motivation, less is known about goal pursuit. The present study examined the content, motives, consequences, and daily correlates of strivings among adults diagnosed with social...

Following the advent of modern positive psychology, there has been a surge of empirical research on strengths and a call for incorporating strengths into clinical models of psychopathology. In this review, we conceptualize strengths as a subset of personality traits and dissect the criteria used to define strengths. In hopes of improving theoretica...

Curiosity is a fundamental human motive that is beginning to garner closer attention by researchers and practitioners interested in workplace functioning. Recent work suggests that rather than designating someone as possessing curiosity, there is benefit in detailing the various elements of curiosity. To date, there is no research on how multiple d...

A monolithic view of curiosity is insufficient to understand how that quality drives success and fulfillment in work and life. To discover and leverage talent and to form groups that are greater than the sum of their parts, a more nuanced approach is needed.

We address a key issue at the intersection of emotion, psychopathology, and public health—the startling lack of attention to people who experience benign outcomes, and even flourish, after recovering from depression. A rereading of the epidemiological literature suggests that the orthodox view of depression as chronic, recurrent, and lifelong is ov...

Objective The present study examined the proposition that patients need to focus on something beyond simply “getting better”. In a sample of arthritis sufferers, we distinguished individuals by the goals that motivated them – moving toward aspirational goals and maximizing gains (promotion focus) rather than obligations and minimizing losses (preve...

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Objective: Researchers conceptualize grit as the combination of two facets: perseverance of effort and consistency of interests toward long‐term goals. We tested the reliability of grit facet scores across the globe and examined how differently each grit facet related to well‐being and personality strengths. Method: An international sample of 7,617...

Individuals with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) have difficulty engaging in social situations because their actions are predicated on minimizing the subjectively biased high potential for rejection. That is, individuals with SAD frequently perceive social situations as challenging, and their performance as subpar. Yet when individuals perceive thems...

Gratitude has been described as an adaptive evolutionary mechanism that is relevant to healthy psychological and interpersonal outcomes. Questions remain as to whether the presence and benefits of gratitude are consistent from young adulthood to old age; prior research has yielded mixed evidence. We examined the magnitude and direction of age diffe...

Multiple informants - compared to single informants - better inform the clinical assessment and the diagnosis of psychopathology. The Operations Triad Model (OTM; De Los Reyes et al. 2013a) provides researchers with a conceptual framework for integrating information from multiple informants into research settings. We simplified this model by: 1) id...

Since the origins of psychology, curiosity has occupied a pivotal position in the study of motivation, emotion, and cognition; and disciplines as far-ranging as biology, economics, robotics, and leadership. Theorists have disagreed about the basic tenets of curiosity; some researchers contend that the rewards arise when resolving ambiguity and unce...

We compared Seligman’s PERMA model of well-being with Diener’s model of subjective well-being (SWB) to determine if the newer PERMA captured a type of well-being unique from the older SWB. Participants were 517 adults who completed self-report measures of SWB, PERMA, and VIA character strengths. Results from four analytic techniques suggest the fac...

Most research on the link between social anxiety and alcohol consumption has examined problematic outcomes without consideration of potential adaptive functions. Alcohol is an anxiolytic that has the short-term benefit of reducing anxiety; consumption may act as a social lubricant that facilitates higher quality social interactions. Using experienc...

Assessments of global life satisfaction capture beliefs about overall well-being; state satisfaction assessments focus on short-term or “in-the-moment” appraisals of current life circumstances. Prior research has examined how trait measures of life satisfaction and affect are related at between-person and within-person levels of analysis. At the st...

Sex is rarely discussed in theories of well-being and rarely empirically examined using methods other than cross-sectional surveys. In the present study, a daily diary approach was used (for 21 days with 152 adults) to explore the relationship between the presence and quality of sexual episodes and well-being (positive affect, negative affect, mean...

Decades of research have shown that positive life events contribute to the remission and recovery of depression; however, it is unclear how positive life events are generated. In this study, we sought to understand if personality strengths could predict positive life events that aid in the alleviation of depression. We tested a longitudinal mediati...

*** A MUST-READ FOR ALL RESEARCHGATE USERS *** Theory and research indicates that individuals with more frequent positive emotions are better at attaining goals at work and in everyday life. In the current study we examined whether the expression of genuine positive emotions by scientists was positively correlated with work-related accomplishments,...

Gratitude interventions assist individuals in the pursuit of greater personal and social well-being. Yet, little is known about whether these interventions increase interpersonal trust. In the current study, we tested whether a weekly gratitude-promoting intervention enhances the decision to trust a stranger in a monetary game several days later. F...

Three studies using samples of people in romantic relationships were conducted to create a new individual difference measure of partner strengths in couples. The 2 perceptions of partner strengths included (1) appreciation of their use and effectiveness and (2) recognition of costs associated with their use. Factor analyses supported 2-factors and...

While extant studies have examined between-person relationships between life satisfaction and current affect, the nature of this relationship is fundamentally a within-person question. We define this effect of affect on life satisfaction as the proportion of total variance in life satisfaction explained by changes in affect over time. In a study of...

Background: People commonly use psychoactive substances to increase physical and psychological pleasure. Neuroadaptations in the brain's reward system coupled with changes in social functioning and networking resulting from chronic substance use impede the ability to derive pleasure from non-substance related activities. Objective: We elucidate...

Research suggests exercise promotes well-being while reducing the risk and symptoms of certain psychiatric disorders. Similarly, positive events improve quality of life and may minimize the impact of negative life events; a dearth of positive events is also associated with increased psychiatric symptoms. Thus, increasing physical exercise and the o...