The TIES group investigates emotional, self-regulatory and relationship mechanisms that contribute to physical, mental and social wellbeing. To guide this research we think in terms of interpersonal emotion systems, which involve the dynamic interaction of emotion components (subjective experience, expressive behavior, physiology, cognition) within and between partners over time in social interactions, close relationships and teams.
To study TIES, we take a cross-disciplinary approach and focus on multi-method data, including laboratory based manipulations, peripheral biological measures (e.g., heart rate), multi-person brain hyper-scanning with EEG and fNIRS, in-depth qualitative interviews and daily diaries collected from couples, families or teams. All measures are taken repeatedly over time-periods ranging from a few seconds to several years.
To make meaning out of such data, we take three approaches: 1) we use traditional statistical models that are appropriate for investigating complex systems evolving over time (e.g., multilevel modeling), 2) we have developed an R package, rties, that makes it easier to use more complex models for TIES (e.g., differential equations, time-series networks), and 3) we collaborate with researchers in machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Our current research includes studies of:
- changes in emotional dynamics and physiological linkage in romantic couples going through couple's therapy.
developing a socio-emotionally intelligent artificial agent to help human teams perform better
investigating interpersonal coordination using multi-person brain hyper-scanning with EEG and fNIRS
connections between emotional coherence (e.g., within-person correlations of emotional experience, expression and physiology) and wellbeing
computational approaches for modeling temporal interpersonal emotion systems (CompTIES, www.compties.org)
cultural influences on emotions and close relationships
physiological correlates of emotion and emotion regulation.
