Social Psychology Network

Maintained by Scott Plous, Wesleyan University

Michael Poulin

Michael Poulin

A unifying theme in my research is that of responding to adversity. Research in my Stress, Coping, and Prosocial Engagement (SCoPE Lab) investigates this theme in two ways: by investigating the processes by which people respond to the adversity of others, and by examining the resources through which people manage their own adversity.

Our research on responses to the adversity of others, or prosocial engagement, focuses on the concepts of empathy and compassion, and seeks to provide detailed understandings of these phenomena, especially by understanding the ways in which acting empathically or with compassion involve navigating the tension between self- and other-focused goals.

Our research on how people manage their own adversity, or research on stress and coping, has uncovered diverse phenomena that can serve as coping resources. However, much of our work focuses on the ways in which prosocial engagement itself can serve as a stress buffer, including by reducing self-focus and lessening the effects of stress on health outcomes.

Primary Interests:

  • Close Relationships
  • Emotion, Mood, Affect
  • Evolution and Genetics
  • Health Psychology
  • Helping, Prosocial Behavior
  • Interpersonal Processes
  • Life Satisfaction, Well-Being
  • Motivation, Goal Setting
  • Neuroscience, Psychophysiology
  • Person Perception
  • Personality, Individual Differences
  • Political Psychology

Research Group or Laboratory:

Journal Articles:

  • Acevedo, B. P., Poulin, M. J., & Brown, L. L. (in press). Beyond romance: Neural and genetic correlates of altruism in pair-bonds. Behavioral Neuroscience.
  • Adler, J. M., & Poulin, M. J. (2009). The political is personal: Narrating 9/11 and psychological well-being. Journal of Personality, 77, 903-932.
  • Brown, S. L., Fredrickson, B. L., Wirth, M. M., Poulin, M. J., Meier, E. A., Heaphy, E. D., Cohen, M. D., & Schultheiss, O. C. (2009). Social closeness increases salivary progesterone in humans. Hormones and Behavior, 56, 108-111.
  • Brown, S. L., Smith, D. M., Schulz, R., Kabeto, M. U., Ubel, P. A., Poulin, M. J., Yi, J., Kim, C., & Langa, K. M. (2009). Caregiving behavior is associated with decreased mortality risk. Psychological Science, 20, 488-494.
  • Buffone, A. E. K., Gabriel, S., & Poulin, M. J. (2016). There but for the grace of god: Counterfactuals influence religious belief and images of the divine. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 7, 256-263.
  • Buffone, A. E. K., & Poulin, M. J. (2014). Empathy, target distress, and neurohormone genes interact to predict aggression for others: Even without provocation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 1406-1422.
  • Buffone, A. E. K., Poulin, M. J., DeLury, S. S., Ministero, L. M., & Morrison, C. D. (2017). Don't walk in her shoes! Different forms of perspective taking affect stress physiology. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 72, 161-168.
  • DeLury, S. S., Buffone, A. E. K., Ministero, L. M., & Poulin, M. J. (in press). Compassion is partially selfless: Public self-concept accessibility following compassion and threat. Self and Identity.
  • Delury, S. S., & Poulin, M. J. (2018). Self-compassion and verbal performance: Evidence for threat-buffering and implicit self-related thoughts. Self and Identity, 17, 710-722.
  • Gil-Rivas, V., Silver, R. C., Holman, E. A., McIntosh, D. N., & Poulin, M. J. (2007). Parental response and adolescent adjustment to the September 11th terrorist attacks. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 20, 1063-1068.
  • Holman, E. A., Silver, R. C., Poulin, M. J., Pizarro, J., Gil-Rivas, V., & McIntosh, D. N. (2008). Early predictors of cardiovascular health over three years following September 11. Archives of General Psychiatry, 65, 73-80.
  • Ministero, L. M., Poulin, M. J., Buffone, A. E. K., & DeLury, S. S. (2018). Empathic concern and the desire to help as separable components of compassionate responding. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 44, 475-491.
  • Monin, J. K., Poulin, M. J., Brown, S. L., & Langa, K. M. (2017). Spouses' daily feelings of appreciation and self-reported well-being. Health Psychology, 36, 1135-1139.
  • Morrison, C. D., Poulin, M. J., & Holman, E. A. (in press). Gender, genes, and the stress-buffering benefits of "home": Evidence from two national U.S. studies. Journal of Environmental Psychology.
  • Mroz, E. L., Poulin, M. J., Grant, P. C., Depner, R. M., Breier, J., Byrwa, D. J., & Wright, S. T. (2018). Caregiver self-esteem as a predictor of patient relationship satisfaction: A longitudinal study. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 21, 376-379.
  • Poulin, M. J. (2014). Volunteering predicts health among those who value others: Two national studies. Health Psychology, 33, 120-129.
  • Poulin, M. J., Brown, S. L., Dillard, A., & Smith, D. M. (2013). Stress does not predict increased mortality among those who give to others. American Journal of Public Health, 103, 1649-1655.
  • Poulin, M. J., Brown, S. L., Ubel, P. A., Smith, D. M., Jankovic, A., & Langa, K. M. (2010). Does a helping hand mean a heavy heart? Helping behavior and well-being among spouse caregivers. Psychology and Aging, 25, 108-117.
  • Poulin, M. J., & Haase, C. M. (2015). Growing to trust: Evidence that trust increases and sustains well-being across the life span. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6, 614-621.
  • Poulin, M. J., & Heckhausen, J. (2007). Stressful events compromise goal striving during a major life transition. Motivation and Emotion, 31, 300-311.
  • Poulin, M. J., & Holman, E. A. (2013) Helping hands, healthy body? Oxytocin receptor gene and prosocial behavior interact to buffer the association between stress and physical health. Hormones and Behavior, 63, 510-517.
  • Poulin, M. J., Holman, E. A., & Buffone, A. E. K, (2012). The neurogenetics of nice: Oxytocin and vasopressin receptor genes and prosocial behavior. Psychological Science, 23, 446-452.
  • Poulin, M. J., & Silver, R. C. (2008). World benevolence beliefs and well-being across the life span. Psychology and Aging, 23, 13-23.
  • Poulin, M. J., Silver, R. C., Gil-Rivas, V., Holman, E. A., & McIntosh, D. N. (2009). Finding social benefits after a collective trauma: Perceiving societal changes and well-being following 9/11. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 22, 81-90.
  • Silver, R. C., Holman, E. A., McIntosh, D. N., Poulin, M. J., & Gil-Rivas, V. (2002). Nationwide longitudinal study of psychological responses to September 11. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 288, 1235-1244.
  • Silver, R. C., Poulin, M. J., Holman, E. A., McIntosh, D. N., Gil-Rivas, V., & Pizarro, J. (2005). Exploring the myths of coping with a national trauma: A longitudinal study of responses to the September 11th terrorist attacks. Journal of Aggression.

Other Publications:

  • Poulin, M.J. (2017). To help or not to help: Goal commitment and the goodness of compassion. In E. M. Seppala, E. Simon-Thomas, S. L. Brown, M. C. Worline, C. D. Cameron, & J. R. Doty (Eds.) The Oxford handbook of compassion science (pp. 353-370). New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Poulin, M. J., Haase, C., & Heckhausen, J. (2005). Engagement with and disengagement from goals across the life span: A comparison of two-process models of developmental regulation. In W. Greve, K. Rothermund, & D. Wentura (Eds.), The adaptive self: Personal continuity and intentional self-development (pp. 117-136). Göttingen/New York: Hogrefe/Huber Publisher.
  • Poulin, M. J., & Heckhausen, J. (in press). The life-span theory of control. In R. Schulz, L. Noelker, K. Rockwood, & R. Sprott (Eds.), The encyclopedia of aging (4th ed.). New York: Springer.
  • Silver, R. C., Holman, E. A., McIntosh, D. N., Poulin, M. J., Gil-Rivas, V., & Pizarro, J. (2006). Coping with a national trauma: A nationwide longitudinal study of responses to the terrorist attacks of September 11. In Y. Neria, R. Gross, R. Marshall, & E. Susser (Eds.), 9/11: Mental health in the wake of terrorist attacks (pp. 45-70). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Michael Poulin
Buffalo, New York 14260
United States of America

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