Natalie Shook, PhD

Professor (PI)

School of Nursing

Research Interests

The goal of my research is to understand the cognitive and affective processes underlying attitude formation and change, as well as how attitudes guide behavior. To do this, I examine attitudes across a variety of domains from psychological well-being to physical health to social attitudes (e.g., political ideology, prejudice). In particular, I am interested in cognitive and affective negativity biases.

There are four general lines of research in my lab:
1) I study the cognitive negativity biases underlying depression and anxiety, as well as the role mindfulness may play in reducing these negativity biases.
2) I examine the disease-avoidance function of disgust and the role of disgust in shaping health behaviors.
3) I study the use of mindfulness practice in managing pain and increasing preventative health behaviors.
4) I examine the extent to which affective and cognitive processes change across the lifespan and the consequences of these changes for emotional well-being.

Education

Ph.D., Ohio State University, 2007

Recent/Selected Publications

Research Gate