Hi, I’m Justin Storbeck.
As a social psychologist, I have an established career investigating how emotion and cognition are interconnected.
I am currently an Associate Professor at Queens College, City University of New York. My PhD is in social psychology from the University of Virginia. I also hold a bachelors degree in both psychology and history from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Emotion and cognition integration is what I examine. The old adage that emotion impairs or interrupts cognition is wrong, and rather, I adopt the view that each emotion is both functional and dysfunctional depending on the situational goals. The integration of emotion and cognition suggests that specific emotions benefit specific cognitive abilities usually in an efficient manner. This means performance can be enhanced if a goal-matching emotional state is present. For example, holding verbal information in mind benefits from being in an happy state. Does this mean happiness then improves all cognitions? No. Happiness can be detrimental when holding spatial information in mind. Thus, our research examines various aspects of cognition, including perception, attention, semantic activity, memory, and executive functioning.
Emotion and Cognition Integration
Emotion and cognition integration is what I examine. The old adage that emotion impairs or interrupts cognition is wrong, and rather, I adopt the view that each emotion is both functional and dysfunctional depending on the situational goals. The integration of emotion and cognition suggests that specific emotions benefit specific cognitive abilities usually in an efficient manner. This means performance can be enhanced if a goal-matching emotional state is present. For example, holding verbal information in mind benefits from being in an happy state. Does this mean happiness then improves all cognitions? No. Happiness can be detrimental when holding spatial information in mind. Thus, our research examines various aspects of cognition, including perception, attention, semantic activity, memory, and executive functioning.