I am a fifth-year graduate student in the Social/Personality Psychology PhD program at the University of California, Riverside. As a researcher in Sonja Lyubomirsky's Positive Activities and Well-Being Laboratory, I study the behavioral and biological health effects of various positive activity interventions. My research focuses on how we can harness the potential of positive psychological interventions to influence human health. Throughout my graduate career, I have integrated my training in social, health, and positive psychology by using experimental methodology to examine the relationship between psychological well-being and physical health. Across two complementary lines of research, I seek to uncover whether and how positive activities like expressing gratitude or behaving prosocially may 1) move individuals to put more effort into self-improvement across multiple domains, including health, and 2) influence biological indicators of health, such as decreases in pro-inflammatory gene expression. |