Kristen Lindquist

Dr. Kristen Lindquist is an incoming Professor and Robert K. and Dale J. Weary Chair in Social Psychology at The Ohio State University. She holds a A.B. in Psychology and English from Boston College (2004) and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Boston College (2010). Her research focuses on the psychological and neural basis of emotions, integrating tools from social cognition, neuroscience, and big data. She previously served as an Assistant Professor (2012–2018) and Associate Professor (2018–2022) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before being promoted to Professor in 2022. Her work emphasizes how emotions emerge from interactions between bodily states, cultural learning, and neural processes across the lifespan. She leads the Affective Science Lab, exploring cultural influences on emotion perception and the role of language in shaping emotional experiences. Lindquist’s research has been featured in Science, NeuroImage, and Trends in Cognitive Sciences, among others.

Education:

• A.B. in Psychology and English, Boston College, 2004
• Ph.D. in Psychology, Boston College, 2010

Research Interests: Lindquist investigates emotion construction theory, the neurobiological underpinnings of affect, interoception, and cultural influences on emotion semantics. Her work bridges cognitive, social, and developmental psychology with neuroscience, emphasizing interdisciplinary methods. Recent studies explore how language shapes emotional understanding and the impact of aging on physiological-emotional linkages.

Key Contributions:

• Developed the theory of constructed emotion, challenging traditional discrete emotion models.
• Conducted large-scale meta-analyses mapping brain networks underlying emotion.
• Explored cultural variation in emotion semantics using linguistic and neuroimaging data.

Labs/Teams: Her Affective Science Lab at OSU will continue investigating emotion’s neural and cultural foundations, with a focus on translational applications in mental health and education.