Renee Thompson

Renee Thompson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Her research focuses on understanding everyday emotional experiences across the lifespan, particularly in relation to internalizing psychopathology. She investigates emotion regulation dynamics, beliefs about emotions, and the bidirectional relationship between social media use and emotional well-being. Her work spans both clinical and developmental populations, including children/adolescents at risk for psychopathology and adults with major depressive disorder.

Thompson holds a PhD and BS in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her multi-method approach incorporates experience sampling, physiological assessments, and longitudinal designs. As Principal Investigator of the Emotion and Mental Health Lab, she leads studies examining social contexts, interpersonal emotion regulation, and digital media's impact on mental health.

Her research highlights critical areas such as suicidal risk assessment in youth, emotion awareness differences in depression, and validation of novel assessment tools like the Social Media Use Scale. Findings emphasize practical implications for clinical interventions and public health strategies.