OUR MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the Mind-Body Lab is to foster research on psychophysiological process as they relate to emotion and personality. There are several tracks by which this research is approached. First, there is the question of the relationship between specific physiological response patterns and emotional states. Historically, this issue derives from William James' model of emotion, which has been of major theoretical impact in psychophysiological research. Dr. Friedman's Master's Thesis was conducted on this topic, and it served as cornerstone for his future research. Currently, there are several research projects at various stages of research in the lab that deal with this issue directly.
This topic is also closely related to the fundamental psychophysiological principles of stimulus-response specificity and individual-response stereotypy. The Mind-Body Lab is applying these principles to the study of autonomic activity in anxiety and now worry, which represents a continuation of the research Dr. Friedman has conducted on this topic. A systems view of the organism extends these physiological patterns that have been associated with anxiety to the cognitive, affective, and behavioral realms. Ongoing research in the lab progresses along these lines and broadens it to include phenomena such as depression and hostility. These findings are further viewed in the context of health and psychosomatic medicine.
Finally, a key premise to our work is the centrality of the individual in psychological research. A foundational assumption to our research program is that the myriad variables that comprise the life of the individual are systematically, albeit complexly interrelated. Hence, our empirical goal is to utilize methods and paradigms that will reveal patterns among these variables that are consistent over time and situations. Methods that aggregate data across individuals, though useful in their own right, obscure variable relationships in individuals. Although "group" research designs are used in our lab, we also promote an active program of individually focused, or idiodynamic studies.
The Mind-Body Lab creates interdisciplinary connections with other research programs. Toward that end, Dr. Friedman is a research affiliate of the Laboratory for the Study of Human Thought and Action (LSHTA). LSHTA is research center serving faculty and students in the College of Arts & Sciences at Virginia Tech, and offers a unique interdisciplinary collaborative environment for social scientific research endeavors. Dr. Friedman, and former graduate student Israel Christie have actively collaborated on research at LSHTA with Dr. James Weaver, Professor of Communication Studies and Psychology, who is the Executive Director of LSHTA, and with Dr. Stephanie Sargent, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies.