10 Questions with a Psychology Dissertation Year Fellow

How can labeling and reporting on your emotions impact your well-being and mental health? Learn more about Kristen Petagna ’26, a UNH psychology Ph.D. candidate and Dissertation Year Fellow, and her research on the complexity of our emotional lives. UNH Dissertation Year Fellows earn a stipend and a waiver of the doctoral research fee and mandatory fees for a maximum of a year. 

1. What is your research about?

My research examines the complexity of people’s emotional lives and how a complex emotional life contributes to mental health and well-being. There are many ways people can be emotionally complex. For example, before a big presentation, one person might feel anxious, while another person may feel anxious and excited at the same time, which would be an example of emotion covariation (feeling multiple and sometimes conflicting emotions at the same time). Some people can pinpoint exactly what they are feeling (“nervous” vs. “overwhelmed”), while others just know they feel generally bad. My work has found that when people regularly report on their emotions, they tend to become more emotionally granular and show more emotion covariation over time, and that these changes were linked to improvements in mental health. This suggests that people can grow in their emotional complexity and improve their mental health.

2. What problem does your research seek to solve?

Mental health challenges are on the rise, and many people struggle to understand or manage their emotions in a healthy way. Most research still focuses on whether people feel good or bad, but real emotional life is more complex than that. We often think good mental health means feeling positive all the time, but that’s not true. My research looks at when different emotional patterns, such as feeling mixed emotions, being specific about what you feel, or experiencing a wide range of emotions, are helpful or harmful. By identifying how these emotion dynamics shift across situations, I hope to uncover insights that can help people build stronger emotional skills and support their mental health in daily life.

“Mental health challenges are on the rise, and many people struggle to understand or manage their emotions in a healthy way.”

3. What is the potential impact of your research?

This research could help shape new approaches to mental health intervention by identifying how subtle, everyday shifts in emotion contribute to well-being. It can inform the development of interventions that help people better understand, express, and regulate their emotions in daily life. These insights could benefit anyone, from individuals coping with stress to clinicians, educators, and researchers designing programs that promote emotional resilience.

4. How and where do you conduct your research?

I conduct my research both in daily life and in the lab. In my studies, I often have participants report their emotions and activities multiple times a day over several weeks using their phones. This approach captures emotions as they naturally unfold, offering insight into real-world experiences. I also conduct lab studies at UNH where participants compete emotion-eliciting tasks while we measure physiological responses such as breathing and heart rate to understand the bodies’ role in emotion. We use an electrocardiogram (ECG) to track participants’ heart rates while they complete the tasks. Then, I look at patterns in how they respond with their emotions.

5. What’s the coolest thing about your research?

One of the coolest aspects of my research is seeing the wide variety of emotion words people use. There are so many emotions, so it’s fun to see how colorful and creative they can be beyond the usual “happy” or “sad.” People report feeling emotions like “exhilarated,” “apprehensive,” “grateful,” “ambivalent,” “hopeful,” or even “pensive.” It is a good reminder of how rich and nuanced our emotional lives really are. Also, I was surprised by how something as simple as reporting your emotions multiple times a day can improve people’s mental health over time. It’s amazing to see that taking a few minutes to notice and label your feelings had a measurable difference on people’s mental health symptoms.

6. What motivated you to study this?

Emotions are involved in everything: our legal system, decision-making, education, health, and interpersonal relationships. They shape how we think, what choices we make, and how we connect with others, yet they are often invisible and complex, which makes them both fascinating and challenging to study. Part of my motivation comes from my own experiences with mental health struggles and from seeing how challenging it can be for others to navigate stress, trauma, or anxiety. We all seem to be searching for the same thing: to feel good, to be happy, and to understand ourselves better. I want to uncover insights that help people better understand and navigate their emotional lives.

“We all seem to be searching for the same thing: to feel good, to be happy, and to understand ourselves better.”

7. What are your aspirations post-Ph.D.?

I plan to pursue an academic career focused on emotion science, combining research, teaching, and mentorship. My goal is to continue studying emotions while mentoring students. When I was an undergrad, I never imagined I would be a scientist. I struggled with math and science classes, but loved philosophy and history, so mentoring students and showing them what science is and making it accessible feels incredibly meaningful.

“When I was an undergrad, I never imagined I would be a scientist. I struggled with math and science classes, but loved philosophy and history, so mentoring students and showing them what science is and making it accessible feels incredibly meaningful.”

8. Why did you decide to attend UNH?

I was drawn to UNH for several reasons. I love being near the White Mountains, and the campus is beautiful with so many natural spaces. Mostly, I was exciting about the psychology department’s teaching cognate, which gave me the opportunity to gain hands-on experience teaching my own course. This department has a several courses on teaching and has you teach your own course as Ph.D. student. Most importantly, I was drawn here to work with my advisor, whose research on emotions is incredible. She is also an amazing mentor. 

“I was exciting about the psychology department’s teaching cognate, which gave me the opportunity to gain hands-on experience teaching my own course.”

9. How does your research impact the state of New Hampshire?

While most of my research focuses on broader populations, much of it has also involved UNH students. These findings could directly inform campus well-being programs. In addition, my research has provided hands-on opportunities for a team of undergraduate research assistants in the UNH psychology department, helping them gain experience conducting research. 

10. How has the Dissertation Year Fellowship impacted you?

The fellowship has been invaluable. Being able to focus fully on my research without the demands of teaching has allowed me to dedicate the time needed to complete data collection for my final dissertation study. I was able to make my study even more complex by having participants come in three times and by adding physiological measures, which I wouldn’t have had time to do otherwise. The fellowship has also given me the time to finish writing my dissertation, present my work at conferences, and prepare publications, which will significantly advance both my research and my career.