Karen Gasper is interested in affect and social cognition. Currently, her research examines the effect of both momentary and long-term feelings on information processing, the factors that influence affect regulation, and situational and individual differences in emotional understanding and experience. Some projects have investigated the influence of trait and state anxiety on judgment, the effect of mood on creativity, and the factors that reduce the influence of affect on information processing.

Primary Interests:

Emotion, Mood, Affect
Group Processes
Health Psychology
Judgment and Decision Making
Motivation, Goal Setting
Personality, Individual Differences
Self and Identity
Social Cognition

Emotion, Mood, Affect
Group Processes
Health Psychology
Judgment and Decision Making
Motivation, Goal Setting

Personality, Individual Differences
Self and Identity
Social Cognition

Research Group or Laboratory:

Feelings, Behavior, and Information Processing Laboratory [Map]

Journal Articles:

Gasper, K. (2004). Do you see what I see? Affect and visual information processing. Cognition and Emotion, 18, 405-421.
Gasper, K. (2003). When necessity is the mother of invention: Mood and problem solving. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 248-262.
Gasper, K., & Clore, G. L. (2002). Attending to the big picture: Mood and global versus local processing of visual information. Psychological Science, 13, 33-39.
Gasper, K., & Clore, G. L. (2000). Do you have to pay attention to your feelings in order to be influenced by them? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 698 - 711.
Gasper, K., & Clore, G. L. (1998). The persistent use of negative affect by anxious individuals to estimate risk. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1350-1363.

Other Publications:

Clore, G. L., & Gasper, K. (2000). Feeling is believing: Some affective influences on belief. In N. Frijda, T. Manstead, & S. Bem (Eds.), Emotions and Beliefs: How Feelings Influence Thoughts (pp. 10 - 44). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Clore, G. L., Gasper, K., & Garvin, E. (2001). Affect as information. In J. P. Forgas, (Ed.). Handbook of Affect and Social Cognition (pp. 121- 144). Mahwah. NJ: Erlbaum.
Clore, G. L., Wyer, R. S., Dienes, B., Gasper, K., Gohm, C., & Isbell, L. (2001). Affective feelings as feedback: Some cognitive consequences. In L. L. Martin and G. L. Clore (Eds.), Theories of Mood and Cognition: A User’s Guide (pp. 27-62). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Courses Taught:

Affect and Cognition
Affect and Motivation
Introduction to Social Psychology
Self and Social Judgment
Social Cognition

Affect and Cognition
Affect and Motivation
Introduction to Social Psychology

Self and Social Judgment
Social Cognition

Karen Gasper
Department of Psychology
437 Moore Building
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
United States

Phone: (814) 863-1713
Fax: (814) 863-7002