Daniel Gruehn

Bio

My research focuses primarily on socio-emotional functioning and emotion-cognition interactions in adulthood and old age.

– Development of emotion across the adult lifespan
Does the nature of emotions change as we age? Is an emotion such as sadness or anger qualitatively the same in each phase of life? Do older adults show the same emotional reactions as young adults do?

– Age-related differences in emotion-cognition interactions
Emotions can influence cognition (e.g., memory, decision-making) and visa versa. The question from the lifespan developmental perspective is: Do interactions between emotions and cognitions change as we age? For example, are there age differences in remembering emotional events?

– Real-world phenomena of emotions
I am specifically interested in emotional processes underlying more complex affect-related constructs such as empathy or emotional understanding. What is the nature of empathy in real life situations? How does it change with age?

– Development of social and personality aspects across the adult lifespan
In my research, we are also interested to investigate social and personality constructs related to emotion. For example, we are interested in the  effects of social rejection on older adults or age differences in trust.

Research Publications

Grühn, D., Lumley, M., Diehl, M. & Labouvie-Vief, G. (in press). Time-based indicators of emotional complexity: Interrelations and correlates? Emotion. doi: 10.1037/a0030363

Gilet, A.-L., Mella, N., Studer, J., Grühn, D., & Labouvie-Vief, G. (2013). Assessing dispositional empathy in adults: A French validation of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 45, 42-48.

O’Brien, E., Konrath, S. H., Grühn, D., & Hagen, A. L. (2013). Empathic concern and perspective-taking: Linear and quadratic effects of age. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 68, 1-7. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbs037

Queen, T. L., Hess, T. M., Ennis, G. E., Dowd, K., & Grühn, D. (2012). Information search and decision-making: Effects of age and complexity on strategy use. Psychology and Aging, 27, 817-824. doi: 10.1037/a0028744

Gilet, A.-L., Grühn, D., Studer, J., & Labouvie-Vief, G. (2012). Valence, arousal, and imagery ratings for 835 French attributes by young, middle-aged, and older adults: The French Emotional Evaluation List (FEEL). European Review of Applied Psychology, 62, 173-181.

Grühn, D., Gilet, A.-L., Studer, J., & Labouvie-Vief, G. (2011). Age-relevance of person characteristics: Person’s beliefs about developmental change across the lifespan. Developmental Psychology, 47, 376-387.

Kotter-Grühn, D., Grühn, D., & Smith, J. (2010). Predicting one’s own death: The relationship between subjective and objective nearness to death in very old age. European Journal of Ageing, 7, 293-200.

Grühn, D., Kotter-Grühn, D., & Röcke, C. (2010). Discrete affects across the adult lifespan: Evidence for multidimensionality and multidirectionality of affective experiences in young, middle-aged, and older adults. Journal of Research in Personality, 44, 492-500.

Grühn, D., Rebucal, K., Diehl, M., Lumley, M., & Labouvie-Vief, G. (2008). Empathy across the adult lifespan: Longitudinal and experience-sampling findings. Emotion, 8, 753-765. doi: 10.1037/a0014123

Grühn, D., & Smith, J. (2008). Characteristics for 200 words rated by young and older adults: Age-dependent evaluations of German adjectives (AGE). Behavior Research Methods, 40, 1088-1097.

Grühn, D., & Scheibe, S. (2008). Age-related differences in valence and arousal ratings of pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS): Does age make it more extreme? Behavior Research Methods, 40, 512-521.

Grühn, D., Scheibe, S., & Baltes, P. B. (2007). Reduced negativity effect in older adults’ memory for emotional pictures: The heterogeneity-homogeneity list paradigm. Psychology and Aging, 22, 644-649.

Grühn, D., Smith, J., & Baltes, P. B. (2005). No aging bias favoring memory for positive material: Evidence from a heterogeneity-homogeneity list paradigm using emotionally toned words. Psychology and Aging, 20, 579-588.

Kunzmann, U., & Grühn, D. (2005). Age differences in emotional reactivity: The sample case of sadness. Psychology and Aging, 20, 47-59.