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Buffering Burnout: How Mindfulness Changes your Emotion Regulation to Deal with Everyday Stress
Science is, at its most fundamental, an attempt at accurately describing how the world is. Planets move in elliptical orbits, for example. But some of the most fascinating scientific discoveries come from going one step further; from attempts at accurately describing why the world is how it is. Newton’s law of gravitation, for example, explains why planets prefer the funkier circle. Psychological science is no different. Accurately describing the world between our ears is already a substantial challenge–but it gets really interesting (and useful for interventions) when we start questioning why it is that way. Several reviews have established that mindfulness leads to reduced burnout symptomology (Li et al., 2019;…
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The Echoes of Intergenerational Trauma: Navigating Intimate Relationships in Adulthood
Have you ever wondered why some people struggle to fully open up to close friends or partners, even when they really want to? Our ability to explore and build such trust and intimacy with others does not develop in isolation. Rather, it is shaped long before our first relationship, influenced by our own childhood experiences and early environments. Yet, for many second-generation immigrants, it is not only their own experiences that shape their emotional reality, but also those of their parents. Alongside cultural values and traditional practices, second-generation immigrants may also inherit the psychological effects of past trauma they never directly experienced. Often rooted in displacement and migration, traumatic experiences…
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Shaping Romantic Relationships: Exploring Interactions with Psychotherapy and Culture
How did you spend Valentine’s Day? Whether it was spent with a loved one, happily or unhappily single, or doing university work, romantic relationships are a common experience for the majority of people at some point in their life. Most people can vouch for the fact that they greatly impact wellbeing, life-satisfaction, and stress. However, relationships don’t just affect us; we shape our relationships through our own emotional regulation, conflict resolution, and attachment styles. Interestingly, many of the variables that shape romantic relationships are also skills and characteristics which are often worked on in psychotherapy, yet this link has been previously neglected. In recent years, psychotherapy has become a common…
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January webinar: Dry January
Dear RP friends, The Research Office has started the year strong with a new webinar on the 22nd of January, which revolved around the topic of Dry January with our speaker Richard Visser. Richard Visser, is the professor of Health Psychology at Brighton & Sussex Medical School (UK). With over 30 years of experience in health psychology and public health research, his work focuses on topics such as alcohol use, gender and health, sexuality and relationships, and health service use. He is co-author of Psychology for Medicine and Healthcare (4th ed., Sage, 2025) and has extensive expertise in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method research. He was first involved in the Dry…
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How to Write an Amazing Blog Post: From Idea to Impact
Let’s be honest: we’ve all read blog posts that feel like they were written by a machine. Perfect grammar, flawless structure, and absolutely no heartbeat. Then there are the ones that make you stop scrolling. They open with a line that makes you laugh, nod, or pause. They pull you into a story, teach you something new, and leave you thinking, “That’s exactly what I needed today!” Those are the ones we remember. The difference between the two isn’t luck. It’s intentional writing. Great blog posts are built on three things: clarity, connection, and care. You need structure, yes, but you also need to sound like an actual human being…
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Not Every Silence Is a Crime
Public reactions to the deaths of children in different conflicts often vary markedly. Some individuals, for example, feel a strong emotional response to the suffering of children in Ukraine, while others react more intensely to the suffering of children in Gaza. But what accounts for these differences in empathy? What factors influence why some people respond more strongly to certain tragedies than others, and what does this reveal about the nature of human empathy? Empathy is commonly defined as the capacity to understand and share the feelings of others (Decety & Jackson, 2004). However, especially in the context of social events, individuals’ tendencies to empathize are largely shaped by the…
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The “What-the-Hell-Effect”: How Small Slip-Ups Spiral Out of Control
Imagine starting your day fully committed to a new goal: a fresh morning workout, a strict budget plan, or a consistent reading habit. Yet the moment you slip even slightly, for example, hitting snooze once, overspending on snacks, or skipping a planned activity, something curious happens. Instead of shrugging it off and getting back on track, you think: “Well… what the hell. I already blew it!” And suddenly, the goal feels abandoned. This psychological pattern, where one minor lapse triggers a chain reaction of counterproductive behavior, is known in psychology as the “What-the-Hell-Effect” (Polivy & Herman, 1985; Policy et al., 2010). The term originally comes from research on dieting but…
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Research Programme 2026/2027: Theme Announcement and Supervisor’s Open Call
Dear Psychology Students and Academic Workers, We are pleased to inform you that the theme for the Research Programme 2026/27 is going to be Psychology of Solidarity in Constant Change! About the Theme The 21st century is characterized by constant change simultaneously in multiple areas of interest. The political climate worldwide is ever so unstable with tensions rising and social movements evolving, while technological advancements are creating both new opportunities and new potential threats. Amidst all these changes, the environment is taking a strong hit as concerns are rising regarding the state of the planet with the evidence of climate change becoming clear. Polarization is drifting people apart, as they…
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November webinar: Radicalization & Extremism
Dear RP friends, The Research Office Webinar reviews have returned! The November webinar on the 27th was on radicalization and extremism, with our speaker Cátia Moreira de Carvalho. Cátia Moreira de Carvalho is a Marie Curie Fellow at Dublin City University, School of Law and Government. She is also an integrated researcher at the Portuguese Institute of International Relations at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. She was recently selected as a member of the Thematic Panel on Foreign Fighters of the EU Knowledge Hub on Prevention of Radicalisation (European Commission), and is a member of the European Researcher Community on Radicalisation. The webinar first introduces the concept of terrorism with emphasis…
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I’m in. Now What? – A JEPS Editor Testimony
It was October 2024 when I came across an open call for EFPSA, a federation I had heard plenty about and longed to be a part of for quite some time. Submitting my application for the JEPS Editor position felt like a small leap into the unknown (because it was). What I didn’t consider was what happens after the acceptance email arrives. I’ve never gotten this far and, just like Carrie Bradshaw, I couldn’t help but wonder: now what? In hopes of easing your worries and, hopefully, exciting you into joining this wonderful team, I will summarily dive into JEPS, as a project, as a process, and as an experience.…
