Current Research Projects
Social Support
Social support has many benefits including reducing stress to promoting our health. However, less is known about how it truly works. Further, some research shows that receiving social support is not always beneficial. This line of work investigates how social support works and how people can maximize the benefits of their supportive relationships.
Selected Publications:
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Lee, D. S. & Fujita, K. From whom do people seek what type of support? A regulatory scope perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
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Lee, D. S., Orvell, A., Briskin, J., Shrapnell, T., Gelman, S., Ayduk, O., Ybarra, O., & Kross, E. (2020). When chatting about negative experiences helps—and when it hurts: Distinguishing adaptive vs. maladaptive social support in computer-mediated communication. Emotion, 20, 368-375.
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Lee, D. S., Ybarra, O., Gonzalez, R., & Ellsworth, P. (2018). I-through-We: How Supportive Social Relationships Facilitate Personal Growth. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 44, 37-48.
Antecedents & Consequences of
Social Media Use
Social media use has become an indispensable part of our social life. Yet, many questions remain as to how it affects our lives, and more importantly, how to use it adaptively. This line of research examines the psychological antecedents of social media use (e.g., "what" leads people to use social media?) and its various consequences (e.g., well-being, health, social connection).
Selected Publications:
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Lee, D. S., Jiang, T., Crocker, J., & Way, B. M. (2022). Social Media Use and its Link to Physical Health Indicators. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 25, 87-93.
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Lee, D. S. & Way, B. M. (2021). Social Media Use and Systemic Inflammation: the Moderating Role of Self-Esteem. Brain Behavior & Immunity - Health, 16, 100300.
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Kross, E., Verduyn, P., Demiralp, E., Park, J., Lee, D. S., Lin, N., Jonides, J., & Ybarra, O. (2013). Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being in young adults. PLOS One, 8, 1-6.
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Verduyn, P., Lee, D. S., Park, J., Shablack, H., Orvell, A., Bayer, J., Ybarra, O., Jonides, J., & Kross, E. (2015). Passive Facebook usage undermines affective well-being: Experimental and longitudinal evidence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144, 480-488.
Other research
A third line of work looks at how various interpersonal dynamics (e.g., trust, social motivation) influence a range of outcomes including decision-making, goal-pursuit, and negotiation.
Selected Publications:
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Lee, D. S. & Ybarra, O. (2017). Cultivating effective social support through abstraction: Reframing social support promotes goal-pursuit. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43, 453-464.
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Lee, D. S., Kim, E., & Schwarz, N. (2015). Something smells fishy: Olfactory suspicion cues improve performance on the Moses illusion and Wason rule discovery task. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 59, 47-50.
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Ybarra, O., Lee, D. S., & Gonzalez, R. (2012). Supportive social relationships attenuate the appeal of choice. Psychological Science, 23, 1186-1192.