Paula Pietromonaco, PhD, is a professor of psychology and the principal investigator for the Growth in Early Marriage Project at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Dr. Pietromonaco received her PhD from the University of Michigan.
Tell us a bit about your background: What is your area of research? What is your most recent journal-editing experience?
I study close relationships from a social psychological perspective. Research in my lab focuses broadly on understanding cognitive, affective, physiological, and behavioral processes as they arise in the context of close relationships, and more specifically, on how couple members influence each other in ways that shape each partner's longer-term emotional and physical health.
I am currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes. I have previously served as Deputy Editor and Associate Editor for Psychological Science, and as Associate Editor for Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
Briefly, what are your main priorities? For example, how will you grow readership, what type of scholarship would you like to see in the journal, and what kind of content are you hoping to attract?
My main priority is to attract and publish high quality theory-driven, rigorous research on affective processes and emotion and to showcase the very best research across all relevant areas and fields.
Because the study of affective processes and emotion cuts across different subdisciplines and fields, I encourage submissions that facilitate building bridges across fields and, in particular, those that explicitly integrate theory and research across areas and disciplines.
Emotion currently publishes articles across diverse methodologies as well as research that incorporates measures capturing people's responses at different levels. I will continue this emphasis, encouraging submissions that draw on different methodologies and measures to provide a more complete picture of emotion-based processes. Methodological diversity is critical for theory testing as well as external validity.
Why is this journal important for the field? What is its relevance to society/public health? What are the hot issues in your area right now?
The study of emotion, and more generally of affective processes, is at the intersection of different areas of psychology and different disciplines, and central for understanding adaptive and maladaptive functioning across a wide range of areas, including prosocial behavior, close relationships, stereotyping and prejudice, moral judgments, economic, political and medical decisions, biological responses to stress, and physical and mental health, all of which have great relevance for public health.
What challenges, if any, lie ahead for the field?
Our field is facing challenges related to ensuring the scientific integrity and replicability of our research. To promote best research practices, I ask that authors
At the same time, I will encourage reviewers and action editors not only to continue the focus on whether a manuscript meets the usual requirements for a high quality article, but also to place less emphasis on whether all of the findings are completely perfect across all studies or all measures.
Do you have plans for a special issue or changes to the editorial process? Are you making any changes?
David DeSteno and his team have instituted a smooth, effective and timely editorial process, and they are leaving the journal in wonderful shape. I do not plan any major changes to the editorial process at this point, except for explicitly requesting the information indicated above to promote best research practices.
Editor Spotlight features interviews with the newly-appointed editors of APA Journals.
APA Journals produces an array of scholarly journals that cover the spectrum of modern psychology and feature the latest research in the field.
Emotion® publishes significant contributions to the study of emotion from a wide range of theoretical traditions and research domains.