Assistant Professor
Division of Family Studies & Human Development
Scholarly Interests and Activities
Health and Interpersonal Systems (HIS)
Health, Emotion, and Relationships (HER)
Publications
Courses
[MAILING ADDRESS]
PO Box 210033
Tucson, AZ 85721-0033
[CAMPUS ADDRESS]
Family and Consumer Sciences Bldg.
650 N Park Ave Tucson, AZ 85721-0078
Phone: (520) 621-1075 Fax: (520) 621-3401
eabutler@email.arizona.edu
Scholarly Interests and Activities
I investigate emotional, self-regulatory, and relationship mechanisms that contribute to physical and mental health. To guide this research I think in terms of "Temporal Interpersonal Emotion Systems" (TIES), which are dynamic systems involving the interaction of emotion components (subjective experience, expressive behavior, physiology) within and between partners in social interactions and close relationships.
My current research includes studies of emotion and eating in married couples coping with obesity, emotional and relationship factors involved in unhealthy eating, cultural influences on emotions and social relationships, the physiological correlates of emotion and emotion regulation, and the congruence (or lack thereof) of emotion channels within a person and between social partners trying to control their emotions in various ways. I am the director of the Health and Interpersonal Systems (HIS) research group and cofounder of the Health, Emotion, and Relationships (HER) research initative, a collaborative enterprise to advance the scientific study of relational and emotional contributions to physical and psychological well-being.
I study Temporal Interpersonal Emotion Systems using both experimental and naturalistic methods, including laboratory based manipulations, in-depth qualitative interviews, and daily diaries. The data from my studies includes self and partner reports (both from structured questionnaires and from open-ended interviews), behavioral observations rated from videotapes, and physiological indices. All measures are taken repeatedly over time-periods ranging from a few minutes to several years. To analyze such data I make use of statistical methods appropriate for investigating complex intrapersonal and interpersonal systems evolving over time.
Selected Publications -- For copies of these publications please email me.
Butler, E. A. , Lee, T. L., & Gross, J. J. (in press). Does expressing your emotions raise or lower your blood pressure? The answer depends on cultural context. To appear in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology .
Butler, E. A. & Gross, J. J. (in press). Emotion and emotion regulation: Integrating individual and social levels of analysis. To appear in Emotion Review.
Rohrbaugh, M. J., Shoham, V., Butler, E. A. , Hasler, B. P., & Berman, J. S. (in press). Affective synchrony in dual- and single-smoker couples: Further evidence of "Symptom-System Fit"? To appear in Family Process .
Shoham, V. Butler, E. A., Rohrbaugh, M. J., & Trost, S. (2007). Symptom-system fit in couples: Emotion regulation when one or both partners smoke. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116, 848-853.
Butler, E. A., Lee, T. L., & Gross, J. J. (2007). Emotion regulation and culture: Are the social consequences of emotion suppression culture-specific? Emotion, 7, 30-48.
Butler, E. A., Wilhelm, F. H, & Gross, J. J. (2006). Respiratory sinus arrhythmia, emotion, and emotion regulation during social interaction. Psychophysiology, 43, 612-622.
Srivastava, S., McGonigal, K.M., Richards, J.M., Butler, E.A., & Gross, J.J. (2006). Optimism in close relationships: How seeing things in a positive light makes them so. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 143-153.
Butler, E. A., & Gross, J. J. (2004). Hiding feelings in social contexts: Out of sight is not out of mind. In P. Philippot & R. Feldman (Eds.), The regulation of emotion (pp.101-126). Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Butler, E. A., Egloff, B., Wilhelm, F. H., Smith, N. C., Erickson, E. A., & Gross, J. J. (2003). The social consequences of expressive suppression. Emotion, 3, 48-67.
Richards, J. M., Butler, E. A., & Gross, J. J. (2003). Emotion regulation in romantic couples: The cognitive consequences of concealing feelings. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 20, 599-620.
FSHD 337, Dynamics of Family Relations, Fall 2006
FSHD 507A, Research Methods, Spring 2007, Fall 2007
FSHD 607, Multilevel Modeling, Fall 2007