Phone
Office Location
Rutgers University, Psychology Department
101 Warren Street, Newark, NJ 07102
Smith Hall Room 341
Office Hours
Research Initiatives
Dr. Smith’s research seeks to understand why people respond differently to stress, with a focus on stress occurring in early childhood. In this work, she takes an integrative and multi-level approach, using methods and theories across fields including social neuroscience, developmental psychology, psychophysiology, neuroendocrinology, and genetics, to better understand the biological and psychological mechanisms underlying individual differences in stress responses. Her research integrates models of childhood stress with those from the broader adult and non-human animal literature, incorporating a role for children’s perceptions and interpretations of their environment in their responses to stress. Currently her research focuses on how perceptions of safety, particularly perceived social isolation, and predictability influence two areas of affective development: emotion understanding and value-based decision making.
Publications
Smith, K.E. & Pollak, S.D. (2022). Approach motivation and loneliness: Individual differences and parasympathetic activity. Psychophysiology: e14036. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14036
Smith, K.E. & Pollak, S.D. (2021). Early life stress and perceived social isolation influence how children use value information to guide behavior. Child Development. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13727
Smith, K.E. & Pollak, S.D. (2021). Social relationships and children’s perceptions of adversity. Child Development Perspectives, 15(4): 228-234. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12427
Smith, K.E., Norman, G.J., & Decety, J. (2020). Increases in loneliness during medical school are associated with increases in individuals’ likelihood of mislabeling emotions as negative. Emotion. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/emo0000773
Smith, K.E. & Pollak, S.D. (2020). Re-thinking concepts and categories for understanding the neurodevelopmental effects of early childhood adversity. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 16(1): 67-93. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1745691620920725
Smith, K.E., Leitzke, B.T., & Pollak, S.D. (2020). Youth’s processing of emotion information: Responses to chronic and video-based laboratory stress. PNEC, 122: 104873. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104873