Research Interests
José Soto is a clinical psychologist interested in the influence of culture on psychological and physiological processes. Much of his work has centered on understanding the role that culture plays in emotional functioning. More specifically, he has examined how culture and ethnic background affect: 1) how we experience and express emotions and 2) how accurate we are in inferring the emotions of others. He has approached the study of culture and emotion from a multi-method perspective, using psycho physiological measures to supplement behavioral and self-report data. Recent projects have focused on how the interaction of culture and emotion can affect mental and physical health conditions such as depression and chronic pain. Future research studies will also begin to explore the influence of culture on the regulation of emotion and the development of cultural differences in emotional processes.
Recent Publications:
Levenson, R. W., Soto, J. A., & Pole, N. (in press). Emotion, biology
and culture. In Kitayama, S. & Cohen, D. (Eds.), Handbook of Cultural
Psychology.
Muñoz, R., Le, H.-N., Ghosh Ippen, C., Diaz, M., Urizar, G., Soto, J. A., Mendelson, T., Delucchi, K., Lieberman, A. (In press). Prevention of Postpartum Depression in Low-Income Women: Development of the Mamás y Bebés/Mothers and Babies Course.
Soto, J. A., Levenson, R. W., & Ebling, R. (2005). Cultures of moderation and expression: Emotional experience, behavior, and physiology in Chinese Americans and Mexican Americans. Emotion, 5(2), 154-165.
Le, H.-N., Muñoz, R., Soto, J. A., Delucchi, K., & Ghosh Ippen, C. (2004). Identification of risk for onset of major depressive episodes during pregnancy and postpartum. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 26 (4), 463-482.
