Professional Bio

Research Interests

José Soto is a clinical psychologist interested in the intersections of culture, health and emotion and how these three forces interact with and shape each other.  He has examined the manner in which culture influences various aspects of the human emotion system (e.g., experience, expression, recognition) and the psychological health costs or benefits associated with these cultural variations in emotional processes.  He has approached the study of culture and emotion from a multi-method perspective, using psychophysiological measures to supplement behavioral and self-report emotion data and going beyond self-identification to measure culture. An emerging component of his work is exploring the mental health consequences of experiencing discrimination, racism or oppression. He has done this by studying the relationship between these factors and mental health directly or by examining how emotional processes mediate/moderate this relationship.

Recent Publications

Soto, J. A., Perez, C. R., Kim, Y.-H., Lee, E. A., & Minnick, M. R. (in press). Is expressive suppression always associated with poorer psychological functioning? A cross-cultural comparison between European Americans and Hong Kong Chinese. Emotion.

Perez, C. R.*, & Soto, J. A.* (in press). Cognitive Reappraisal in the Context of Oppression: Implications for Psychological Functioning. Emotion. [*First authorship shared]

Burriss, A. F., Breland-Noble, A. M., Webster, J. L., & Soto, J. A. (2011). Juvenile mental health courts for adjudicated youth:  Role implications for child and adolescent psychiatric mental health nurses. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 24, 114-124

Soto, J. A., Dawson-Andoh, N. A., & BeLue, R. (2011). The relationship between perceived racial discrimination and Generalized Anxiety Disorder among African Americans, Afro Caribbeans and non-Hispanic Whites.  Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 25, 258-265.

Dawson-Andoh, N. A., Gray, J. J., Soto, J. A., & Parker, S. (2011). Body Shape and Size Depictions of African American Women in JET Magazine, 1953-2006. Body Image, 8, 86-89.

Soto, J. A. (Winter 2010). A BRIDGE to the future. Focus: Notes from the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues, 23, 17.

Soto, J. A., & Levenson, R. W. (2009). Emotion recognition across cultures: The influence of ethnicity on empathic accuracy and physiological linkage. Emotion, 9, 874-884.

Levenson, R. W., Soto, J. A., & Pole, N. (2007). Emotion, biology and culture. In Kitayama, S. & Cohen, D. (Eds.), Handbook of cultural psychology (pp. 780-796). New York: Guilford Press.

Muñoz, R., Le, H.-N., Ghosh Ippen, C., Diaz, M., Urizar, G., Soto, J. A., Mendelson, T., Delucchi, K., Lieberman, A. (2007). Prevention of Postpartum Depression in Low-Income Women: Development of the Mamás y Bebés/Mothers and Babies Course. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 14, 70-83.

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.