You are invited to this week’s special talk organized by the Department of Psychology.
Everyone is welcome to attend!
Three pillars of human flourishing: affective roots in the family, social connection, and coping.
Speaker: Özge Uğurlu
Postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology at Georgetown University
Date: 25.03.2026, Wednesday
Time: 12:30 PM
Room: H 232
Abstract: Human flourishing involves both feeling and functioning well, including the capacity to navigate emotional experiences and sustain meaningful social connection over time. In this talk, I examine three interrelated components of human flourishing: early relational contexts, social connection, and coping processes. I begin by examining where flourishing starts—within early family contexts—by unpacking how caregivers’ emotion-related beliefs and support shape children’s regulatory capacities and emotional well-being. Transitioning to adulthood, I then synthesize cognitive and affective resilience factors that could sustain social connection in daily life. Finally, I examine how individuals cope with emotional experiences, focusing on the role of language, as it provides a window into individuals’ internal states of thoughts and feelings.
Bio: I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology at Georgetown University, working with Abigail Marsh. I previously completed my PhD and postdoctoral training in the social-personality psychology program at the University of California, Berkeley, where I worked with Özlem Ayduk and Dacher Keltner. I was also a visiting postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford.
Positioned at the intersection of developmental, affective, and social-personality psychology, my research adopts an interdisciplinary approach to examine how emotion recognition, experiences, beliefs, and regulation shape socioemotional functioning, loneliness, health, and well-being. To fully grasp the impact of emotions on our lives, I ask three interrelated questions: (1) What are the affective roots of psychosocial well-being? (2) How do daily experiences of positive emotions shape loneliness, health, and well-being? (3) How do people regulate their own and others’ emotions effortlessly?
For more information, please visit ozgeugurlu.com
We hope to see you there!