Andrea Christiane Samson

photo

 andrea.samson@unifr.ch
 +41 26 300 8440
 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6807-3132

SNF Professorin, Direktorin chEERSLab

Biografie

Andrea Samson is currently a scientific collaborator at the Department of Special Education of the University of Fribourg. From 2018-2023 she held the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Professorship at the Institute of Special Education, University of Fribourg. She is currently also Associate Professor in Psychology at UniDistance Suisse, Switzerland as well as director of the chEERS Lab – a team of researchers interested in the study of socio-emotional processes in individuals with typical and atypical development, such as individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g. autism spectrum disorder) and intellectual disabilities (e.g. Williams Syndrome). Positive emotions (such as humor) and emotion regulation in relation to mental health play an important role in several research projects. Her team is also interested in using board games and new technologies such as virtual reality for the assessment of emotional competencies as well as for the development of remediation training programs.  

Forschung und Publikationen

  • Forschungsprojekte

    The Differential Roles of Positive Emotions and Emotion Regulation for Socio-Emotional Processes in Developmental Disabilities: Insights for Future Interventions
    Status: Abgeschlossen

    Beginn 01.09.2018
    Ende 30.04.2023
    Finanzierung SNF  Projektblatt öffnen
    Social and non-social anxiety disorders are one of the major concerns of individuals with developmental disabilities with and without intellectual disability. Since anxieties significantly impact social and adaptive functioning, it is of great urgency to better understand potential risk and protective factors. Given the crucial role of social approach, positive emotions (PE) and emotion regulation (ER) for optimal social and adaptive functioning, the goal of this project is to study these three phenomena in individuals with developmental disabilities with a particular focus on Williams syndrome (WS) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Interestingly, WS and ASD present, in certain respects, a double dissociation regarding the prevalence of anxieties (relatively high non-social anxiety in WS vs. relatively high social anxiety in ASD), as well as in affective biases related to social approach and PE in social settings. Whereas social approach, i.e. to orient to the social world and to seek and take pleasure in social interactions, is high and linked to PE in WS, social approach and PE are generally low in ASD. Moreover, while individuals with ASD have ER difficulties, which are linked to anxieties, little is known about ER in WS. Taking into account these opposite patterns, WS and ASD make a promising model for the study of socio-emotional phenomena as potential risk and protective factors for social and non-social anxiety. Therefore, the goal of this project is to examine how these three socio-emotional phenomena relate to each other and how they are linked to social and non-social anxiety in WS and ASD. First, I aim to describe profiles of effective PE triggers and ER strategy use and efficacy in WS and mental age-matched ASD, compared to mental age-matched typically developing participants with high and low social approach. In order to discern syndrome-specific effects from intellectual disability, I will also include a group with non-specific intellectual disability. Second, I aim to link these different profiles in social approach, PE, and ER to social and non-social anxiety. I will use a multi-method approach including self- and parent-report, experiential, behavioral, and psychophysiological parameters, and will build on novel technologies, such as virtual reality, to create immersive environments and quantify behavior. These techniques will yield a robust and complementary database of PE and ER profiles across different modalities and emotional domains. Using statistical methods, I will use the collected data to first describe the profiles of social approach, PE, and ER in the different groups. Subsequently, I will model PE and ER’s relation to both social and non-social anxiety, including social approach as a potential moderating variable, in order to determine risk and protective factors. The insights derived from this project will ultimately serve to inform interventions targeting affective disorders in developmental disabilities.

    Humor and Emotion regulation
    Status: Abgeschlossen

    Beginn 01.02.2010
    Ende 30.09.2011
    Finanzierung SNF  Projektblatt öffnen
    Humor and Emotion regulation

Lehrveranstaltungen

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