Professor Smith's research centers on the relationships among cognition, emotion, and adaptation, broadly defined. Topics investigated include the role of cognitive appraisal in the differentiation of emotion, the psychophysiology of appraisal and emotion, the cognitive processes underlying appraisal, and the role of emotion and coping in long-term adaptation in stress. Current laboratory efforts focus on the psychophysiological differentiation of emotional experience and the cognitive processes underlying emotion elicitation and differentiation, including the differentiation of positive emotions, whereas more applied collaborative efforts are examining the roles of emotion and coping in long-term adaptation to chronic health conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis and children's recurrent abdominal pain.

Primary Interests:

Applied Social Psychology
Causal Attribution
Emotion, Mood, Affect
Health Psychology
Motivation, Goal Setting
Person Perception
Social Cognition

Applied Social Psychology
Causal Attribution
Emotion, Mood, Affect
Health Psychology

Motivation, Goal Setting
Person Perception
Social Cognition

Journal Articles:

Other Publications:

Smith, C. A., & Kirby, L. D. (2001). Toward delivering on the promise of appraisal theory. In K. R. Scherer, A. Schorr & T. Johnstone (Eds.), Appraisal processes in emotion: Theory, Methods, Research (pp. 121-138). New York: Oxford University Press.
Smith, C. A., & Lazarus, R. S. (1990). Emotion and adaptation. In L. A. Pervin (Ed.), Handbook of personality theory and research (pp. 609-637). New York: Guilford.
Smith, C. A., & Pope, L. K. (1992). Appraisal and emotion: The interactional contributions of dispositional and situational factors. In M. S. Clark (Ed.), Review of Personality and Social Psychology, Volume 14: Emotion and Social Behavior (pp. 32-62). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Smith, C. A., & Scott, H. S. (1997). A componential approach to the meaning of facial expressions. In J. A. Russell & J. M. Fernandez-Dols (Eds.), The psychology of facial [removed]pp. 229-254). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Courses Taught:

Advanced Seminar: Emotion, Stress, and Coping
Advanced Seminar: Thinking and Feeling
Minds, Brains, Contexts, and Cultures
The Social and Emotional Context of Cognition
Undergraduate Honors Seminar

Advanced Seminar: Emotion, Stress, and Coping
Advanced Seminar: Thinking and Feeling
Minds, Brains, Contexts, and Cultures

The Social and Emotional Context of Cognition
Undergraduate Honors Seminar

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Craig A. Smith
Department of Psychology and Human Development
107B Jesup Psychological Building
Peabody College, Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN 37203
United States

Phone: (615) 567-3472
Fax: (615) 343-9494