Kenneth Perez

Assistant Professor in Residence

Psychological Sciences


Education

Ph.D., 2020, Texas A&M University

B.A., 2015, University of Connecticut – Storrs


Research Interests

  • Affective Science
    • The emotion of awe
      • Phenomenology
      • Experiential elicitation
      • On psychological well-being

My broad aim as an affective scientist is to understand how emotions impact judgment and well-being. My research focuses on the emotion of awe, a feeling reported during events perceived as vast and beyond a person’s frame of reference. Ongoing interests are understanding the social and cultural variation of awe and its potential to inform efforts to address physical and mental health disparities.

 Websites 


Teaching

Undergraduate 

  • General Psychology I (PSYC 1100)
  • General Psychology II (PSYC 1101)
  • Social Psychology (PSYC 2700)
  • The Study of Personality (PSYC 2301)
  • Special Topics: Latinx Psychology (PSYC 3885)

    Publications

    Representative

    Pérez, K.A., Lench, H.C., & Thompson, C.G., & North, S. (2023). Experimental Elicitations of Awe: A Meta-Analysis. Cognition & Emotion, 37(1), 18-33, https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2022.2140126

    Lench, H. C., Levine, L. J., Perez, K., Carpenter, Z. K., Carlson, S. J., Bench, S. W., & Wan, Y. (2019). When and why people misestimate future feelings: Identifying strengths and weaknesses in affective forecasting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 116(5), 724–742. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000143

    Lench, H. C., Levine, L. J., Perez, K. A., Carpenter, Z. K., Carlson, S. J., & Tibbett, T. (2019). Changes in subjective well-being following the U.S. Presidential election of 2016. Emotion, 19(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000411

    Perez, K.A., & Lench, H.C. (2018). Benefits of awe in the workplace. In D. Lindebaum., D. Geddes, & P.J. Jordan (Eds.), Social functions of emotion and talking about emotion at work (pp. 46-67). Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Ken Perez
    Contact Information
    Emailkenneth.perez@uconn.edu
    CampusAvery Point