Welcome to the Levens Affective Behavioral Science Lab!
Understanding emotion to promote healthier lives.
The Levens Affective Behavioral Science Lab studies how positive emotions can be harnessed to drive health behavior change and promote flourishing across the adult lifespan. We investigate the cognitive, affective, and motivational processes that influence physical activity and other health behaviors, with a particular focus on increasing positive emotions in behavior change. Through interdisciplinary research and intervention development, we seek to create scalable, accessible approaches that help people live healthier and more fulfilling lives.
Our Mission
Our mission is to advance scientific understanding of how emotions influence health and to translate that knowledge into innovative interventions that foster physical activity, well-being, resilience, and healthy aging.
Research Areas
- Positive emotions and health behavior change
- Physical activity promotion
- Midlife health to promote healthy aging
- Menopause and women’s health
- Affective science
- Intervention development with a focus on mechanisms
- Scalable and tailorable health behavior interventions
Our Lab Philosophy
The Levens Affective Behavioral Science Lab is grounded in a simple idea: understanding human behavior is the foundation for promoting health and flourishing. We seek to understand the cognitive and emotional mechanisms that drive behavior and to use that understanding to create meaningful improvements in health and quality of life.
Our work is motivated by curiosity, discovery, and a commitment to helping individuals thrive. We believe that scientific understanding should not only explain behavior but also contribute to human well-being, resilience, growth, and longevity.
Our Approach
Our research integrates perspectives from:
- Health Psychology
- Affective Science
- Behavioral Medicine
- Exercise Science
- Cognitive Science
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Science
We employ diverse methodologies, including experimental research, intervention development, qualitative and quantitative methods, participatory design, neuroimaging (with collaborators), mindfulness-based approaches, guided imagery techniques, and computational modeling (with collaborators).
Note: This webpage is currently being updated. More additions will be made soon. Please contact Dr. Levens if you have any questions.