Kristina K. Castaneto

• Ph.D. Candidate in Social Psychology, Simon Fraser University

Hello! My name is Kristina, and I have earned my Master's degree in Pyschology at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada. In June 2022, I earned my BA Honours in Applied Psychology at Douglas College, with specializations in Pre-counselling, and Disability in Applied Behaviour Analysis. My research interests generally include subjective happiness, well-being, morality and social connections. My honours thesis, supervised by Dr. Roger Tweed, focused on the proposal and preliminary scale development of a construct coined as "nuanced perceptions of others' valence" - the readiness to percieve other people as being a mix of good and bad. Under the supervision of Dr. Lara Aknin, I succesfully defended my MA thesis focused on the act of reaching out to old friends - friends we care about but with whom we have lost touch. Specifically, I explored who reaches out to their old friends, what they say, and how they feel afterward. As I begin my Ph.D., I look forward to further expanding the research on old friends and friendship connection in relation to well-being!

• 2023–2025 Master's Student, Psychology, Simon Fraser University

• 2022 Douglas College, Bachelor of Arts in Applied Psychology (Honours)

• 2023 Martin Buber: guide for a psychology of suffering, Frontiers in Psychology

• 2023 Canada Graduate Scholarships - Master's program Role: Masters Student Funding Source: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

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