Professor Tamir's research program explores the instrumental functions of emotions and their role in emotion regulation. Specifically, she studies whether individuals know about the instrumental functions of emotions and whether they seek such functions when they regulate their emotions. She is also interested in the ways in which individuals learn which emotions are helpful to them and when. To do so, she builds on theories and employs methods from social, personality, and cognitive psychology. Her research demonstrates that people may be willing to experience unpleasant emotions when such emotions offer long-term
