KAITLYN M. WERNER, PHD

Research Fellow in Affective Psychology
University of Tartu

Kaitlyn M. Werner, PhD is a Research Fellow in Affective Psychology in the Tartu Affect and Regulation Research Group (PI: Dr. Andero Uusberg) and a member for the Centre of Excellence for Well-Being Sciences at the University of Tartu. She is also a research affiliate collaborating with the Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab (PI: Dr. Elliot Berkman) at the University of Oregon and the Stanford Psychophysiology Laboratory (PI: Dr. James Gross) at Stanford University.

Previously, Kaitlyn was an NIH Diversity Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Social and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory (PI: Dr. Elliot Berkman) at the University of Oregon, a Provost's Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, a SSHRC Banting Postdoctoral Research Fellow and UTSC Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Affective Science and Health Laboratory (PI: Dr. Brett Ford) at the University of Toronto, and completed her doctoral studies in Social, Personality, and Health Psychology in the Goal Pursuit and Self-Regulation Lab (PI: Dr. Marina Milyavskaya) at Carleton University.

Broadly, Kaitlyn's research takes a multi-method and interdisciplinary approach to understand the factors that facilitate successful self-regulation, emotion regulation, and, well-being. She also has a strong interest in measurement (e.g., construct and ecological validity), advanced quantitative methods (e.g., multilevel SEM, Bayesian statistics), research design (e.g., experimental, longitudinal, EMA), and meta-science (e.g., transparent and reproducible research practices).

About Me

Recent News

April 2026: Check out our new pre-print, Flexible self-control: The role of motivation and regulatory flexibility during goal pursuit. Along with collaborator, Elliot Berkman, we find that regulatory flexibility is robustly associated with various indicators of goal attainment. Furthermore, intrinsically motivated people are more likely to use strategies flexibly, which in turn helps them achieve their goals. Read more here!
February 2026: Check out our new pre-print, Sometimes less is more: Appraisal variability in successful reappraisal. Led by PhD student, Maria Krajuškina, along with Andero Uusberg, Kaitlyn Werner, James Gross, and Helen Uusberg, we find that successful reappraisal involves a reduction in appraisal variability. Read more here!

February 2026: Our working paper, Reconceptualizing Regulatory Flexibility in Daily Life: Integrating Insights from Affective and Motivation Science, was accepted to be presented at the Annual Meeting for the Society for the Science of Motivation in Barcelona, Spain this May! Kaitlyn was also awarded an early career travel grant to attend this event.
January 2026: Our paper, Handling the Ups and Downs of Adolescence: The Role of Emotion Regulation Repertoires, was accepted for publication at Affective Science! Led by Jolien Braet along with collaborators Gillian Debra, Manuel Rein, James Gross, Kaitlyn Werner, and Matteo Gilletta, this empirical paper used multi-wave ecological momentary assessment data to examine the role of emotion regulation strategy repertoires in predicting adolescent mental health.

Upcoming and Recent Presentations

June 2026: Regensburg Alexithymia and Emotion Regulation Workshop, Regensburg, Germany. Topic: Does Context Matter? Rethinking How Context Shapes Emotion Regulation in Daily Life.
June 2026: EASP Small Group Meeting: Beyond the Blur of Self-Regulation Research, Graz, Austria.
May 2026: Talk at the Annual Convention for the Association for Psychological Science, Barcelona, Spain. Topic: Emotion regulation flexibility: Addressing conceptual and methodological challenges.
May 2026: Talk at the Annual Meeting for the Society for the Science of Motivation, Barcelona, Spain. Topic: Reconceptualizing Regulatory Flexibility in Daily Life: Integrating Insights from Affective and Motivation Science.
May 2026: Keynote at the Workshop "Representing Goals Across Contexts" at the Annual Meeting for the Society for the Science of Motivation, Barcelona, Spain. Topic: TBD.
April 2026: Talk at the Stanford Psychophysiology Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Topic: TBD.
April 2026: Talk as part of the EstWell Seminar, Center of Excellence for Well-Being Sciences, Tartu, Estonia (Virtual). Topic: TBD. [Forthcoming details will be shared here]
March 2026: Flask Talk at the Annual Conference of the Society for Affective Science, Pittsburgh, PA. Topic: Does Context Matter for Emotion Polyregulation?