Kristina K. Castaneto

(she/her)

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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!

Experience

  • 2025–present
    Ph.D. Candidate, Simon Fraser University
  • 2023–present
    Graduate Student Researcher, Simon Fraser University

Education

  • 2025 
    Simon Fraser University, Master of Arts in Psychology (Social, Experimental)
  • 2022 
    Douglas College, Bachelor of Arts in Applied Psychology (Honours)

Publications

  • 2025
    Who Reaches Out to Old Friends and What Do They Say?, Collabra: Psychology
  • 2025
    What types of gratitude expressions promote prosocial behavior?: A registered report, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
  • 2025
    A narrative review of the consistency, rigor and generalizability of experiments on prosocial behaviors and happiness, Discover Psychology
  • 2023
    Martin Buber: guide for a psychology of suffering, Frontiers in Psychology

Grants and Contracts

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

Contact Kristina for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision