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FACULTY PROFILE: Professor Bonanno

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Professional Background

Professor of Education and Psychology

Educational Background

B.A., Hampshire College


Ph.D., Yale University

Scholarly Interests

Resilience and coping with grief and trauma. Emotion and emotion regulation. The adaptive consequences of self-deception.
Website forthe PURL study (bereavement): http://www.tc.edu/thePURLstudy
Website for the Emotion, Stress, and Relationship Lab: http://devweb.tc.columbia.edu/research/esrl/
Published this fall, The Other Side of Sadness: http://www.theothersideofsadness.com/



Selected Publications

For a full list of publications, see documents and papers.

To requestPDFs ofpublished papers (or"in press" papers), please email Professor Bonannoat gab38@columbia.edu.

SELECT BOOKS:
The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tells us about Life After Loss (October, 2009, Basic Books.

SELECT PEER-REVIEW ARTICLES:
   DeRoon-Cassini, T., Mancini, A. D., Rusch, M., & Bonanno, G. A. (in press). Psychopathology and resilience following traumatic injury: A latent growth mixture model analysis. Rehabilitation Psychology

Gupta, S., & Bonanno, G. A. (in press). Trait self-enhancement as a buffer against potentially traumatic events: A prospective study. Psychological Trauma

Westphal, M., Seivert, N. H., & Bonanno, G. A. (in press). Expressive flexibility. Emotion

Lam, W. T., Bonanno, G. A., Mancini, A. D., Ho, S. M. Y., Chan, M., Huan, W. K., Or, A., & Fielding, R. (2009). Trajectories of psychological distress among Chinese women diagnosed with breast cancer. Psycho-oncology.

Bonanno, G. A., & Mancini, A. D. (2009). Beyond resilience and PTSD: Mapping the heterogeneity of responses to potential trauma. Psychological Trauma.

            Mancini, A. D., & Bonanno, G. A. (2009). Predictors and parameters of resilience to loss: Toward an individual differences model. Journal of Personality, 77, 1-27

Goorin, L., & Bonanno, G. A. (2009). Would you buy a used car from a self-enhancer? Social benefits and illusions in trait Self-enhancement. Self and Identity, 8, 162-175.

Bonanno, G. A., Ho, S.M.Y., Chan, J.C.K, Kwong, R.S.Y., Cheung, C.K.Y.,Wong, C.P.Y., & Wong, V.C.W. (2008).  Psychological resilience and dysfunction among hospitalized survivors of the SARS epidemic in Hong Kong: A latent class approach. Health Psychology, 27, 659-667.         

Bonanno, G. A., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2008). Let's be realistic: When grief counseling is effective and when it's not. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 39, 377-380.

Bonanno, G. A., & Mancini, A. D. (2008). The human capacity to thrive in the face of extreme adversity. Pediatrics, 121, 369-375.

            Papa, A., & Bonanno, G. A. (2008). Smiling in the face of adversity: Interpersonal and intrapersonal functions of smiling. Emotion, 8, 1-12.

            Bonanno, G. A., Colak, D. M., Keltner, D., Shiota, L., Papa, A., Noll, J. G., Putnam, F. W., & Trickett, P. K.  (2007). Context matters: The benefits and costs of expressing positive emotion among survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Emotion, 7, 824-837.

Bonanno, G. A., Galea, S., Bucciarelli, A., & Vlahov, D. (2007). What predicts psychological resilience after disaster? The role of demographics, resources, and life stress. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75, 671-682.

Bonanno, G. A., & Boerner, K. (2007). The stage theory of grief. JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association, 297, 2693.

            Westphal, M., & Bonanno, G. A. (2007). Posttraumatic growth and resilience to trauma: Different sides of the same coin or different coins? Applied Psychology: An International Review, 56, 416-426.

Coifman, K. G., Bonanno, G. A., Ray, R., & Gross, J. J. (2007).  Does repressive coping promote resilience? Affective-autonomic response discrepancy during bereavement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 745-758.

            Bonanno, G. A., Neria, Y., Mancini, A. D., Coifman, D., Litz, B. & Insel, B. (2007). Is there more to complicated grief than depression and PTSD? A test of incremental validity. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116, 342-351.

Bonanno, G. A. (2006). Is Complicated Grief a valid construct? Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 13, 129-134.

Lalande, K., & Bonanno, G. A. (2006). Culture and continued bonds during bereavement: A prospective comparison in the United States and China. Death Studies, 30, 303-324.

Bonanno, G. A., Galea, S., Bucciarelli, A., & Vlahov, D. (2006).  Psychological resilience after disaster: New York City in the aftermath of the September 11th Terrorist Attack. Psychological Science, 17, 181-186.

Fraley, R. C., Fazzari, D. A., Bonanno, G. A., & Dekel, S. (2006). Attachment and Psychological Adaptation in High Exposure Survivors of the September 11th Attack on the World Trade Center. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 538 - 551.

Bonanno, G. A. (2005).*  Resilience in the face of potential trauma. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 135-138. * Reprinted in S.O. Lilienfeld, J. Ruscio, & S. J Lynn (Eds.), Navigating the mindfield: A guide to separating science from pseudoscience in mental health (2008), Amherst, MA: Prometheus Books.

Bonanno, G. A., Rennicke, C., & Dekel, S. (2005). Self-Enhancement among high-exposure survivors of the September 11th terrorist attack: Resilience or social maladjustment? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 984-998.

Bonanno, G. A., Moskowitz, J. T., Papa, A., & Folkman, S. (2005). Resilience to loss in bereaved spouses, bereaved parents, and bereaved gay men. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 827-843.

Bonanno, G. A. (2005). Clarifying and extending the construct of adult resilience. American Psychologist, 60, 265-267.

Boerner, K., Wortman, C. B., & Bonanno, G. A. (2005). Resilient or at risk?: A four-year study of older adults who initially showed high or low distress following conjugal loss. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Science, 60B, P67-P73.

Bonanno, G. A., Papa, A., Lalande, K., Nanping, Z., & Noll, J. G. (2005). Grief processing and deliberate grief avoidance: A prospective comparison of bereaved spouses and parents in the United States and People's Republic of China. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73, 86-98.

Bonanno, G. A., Wortman, C. B., & Nesse, R. M.  (2004).  Prospective patterns of resilience and maladjustment during widowhood. Psychology and Aging, 19, 260-271.

Bonanno, G. A., Papa, A., Lalande, K., Westphal, M., & Coifman, K. (2004). The importance of being flexible: The ability to enhance and suppress emotional expression predicts long-term adjustment. Psychological Science, 157, 482-487.

Fraley, R. C., & Bonanno, G. A. (2004).  Attachment and loss: A test of three competing models on the association between attachment-related avoidance and adaptation to bereavement. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 878-890.

Bonanno, G. A., & Keltner, D.  (2004). The coherence of emotion systems: Comparing "on-line" measures of appraisal and facial expression, and self-report. Cognition and Emotion, 18, 431-444.

Bonanno, G. A. (2004).* Loss, trauma, and human resilience: Have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely adverse events? American Psychologist, 59, 20-28.

*Identified as a New Hot Paper, based on citation frequency, Science Citation Index.

Noll, J.G., Horowitz, L. A., Bonanno, G. A., Trickett, P. K., & Putnam, F. W.  (2003). Revictimization and self-harm in females who experienced childhood sexual abuse: Results from a prospective study. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18, 1452-1471.

Bonanno, G. A., Noll, J. G., Putnam, F. W., O'Neill, M., & Trickett, P.  (2003). Predicting the willingness to disclose childhood sexual abuse from measures of repressive coping and dissociative experiences. Child Maltreatment, 8, 1-17.

Field, N. P., Gal-Oz, E., & Bonanno, G. A.  (2003). Continuing bonds and adjustment at five years after the death of a spouse.  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71, 110-117.

Kaltman, S., & Bonanno, G. A.  (2003). Trauma and bereavement: Examining the impact of sudden and violent deaths. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 17, 131-147.

Bonanno, G. A., Wortman, C. B., Lehman, D. R., Tweed, R. G.,  Haring, M., Sonnega, J.,  Carr, D.,  & Neese, R. M. ( 2002). Resilience to loss and chronic grief: A prospective study from pre-loss to 18 months post-loss. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83. 1150-1164.

Consedine, N., Magai, C., & Bonanno, G. A.  (2002). Moderators of the emotion inhibition-health relationship: A review and research agenda.  Review of General Psychology, 6, 204-238.

Bonanno, G. A., Keltner, D., Noll, J. G., Putnam, F. W., Trickett, P., LeJeune, J., & Anderson, C.  (2002). When the face reveals what words do not: Facial expressions of emotion, smiling, and the willingness to disclose childhood sexual abuse. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 94-110.

Bonanno, G. A.,  Field, N. P., Kovacevic, A., & Kaltman, S.  (2002). Self-Enhancement as a buffer against extreme adversity: Civil war in Bosnia and traumatic loss in the United States. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 184-196.

Bonanno, G. A.,  Papa, A., & O'Neill, K.  (2001). Loss and human resilience.  Applied and Preventative Psychology, 10, 193-206.

Bauer, J., & Bonanno, G. A.  (2001). I can, I do, I am: The narrative differentiation of self-efficacy and other self-evaluations while adapting to bereavement. Journal of Research in Personality, 35, 434-448.

Bauer, J., & Bonanno, G. A.  (2001). Continuity and discontinuity: Bridging one's past and present in stories of conjugal bereavement.  Narrative Inquiry, 11, 1-36.

Safer, M. A., Bonanno, G. A., & Field, N. P.  (2001). It was never that bad: Biased recall of grief and long-term adjustment to the death of a spouse. Memory, 9, 195-204.

Bonanno, G. A.  (2001). The crucial importance of empirical evidence in the development of bereavement theory: A reply to Archer (2001).  Psychological Bulletin, 127, 561-564.

Bauer, J. & Bonanno, G. A.  (2001). Being and doing well (for the most part): Adaptive patterns of narrative self-evaluation during bereavement. Journal of Personality, 69, 451-482.

Bonanno, G. A., & Kaltman, S.  (2001). The varieties of grief experience. Clinical Psychology Review, 21, 705-734.

Bonanno, G. A., & Field, N. P.  (2001). Examining the delayed grief hypothesis across five years of bereavement. American Behavioral Scientist, 44, 798-806.

Field, N. P., & Bonanno, G. A.  (2001). The role of blame on adaptation in the first five years following the death of a spouse. American Behavioral Scientist, 44, 764-781.     

Bonanno, G. A.  (2001). New directions in bereavement research and theory. American Behavioral Scientist, 44, 718-725.

Field, N. P., Bonanno, G. A., Williams, P., & Horowitz, M. J.  (2000).  Appraisals of blame in adjustment to conjugal bereavement.  Cognitive Therapy and Research, 24, p. 549-568.

Capps, L., & Bonanno, G. A.  (2000). Narrating bereavement: Thematic and grammatical predictors of adjustment to loss.  Discourse Processes, 30, 1-25.

Sherman, R., Bonanno, G. A., Wiener, L.,  & Battles, H. B.  (2000).  When children tell their friends they have AIDS: Possible consequences for psychological well-being and disease progression. Psychosomatic Medicine, 62, 238-247.

Bonanno, G. A., & Kaltman, S. (1999).  Toward an integrative perspective on bereavement.  Psychological Bulletin, 125, 760-776.

Bonanno, G. A., Znoj, H. J., Siddique, H., & Horowitz, M. J. (1999). Verbal-autonomic response dissociation and adaptation to midlife conjugal loss: A follow-up at 25 months. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 23, 605-624.

Bonanno, G. A. (1999). Laughter during bereavement.  Bereavement Care, 18, 19-22.

Bonanno, G. A., Notarius, C. I., Gunzerath, L., Keltner, D., & Horowitz, M. J.  (1998). Interpersonal ambivalence, perceived dyadic adjustment, and conjugal loss. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66,1012-1022.

Keltner, D., & Bonanno, G. A.  (1997). A study of laughter and dissociation: Distinct correlates of laughter and smiling during bereavement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 687-702.

Horowitz, M. J., Siegel, B., Holen, A., Bonanno, G. A., Milbrath, C. & Stinson, C. (1997). Diagnostic criteria for Complicated Grief Disorder: An empirical evaluation. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 904-910.

Bonanno, G. A., & Keltner, D.  (1997).  Facial expressions of emotion and the course of conjugal bereavement. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 126-137.

Bonanno, G. A., Keltner, D., Holen, A., & Horowitz, M. J.  (1995). When avoiding unpleasant emotions might not be such a bad thing: Verbal-autonomic response dissociation and midlife conjugal bereavement.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 975-989.

Horowitz, M. J., Bonanno, G. A., & Holen, A.  (1993).  Pathological grief: Diagnosis and explanation. Psychosomatic Medicine, 55, 260-273.

Bonanno, G. A., Davis, P. J., Singer, J. L., & Schwartz, G. E.  (1991). The repressor personality and avoidant information processing: A dichotic listening study. Journal of Research in Personality, 25, 386-401.

            Bonanno, G. A.  (1990). Remembering and psychotherapy. Psychotherapy, 27, 175‑186.

Davis, P. J., Singer, J. L., Bonanno, G. A., & Schwartz, G. E. (1988).  Repressor personality style and response bias during an affective memory recognition task: A signal detection analysis. Australian Journal of Psychology, 40, 147‑157.

            Bonanno, G. A., & Stillings, N. A.  (1986).  Preference, familiarity, and recognition after brief exposures to random geometric shapes. American Journal of Psychology, 99, 403‑415. 


George Bonanno

George A. Bonanno

Professor of Education and Psychology

Phone: 212-678-3468
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