Address

University of Louvain, Department of Psychology
Research Unit for Emotion, Cognition, and Health

10, place du Cardinal Mercier
B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
Belgium

Tel. +32 10 47 87 01
Fax. +32 10 47 48 34
E-mail: Olivier.LuminetATpsp.ucl.ac.be


Professional activities

since Oct. 2001 Research associate at the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS)
since Oct. 2001 Associate professor at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL)
since Oct. 2002 Associate professor at the Free University of Brussels (ULB)

 

 

RESEARCH DOMAINS

Personality, health, and emotion. Moderating effects of alexithymia, optimism, and emotional intelligence on emotional perception, categorization and memory at explicit and implicit levels.

Emotions and memory: study of flashbulb memories at an individual and a collective level.

Validation of scales related to personality dimensions involved in emotion regulation (e.g., emotional intelligence, alexithymia, empathy, …

 

 

OFFRES DE STAGES ET DE MEMOIRES

1. Traitement de l'information émotionnelle et personnalité

En situations émotionnelles, on observe une série de biais perceptifs particuliers (par exemple ignorer certaines informations, porter une attention plus soutenue envers d'autres), de modifications des processus de catégorisation (par exemple regrouper des termes en raison de la similitude d'états émotionnels évoqués plutôt que pour des ressemblances d'ordre sémantique), d'effets sur la mémoire (oubli de souvenirs non-congruents avec l'état émotionnel dominant).
Ces effets généraux sont toutefois modifiés par des différences individuelles. Dans les stages et mémoires proposés, nous nous intéressons à trois dimensiosn de la personnalité: l'alexithymie (lié à une inhibition du traitement émotionnel), l'optimisme (lié à une anticipation positive des événements futurs) et l'intelligence émotionnelle (qui comprend des aspects liés à l'identification des émotions, à leur utilisation dans l'action, à la régulation émotionnelle). Ces variables sont également considérées comme facteurs de vulnérabilité ou de protection pour la santé.

Nous proposons différentes études de laboratoire qui permettent de mieux comprendre ces influences de la personnalité sur la manière de percevoir et de maintenir en souvenir des éléments de notre vie émotionnelle et sur leurs conséquences pour la santé.

Différents aspects appliqués sont aussi liés à ces thématiques. En voici plusieurs à titre d'exemples :

•  étude des biais perceptifs et mnésiques de l'alexithymie dans les troubles alimentaires et l'abus d'alcool

•  alexithymie et maladies chroniques (diabète)

•  étude des processus de conditionnement évaluatif et application au domaine de la publicité, du marketing

•  étude des liens entre intelligence émotionnelle et santé dans différents contextes organisationnels avec potentiel élevé  de stress (cadres hospitaliers, employés de call-center, …)

Ces études sont réalisées en collaboration avec trois chercheurs-doctorants de l'entité et avec Olivier Corneille de l'unité de psychologie sociale

Voir :

Nicolas Vermeulen  (Nicolas.Vermeulen@psp.ucl.ac.be)

Moïra Mikolajczak (Moïra.Mikolajczak@psp.ucl.ac.be)

Gordy Pleyers (Gordy.Pleyers@psp.ucl.ac.be)

 

2. La mémoire collective et les "souvenirs flashes"

Qu'est-ce qui fait que des événements collectifs (comme les attentats du 11 septembre, la mort de la princesse Diana, du roi Baudouin) ou certains événements personnels restent en mémoire pour de longues périodes alors que d'autres sont rapidement oubliés? Quel rôle jouent les émotions dans le maintien de certains souvenirs et dans l'oubli d'autres? Ces souvenirs sont-ils fidèles à l'événement original ou observe-t-on des distorsions avec le temps? Pourquoi se souvient-on tellement bien des circonstances dans lesquelles on apprend ce type de nouvelle?

Ces différentes questions sont abordées à partir d'événements de l'actualité, d'événements vécus et de situations de laboratoire.

Si vous êtes intéressé(e) ou si vous souhaitez avoir plus de renseignements, n'hésitez pas à me contacter:

Le moyen le plus facile est de m'envoyer un e-mail à l'adresse suivante (en précisant bien le contenu du stage/mémoire qui vous intéresse) : Olivier.Luminet@psp.ucl.ac.be. On peut aussi me téléphoner au 010/47 87 01 ou passer à mon bureau (Unité ECSA, Bureau D217, lundi, mardi ou vendredi).

 

 

REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS

1. International journals with peer review

Luminet, O., Bagby, R. M., & Taylor, G. J. (2001). An evaluation of the absolute and relative stability of alexithymia in patients with major depression. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 70 , 254-260. (Stability_alexithymia.pdf)

Luminet, O., Bagby, R. M., Wagner, H. L., Taylor, G. J., & Parker, J. D. A. (1999). Relation between alexithymia and the Five Factor Model of personality: A facet level analysis Journal of Personality Assesment, 73, 345-358 (FFM_alex.pdf)

Luminet, O., Bouts, P., Delie, F., Manstead, A. S. R., & Rimé, B. (2000). Social sharing of emotion following exposure to a negatively valenced situation. Cognition and Emotion, 14 , 661-688. (Social_sharing.pdf)

Luminet, O., Curci, A., Marsh, E. J., Wessel, I., Constantin, T., Gencoz, F., & Yogo, M. (2004). The Cognitive, Emotional and Social Impacts of the September 11 th Attacks: Group Differences in Memory for the Reception Context and the Determinants of Flashbulb Memory . Journal of General Psychology, 131 (3), 197-224. (FBM_WTC.pdf)

Luminet, O., Rimé, B., Bagby, R. M., & Taylor, G. J. (2004). A multimodal investigation of emotional responding in alexithymia. Cognition and Emotion, 18 (6), 741-766 (Multimodal.pdf)

 Luminet, O., Zech, E., Rimé, B., & Wagner, H.L. (2000). Predicting cognitive and social consequences of emotional episodes: The contribution of emotional intensity, the Five Factor Model and alexithymia. Journal of Research in Personality, 34 , 471-497. (personality_confrontation.pdf)

Curci, A., Luminet, O., Finkenauer, C., & Gisle, L. (2001). Flashbulb memories in social groups: A comparative study of the memory of French president Mitterrand's death in a French and a Belgian group. Memory, 9 , 81-101. (FBM_Mitterrand.pdf)

Dijksterhuis, A., Corneille, O, Aarts, H., Vermeulen, N., & Luminet, O. (2004). Yes, there is a preferential detection of negative stimuli: A response to Labiouse. Psychological Science, 15 (8), 571-572. (detection.pdf)

Finkenauer, C., Luminet, O., Gisle, L., van der Linden, M., El-Ahmadi, A., & Philippot, P. (1998). Flashbulb memories and the underlying mechanisms of their formation: Towards an Emotional-Integrative Model. Memory and Cognition, 26 , 516-531. (FBM_Baudouin.pdf)

Gay, M. C., Philippot, P, & Luminet, O. (2002). Differential effectiveness of psychological interventions for reducing osteoarthritis pain: A comparison of hypnosis and relaxation. European Review of Pain, 6 , 1-16. (Hypnosis.pdf)

Rimé, B., Finkenauer, C., Luminet, O., Zech, E., & Philippot, P. (1998). Social sharing of emotion: New evidence and new questions. European Review of Social Psychology, 9 , 145-189. (social_sharing_chapter.pdf)

Vermeulen, N., Luminet, O., & Corneille, O. (in press). Alexithymia and the Automatic Processing of Affective Information: Evidence from the Affective Priming Paradigm. Cognition and Emotion (affective_priming.pdf)

Zech, E., Luminet, O., Rimé, B., & Wagner, H.L. (1999). Alexithymia and its measurement. Confirmatory factor analyses of the twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Bermond-Vorst alexithymia questionnaire. European Journal of Personality, 13 , 511-532. (TAS_BVAQ_measure.pdf)

 

2. Books

Luminet, O. (2002). Psychologie des émotions. Confrontation et évitement. [Psychology of emotion. Confrontation and avoidance]. Brussels: De Boeck Université. (http://universite.deboeck.com/livre/?GCOI=28011100886910)

 

3. Book chapters

Luminet, O. (2004). Assessment and measurement of rumination. In C. Papageorgiou and A. Wells (Eds.), Rumination: Nature, theory, and treatment of negative thinking in depression . (pp. 187-215). Chichester: Wiley. (Rumin_chapter.pdf)

Luminet, O., Curci, A., Marsh, E. J., Wessel, I., Constantin, T., Gencoz, F., & Yogo, M. (2003). The cognitive, emotional, and social impact of the September 11 th Attacks: Group differences in memory for the reception context and its determinants. In B. Kokinov & W. Hirst (Eds.), Constructive memory (pp. 210-223). Sofia, Bulgaria: New Bulgarian University. (FBM_WTC_chapter.pdf)

Luminet, O., Taylor, G. J., & Bagby, R. M. (2003). La mesure de l'alexithymie. In M. Corcos & M. Speranza (Eds)., Psychopathologie de l'alexithymie . (pp. 183-204). Paris : Dunod. (mesure_alexithymie.pdf)

Luminet, O., & Vermeulen, N. (in press, 2004). Personnalité et psychopathlogie cognitive [Personality and cognitive psychopathology]. In M. van der Linden & G. Ceschi (Eds.), Traité de psychopathologie cognitive [The Handbook of cognitive psychopathology]. Marseille: Solal. (perso_pathocog.pdf)

Finkenauer, C., Gisle, L., & Luminet, O. (1997). When collective memories are socially shaped: Flashbulb memories of socio-political events. In J. W. Pennebaker, D. Paez & B. Rimé (Eds.), Collective memories of political events: Social and psychological perspectives. (pp.191-208). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. (translated in Spanish) (FBM_chapter.pdf)

Taylor, G. J., Bagby, R. M., & Luminet, O. (2000). Assessment of alexithymia: Self-report and observer-rated measures. In J.D.A. Parker and R. Bar-On (Eds.). The handbook of emotional intelligence. (pp. 301-319). San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass. (alex_measurement.pdf)

 

 

 

MAIN COLLABORATIONS WITH OTHER RESEARCH GROUPS

University of Toronto (Canada)
Profs. R. M. Bagby and G. J. Taylor:
Alexithymia and emotional information processing
Assessment of alexithymia
Relative and absolute stability of alexithymia

International research network on "flashbulb memories"
Ticu Constantin, Department of Psychology, University of Iasi, Roumanie; Martin A. Conway, Department of Psychology, University of Durham, United Kingdom; Antonietta Curci et Guglielmo Bellelli, Department of Psychology, University of Bari, Italy; Elizabeth J. Marsh, Department of Psychology, Duke University, USA; Inneke Wessel, Department of Psychology, Groningen University, The Netherlands; Masao Yogo, Department of Psychology, Doshisha University, Japan

University hospital St-Luc (Brussels)
Profs. Luts, Buysschaert, Roussaux, Dr. de Tmary: diabetes and alexithymia alcoholism, alexithymia and anhedonia

Research group on collective memory :
Profs. Rosoux, van Ypersele, Rousseaux (University of Louvain at Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium), Dr. Klein and Licata (Free University of Brussels, Belgium)

 

 

 

SCIENTIFIC GRANTS (last 5 years)

As personal projects

July 1999 Research grant from the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (250,000 BF or 6,000 US$) (convention 1.5.124.00)
July 2001

Research grant from the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (300,000 BF or 7,200 US$) (convention 1.5.146.02)

June 2002 Special research fund of the university of Louvain (FSR) for a research project on “Moderating effects of alexithymia on emotional perception and categorization” (50.000 Euros)
December 2002 Special research fund of the university of Louvain (FSR) for a research project on “Moderating impact of emotional intelligence on the emotional information processing. Cognitive, physiological and behavioral correlates” (50.000 Euros)
July 2002 Research grant from the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (8000 Euros) for a research project on “ Testing the replicability of the “emotional-integrative” model in the formation of “flashbulb memories”; their level of consistency and the effects of cultural variations. (convention 1.5.128.03)
July 2003 Research grant from the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (10,000 Euros) for a research project on “Examining the effects of alexithymia as an individual difference in the regulation and processing of emotional information by using automatic tasks". (convention 1.5.123.04)
March 2004 Special research fund of the university of Louvain (FSR). Post-doc position for a research project on “ The intensity of emotional experiences: Relationships between physiological, expressive and cognitive-experiential components” (in collaboration with Pierre Philippot and Emmanuelle Zech) (35.000 Euros)
July 2004 Special research fund of the university of Louvain (FSR) for a research project on “Moderating impact of the aptitude to identify emotion : investigation of the attentional, mnesic and attributional components” (48.000 Euros)
July 2004 Special research fund of the university of Louvain (FSR) for a research project on “Processes of valence acquisition of neutral stimuli and moderating impact of alexithymia ” (48.000 Euros)


In collaboration

July 2001 Research Grant from the French-speaking Government (ARC, convention 01/06-270) on “Emotion, cognition, and intergroup relations”. Promotors: Profs. Corneille, Leyens, Luminet, Philippot, Rimé, and Yzerbyt, Dr. Zech (32,515,000BF or 806,040 Euros).
July 2003 Special research fund of the university of Louvain (FSR) for a researchproject on "Alexithymia and anhedonia in the alcoholic patient". Promotors: Profs. Luminet and Roussaux, Dr. De Timary.

 

 

AFFILIATION TO SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES

American Psychological Association (foreign affiliate)

European Association for Experimental Social Psychology

European Association of Personality Psychology

International Society for the Research on Emotion

Belgian Psychological Society

Society for Personality and Social Psychology

 

 

 

REVIEWING

Editorial board of international peer reviewed journals:

European Journal of Personality


Regular consulting reviewer for international peer reviewed journals:

Année Psychologique (L')
Applied Cognitive Psychology
Assessment
British Journal of Clinical Psychology
Cahiers Internationaux de Psychologie Sociale
Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology / Revue Canadienne de Psychologie Expérimentale
Cognition and Emotion
Current Psychology of Cognition
Emotion

European Review of Applied Psychology
Journal of Information Ethics
Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Le Travail Humain
Memory
Personality and Individual Differences
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Psychologica Belgica
Psychosomatics
Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science
Revue Francophone de Clinique Comportementale et Cognitive (French Review of Behavior and Cognitive Therapy)
Spanish Journal of Psychology


Regular consulting reviewer for publishers:

De Boeck Université


Regular consulting reviewer for science foundations:

Fonds national (belge) de la recherche scientifique (FNRS)
Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek -Vlaanderen (FWO)

 

 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE (last 5 years)

Since Oct. 1999 Teaching class on“Social psychology of emotion” (30 hrs), Department of Psychology, Free University Brussels (ULB)
Since Oct. 2000

Teaching class on “Advanced questions in health psychology” (30 hrs), Department of Psychology, University of Louvain together with Eric Baruffol, Pierre Philippot and Nady Van Broeck

2001 - 2003

Teaching class on “Psychology of emotion” (30 hrs), Department of Psychology, University of Liège

2002 - 2003

Advanced seminar on “Intervention methods in health psychology” (30 hrs), together with Eric Baruffol, University of Louvain

2002 - 2003

Teaching class on differential and personality psychology (30 hrs), Department of Psychology, University of Louvain together with Guy Lories and Eric Baruffol

Since July 2003

Teaching class on health psychology (30 hrs), Department of Psychology, University of Louvain together with Guy Lories, Eric Baruffol, and Emmanuelle Zech. Coordinator of the class: Olivier Luminet

2003 - 2004

Teaching class on "Collective memories. Interdisciplinary approaches: history, international relations and psychology" (30 hrs). Doctoral school "Norms, Cognition and Culture" of the University of Louvain, together with Valérie Rosoux, Xavier Rousseaux and Laurence van Ypersele

Since 2003 - 2004 Teaching class on "Emotion, psychopathology and quality of life (30 hrs). Doctoral school "Norms, Cognition and Culture" of the University of Louvain, together with Pierre Philippot and Salvatore Campanella
Since 2004 - 2005 Teaching class on "Health and environment: Psychosocial risks" (15h). Department of Medical Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Louvain

 

 

SUPERVISION EXPERIENCE

Since 1995 Supervisions of students internships
Since Jan. 2001 Supervision of undergraduate theses (21)
Since Oct. 2001

Supervision of PhD theses (4):

  • Nicolas Vermeulen. Topic: Alexithymia and automatic information (with Olivier Corneille as co-supervisor)
  • Gordy Pleyers. Topic: Moderating effects of alexithymia on the acquisition of valence (with Olivier Corneille as co-supervisor)
  • Moïra Mikolajczak . Topic: Cognitive and emotional processes involved in the emotional intelligence construct
  • Renata Cserjesi. Topic: “Relationships among executive functions, dopamine signaling system and alexitymia in eating disorders” (with Prof. Lenard, University of Pecs, Hungary as co-supervisor)
Since Sept. 2002 Masters and PhD committees (University of Louvain-UCL: dep. of psychology and dep. of medicine ; University of Brussels-ULB: dep. of psychology ; University of Liège-ULg: dep. of psychology; University of Lausanne, Switzerland, Department of political and social sciences; University of Paris XI, France, Medical School; University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Psychology Department)

 

 

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEES (last 5 years)

May 2001 Co-chair of an international symposium on “Cognitive and emotional approaches of personality and psychopathology”, University of Louvain, Belgium
Oct. 2003 Chair of an international symposium on " New developments in alexithymia research”. Symposium conducted at the Third International Conference on The (Non)Expression of Emotions in Health and Disease , Tilburg, The Netherlands
May 2004 Member of the scientific committee of the "1 st Belgian Meeting on Cognitive Psychopathology", University of Louvain, Belgium
July 2004 Co-chair (with Dr. Derakshan, University of Leeds, UK ) of an international symposium on "Personality traits, emotional inhibition and information processing", 12 th European Conference on Personality, Groningen, The Netherlands
Since July 2004 President of the scientific network on collective memory funded by the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS)
Since July 2004 Member of the scientific network on cognitive psychopathology funded by the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS)

 

 

OTHER COMMITTEES (last 5 years)

Sept. 99- Nov. 03 Member of the executive committee of the Belgian Federation of Psychologists as a delegate of the Belgian Psychological Society
Since Jan. 2001

Member of the ethic committee of the Psychology Department, University of Louvain, Belgium

May 2001 Member of the organizing and the scientific committee of the annual meeting of the Belgian Psychological Society (BPS), Louvain-la-Neuve
Since Feb. 2003 Member of the Commission for International Affairs of the University of Louvain (representative for the human sciences sector)
Since July 2003 Member of the Commission for the management of the doctoral school "Norms, Cognition and Culture" of the University of Louvain
Oct. 2003 – Sept. 2004

Member of the working group on the international academic programs of the University of Louvain

Since Nov. 2003 Member of the commission for clinical psychology of the Psychology department, University of Louvain, Belgium
Since Nov. 2004 Academic coordinator for Erasmus-Socrates programs