Mike Kersten
Clinical Assistant Professor
Student Health Center 204
208-885-0956
Department of Psychology & Communication Studies
University of Idaho MS 3043
Moscow, Idaho 83844-3043
Mike Kersten is an assistant professor of psychology. He currently teaches courses such as Psychology of Emotion and Positive Psychology.
Ph.D., Experimental Psychology, Texas Christian University, 2017
M.S., Experimental Psychology, Texas Christian University, 2014
B.A., Psychology, California State University, Dominguez Hills, 2012
Courses
- PSYC 360: Positive Psychology
- PSYC 456: Psychology of Emotion
Mike Kersten received a Bachelor of Arts in psychology in 2012 from California State University, Dominguez Hills. He studied experimental psychology at Texas Christian University where he earned a Master of Science degree in 2014, and a doctoral degree in 2017. Although he is excited by several topics within the fields of personality and social psychology, his research focused on the psychological resources people utilize to protect themselves from existential threat and how they contribute to well-being. Specifically, his interests include the emotion of nostalgia, close relationships and terror management.
Abeyta, A., Routledge, C., Kersten, M., & Cox, C. R. (in press). The existential cost of economic insecurity: Exploring the relationship between financial threat and perceptions of meaning in life. The Journal of Social Psychology.
Arrowood, R. B., Cox, C. R., Kersten, M., Routledge, C., Shelton, J. T., & Hood, R. (In press). Ebola salience, death-thought accessibility, and worldview defense: A terror management theory perspective. Death Studies.
Cox, C. R., & Kersten, M. (2016). Mortality salience increases language style matching and well-being. Self and Identity, 15, 1-16. doi:10.1080/15298868.2016.1154888
Kersten, M., Cox, C. R., & Van Enkevort, E. A. (2016). An exercise in nostalgia: Nostalgia promotes health optimism and physical activity. Psychology & Health, 31, 1166-1181. doi:10.1080/08870446.2016.1185524
Van Enkevort, E. A., Cox, C. R., & Kersten, M. (2016). Attraction. In K. L. Nadal (Ed.), Encyclopedia of psychology and gender. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Carrier, L. M., Kersten, M., & Rosen, L. D. (2015). Searching for Generation M: Does multitasking practice improve multitasking skill? In L. D. Rosen, N. A. Cheever, & L. M. Carrier (Eds.), The Handbook of Psychology, Technology and Society. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell, 373-387.
Cox, C. R., Kersten, M., Routledge, C., Brown, E. M., & VanEnkevort, E. A. (2015). When past meets present: The relationship between website-induced nostalgia and well-being. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 45, 282-299. doi:10.1111/jasp.12295
East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute Fellowship, National Science Foundation, 2016
Graduate Student Teaching Award, Texas Christian University, 2017