Alison Jane Martingano

Alison Jane Martingano Alison Jane Martingano, Ph.D. Alison Jane Martingano, Ph. D., specializes in social, personality and health psychology.

Her research investigates how people are able to understand each other.

04/06/2026

alum Lance Gauger talks about his experience working in the Social Research Lab.

Lance is one of a team of authors recently published in American Psychologist, finding that even today Psychology largely studies WEIRD people!

03/23/2026

“Alison Jane explains that empathy is not one single emotional blob, but a multidimensional concept that includes cognitive empathy, empathic concern, and emotional contagion or distress.”

“Cognitive empathy is the ability to understand what someone else is thinking or feeling without becoming overwhelmed yourself.”

“Empathic concern is the warm, compassionate response that keeps the focus on the other person.”

“Those two forms of empathy, she explains, are associated with less burnout. The problem arises with distress-based empathy, when a person does not merely care about someone else’s suffering but begins to carry it internally, mirroring the pain as their own.”

“That distinction becomes one of the episode’s most useful takeaways: feeling for others can sustain us, while feeling overwhelmed with them can slowly wear us down.”

🧠 “empathy is not a blob” is going to be my new favorite phrase.

TWO psychology professors will be pied on March 12 at 4:00 p.m.! Current standings:🥧 Jason Cowell – 23🥧 Todd Hillhouse ...
03/03/2026

TWO psychology professors will be pied on March 12 at 4:00 p.m.!

Current standings:
🥧 Jason Cowell – 23
🥧 Todd Hillhouse – 18
🥧 Sawa Senzki– 14
🥧 Qiushan Liu– 11
🥧 Jenell Holstead– 7
🥧 Alison Jane Martingano – 6

Tickets are $2 each or 3 for $5. Use them to vote for a professor to be pied or enter the raffle (prizes include Bluetooth headphones, gift baskets, smart lights, a vintage Psych Department sweater, and more!).

Buy tickets in the Psychology Department (MAC, 3rd floor, C-wing), or ask a psychology professor for help!

We did the “how do you see me?” photo montage. Laughs were had all round 🤣
02/21/2026

We did the “how do you see me?” photo montage. Laughs were had all round 🤣

Halloween was extra scary this year with hubby in hospital last night. 🎃 🏥 But his appendix is out and we were able to k...
11/01/2025

Halloween was extra scary this year with hubby in hospital last night. 🎃 🏥

But his appendix is out and we were able to keep our tradition of carving pumpkins together and start a new tradition of giving out candy from our own front porch.

Congratulations to Psychology student Elizabeth Ellair, whose research was featured in the APS Observer magazine!Her wo...
10/31/2025

Congratulations to Psychology student Elizabeth Ellair, whose research was featured in the APS Observer magazine!

Her work exemplifies her curiosity, creativity, and her dedication to research with real world relevance.

💚We’re so proud to see her representing Phoenix research on the national stage!

Who ya gonna call?Alison Jane Martingano, Ph.D., Sara Konrath, Ph.D., Danielle Blanch-Hartigan, Ph.D., Mark H. Davis, Ph...
10/08/2025

Who ya gonna call?

Alison Jane Martingano, Ph.D., Sara Konrath, Ph.D., Danielle Blanch-Hartigan, Ph.D., Mark H. Davis, Ph.D., Judith A. Hall, Ph.D., Mollie A. Ruben, Ph.D., Justin J. Sanders, Ph.D., and Rachel Schwartz Ph.D.

🔗 Link to article in bio

To say that 1066 is an important date in history is an understatement. Even by his own account, William the Conquerer ...
07/08/2025

To say that 1066 is an important date in history is an understatement. Even by his own account, William the Conquerer was merciless, leaving the dead to rot in the battlefield.

And yet here’s me, fooling around on said battlefield. How? Am I devoid of ?

has my back on this one. People’s emotional empathy changes depending on time. When something is far removed from our current experience (like the Battle of Hastings) it becomes less emotionally charged and more abstract. This shift is known as psychological distance, and it reduces empathic engagement.

We don’t feel compelled to mourn for long-dead soldiers in the same way we do for victims of a recent tragedy, because empathy depends heavily on proximity, temporal, physical and social.

We may know, intellectually, that those people suffered, but it doesn’t activate the same visceral empathic reaction.

Do you think I should cut my hair?
07/03/2025

Do you think I should cut my hair?

Dillon and I enjoy people watching at restaurants. Last night was a perfect opportunity .Psychologists believe that when...
06/29/2025

Dillon and I enjoy people watching at restaurants. Last night was a perfect opportunity .

Psychologists believe that when we watch people, our minds naturally build stories to make sense of what we see—imagining who someone is, what they’re feeling, or what might happen next. This process, known as narrative construction, draws on our past experiences, cultural scripts, and perspective-taking skills.

So people watching can be deeply rewarding: it not only lets us have fun with our social-cognitive skills we are also exercising and enhancing our empathy and imagination.

Porto Cervo, Sardegna. The boats are bigger than the buildings and most people seem to be staying aboard rather than max...
06/29/2025

Porto Cervo, Sardegna. The boats are bigger than the buildings and most people seem to be staying aboard rather than maxing out their Marriott Bonvoy points.

What surprised me, though, is that I don’t feel out of place in a painful way. I just… don’t belong, and that feels oddly good. Social comparison didn’t kick in the way I thought it might. Instead of envy, I’ve felt a kind of quiet relief. These aren’t my people, this isn’t my place, and that’s okay.

That said, I will be posting this selfie of myself looking fabulous, because while I may be spiritually above it all, I’m not above a little ego boost.

🤣

Nothing quite like England in the summer with my mum. 🇬🇧 ☀️
06/23/2025

Nothing quite like England in the summer with my mum. 🇬🇧 ☀️

Address

Green Bay, WI
54115

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Alison Jane Martingano posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Alison Jane Martingano:

Shortcuts

Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn
Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share via Email
Share on WhatsApp Share on Instagram Share on Telegram

Category