Skip To Main Content
James Coan on Muck Rack

James Coan

Charlottesville
As seen in: Medium, Washington Post Opinions, PLOS, Arizona Daily Star, Institute for Family Studies, Herald/Review Media, In-Mind, The Liberal Patriot
Covers:  Social relationships; touch; neuroscience; evolution; mental health
Exploring human connection through science, conversation, and art. Director of the Virginia Affective Neuroscience Lab. linktr.ee/jimcoan

Get in touch with James

Contact James, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.

Learn more about Muck Rack

Actions

Share this page

James Coan’s Biography

Read Full Bio →

Dr. James Coan is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Virginia Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Virginia. Dr. Coan has consulted for clinicians, businesses and researchers, working with groups as diverse as the Oregon Social Learning Center, the Anna Freud Center, the Kurt Lewin Institute, and the Community of Democracies. He is co-editor of the Handbook of Emotion Elicitation and Assessment and has authored more than eighty peer-reviewed articles. His work has bee…

James Coan’s Journalist Portfolio

The Trauma of Family Separation: An Interview with Dr. James A. Coan

The Trauma of Family Separation: An Interview with Dr. James A. Coan

In light of the controversy and national outcry surrounding the family separation policy, we recently spoke w…

View article →
The Violence We Have Committed

The Violence We Have Committed

With its “zero-tolerance” policy toward individuals — including asylum petitioners — illegally crossing the s…

View article →
Opinion | The Trump administration is committing violence against children

Opinion | The Trump administration is committing violence against children

James A. Coan is a psychology professor at the University of Virginia and host of the science podcast "Circle…

View article →
Negative Psychology

Negative Psychology

People on all sides of the recent push for directreplication -a push I find both charming and naive-are angry…

View article →
S2E4 - Tim Cunningham, Part 1

S2E4 - Tim Cunningham, Part 1

WELCOME BACK to CIRCLE OF WILLIS, my podcast about science and the scientists who do it. In this episode, I i…

View article →
S2E5 - Tim Cunningham, Part 2

S2E5 - Tim Cunningham, Part 2

Welcome to Circle of Willis, my podcast about science and the scientists who do it, brought to you by generou…

View article →

Articles

A Cautionary Nordic Tale: How Cohabitation Reform Reduced Marriage and Fertility in Finland

|
By Rosemary L. Hopcroft, James Coan, Beverly Willett
| Institute for Family Studies
The marriage certificate is more than just a piece of paper, even in countries like Finland, according to new research from The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) in London, which confirms that the process of formally saying ‘I do’ still matters. The British government is currently soliciting feedback and ideas on plans to grant property rights to cohabiting couples on the grounds that this change will protect people in unformalized romantic unions.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Demoralized But Not Defeated: What 2,000 Young Men Told IFS About Their Lives

|
By James Coan, Joseph Holmes
| Institute for Family Studies
In March 2026, the Institute for Family Studies released America’s Demoralized Men, Part I: Worthy Aspirations, Trying Circumstances, the first installment of a two-part report, based on a YouGov survey of a nationally representative sample of 2,000 young men, ages 18-29. Our aim, within the limits of the survey, was to allow young men to express themselves on a range of personal issues, for which there has been considerable and often harsh public commentary.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Family Structure Is Key to Student Success: The Case for Federal Reporting in Education

|
By Beverly Willett, James Coan
| Institute for Family Studies
The federal government collects a wealth of data to help us understand what drives child outcomes in student learning, health, and economic security. Yet the government often leaves out a critical factor in its public reporting: family structure. In a new report from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Institute for Family Studies (IFS), we focus on education as one example of this exclusion.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?
See all 11 licensed articles (12 Total)