Prof. Garima Rajan

BIO

Prof. Garima Rajan is Assistant Professor – Psychology at FLAME University. She received her PhD in Psychology from IIT Delhi. She holds a Master’s Degree and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Delhi.

Prof. Garima has a total work experience of over six years as a Teaching Assistant and was associated with IIT, Delhi, and Mississippi State University, USA. Currently, she is teaching Positive Psychology, Methods of Psychological Testing, and Social Psychology. Her broad area of research interests lies in psychometrics, positive and cognitive psychology.

Her doctoral research work focused on documenting several psychological, affective, and cognitive benefits of yoga, meditation, and associated positive practices using a mixed-method approach. Her research incorporated qualitative semi-structured interviews, psychological self-report assessments, cognitive tasks, and experimentation, along with the development of a smartphone application PsyEx for the purpose of data collection. She has examined executive functioning and emotion regulation in positive and negative symptom dimensions of schizophrenia for her Master’s thesis and self-conscious emotions and emotion regulation in depression and bipolar affective disorder for her Undergraduate Honours thesis. She has published and presented her research work in national and international journals and at numerous conferences of repute. She is an active member of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA), International Congress of Psychology (ICP), National Academy of Psychology (NAOP), Indian Academy of Applied Psychology (IAAP), and National Positive Psychology Association (NPPA). Along with her robust research aptitude, she has also demonstrated a strong scholastic orientation during her formal academic training in psychology. 

In her spare time, she enjoys singing, reading, and travelling.

JOURNAL ARTICLES

• Rajan, G. & Khosla, M. (2015). Exploring Self-Conscious Emotions and Emotion Regulation in Depression and Bipolar Affective Disorder: Implications for Therapeutic Interventions. International Journal of Public Mental Health and Neurosciences, 2(2), 34-47.


• Rajan, G. & Singh, K. (Manuscript Under Review). How Effective are Classroom-Based Yoga and Meditation Workshops and Courses for College Students? An Insight from Three Studies on Psychological Benefits of Yoga-Meditation Based Workshops and Courses.


• Rajan, G. & Singh, K. (Manuscript Under Review). Can a Short-Online, Advanced Yoga and Meditation Program Impact Well-Being Indicators among the Participants? An investigation during COVID-19!


• Rajan, G. & Singh, K. (Manuscript Under Preparation). Examining theDifferences in Executive Functioning and Use of Emotion Regulation Strategies among Novice, Advanced and Non-Practitioners of Yoga and Meditation.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

• Shah, A. & Rajan, G. (2022, March). Does Hatha Yoga Impact Emotion Regulation and Emotional Well-Being in Anxiety and Depression? It Depends! Research paper presented at the Indian Knowledge System and Mental Health (IKSMH) workshop organized by IIT Mandi iHub and HCI Foundation, in partnership with Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, India, from 25th to 27th March 2022. http://acslab.org/workshop/booklet.pdf


• Rajan, G. & Singh, K. (2022, March). Do Emotion Regulation Strategies Differ for Advanced, Novice, and Non-Practitioners of Yoga and Meditation? An Investigation During COVID-19. Research paper presented at the 31st Convention of National Academy of Psychology 2021-2022 organized by Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay from March 4-6, 2022. http://naopiitb2021-22.in/scheduleDownload.php?file=Abstract_List


• Rajan, G. & Singh, K. (2022, January). Improvements in Well-Being Indicators after Attending a Short-Online, Advanced Meditation Program during COVID-19. Research paper presented at the 57th National & 26th International Conference of Indian Academy of Applied Psychology (IAAP) organized by Department of Clinical Psychology, Mizoram University, India, from 27th to 29th January 2022.


• Rajan, G. & Singh, K. (2021, July). Understanding Psychological Benefits of Meditation and Associated Positive Spiritual Practices. Research paper presented at The 32nd International Congress of Psychology (ICP 2020+) Prague, Czech Republic from 18-23 July, 2021.
  https://www.icp2020.com/scientific-program/scientific-programme/


• Rajan, G. & Singh, K. (2021, July). Improvements in Flourishing and Emotion Regulation among College Students Following a Week of Classroom-Based Yoga and Meditation Workshop on ‘Inner Clarity’. Research poster presented at the 7th International Positive Psychology Association World Congress 2021 (IPPA WC 2021) from July 15 – 17, 2021.
  http://ippa-wc-2021.p.asnevents.com.au/days/2021-07-15/abstract/73178


• Rajan, G. & Singh, K. (2021, March). Differences in Inhibitory Control, Selective Attention and Cognitive Flexibility among Novice Meditators, Advanced Meditators and Non-Meditators. Research paper presented at the 30th Convention of National Academy of Psychology 2020-2021 organized by Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur from March 19-21, 2021.


• Rajan, G. & Singh, K. (2021, February). Changes in the Use of Emotion Regulation Strategies of Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression after an Advanced Yoga and Meditation Program. Research paper presented at the 56th National & 25th International Conference of Indian Academy of Applied Psychology (IAAP) organized by Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, India, from 18th to 20th February 2021.


• Rajan, G. & Singh, K. (2021, January). Examining the Cognitive Benefits in Selective Attention, Response Inhibition, Cognitive Flexibility and Emotion Regulation Strategies via a Smartphone App Among Participants From an Online Advanced Yoga and Meditation Program. Research poster presented at the 7th Annual Conference of Cognitive Science (ACCS) from 23rd-25th January, 2021


• Rajan, G. & Singh, K. (2019, December). Psychological Benefits of Short-Term Workshop on Yoga, Heartfulness Meditation and Positive Practices in College Students. Research paper presented in 29th Annual Convention of National Academy of Psychology (NAOP), India & International Conference on “Making Psychology Deliverable to the Society” organized by Department of Applied Psychology, Pondicherry University, India, 20th -22nd December, 2019.


• Rajan, G. & Singh, K. (2019, February). Effectiveness of a Course on 'Science of Happiness': A Classroom Study in College Students. Research paper presented in 54th National & 23rd International Conference of Indian Academy of Applied Psychology (IAAP) organized by Department of Psychology, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India, 14-16th February, 2019.


• Singh, V. & Rajan, G. (2017, October). Do emotions make memories specific?  It depends! Research poster presented at the 4th International Annual Cognitive Science Conference at University of Hyderabad, India.


• Rajan, G. & Gupta, A. (2014, December). Executive Functioning and Emotion Regulation: A Comparative Analysis of Positive and Negative Symptom Dimensions in Schizophrenia. Research poster presented at the International Conference of Public Mental Health and Neurosciences (ICPMN-2014), Bangalore, India.


• Rajan, G. & Khosla, M. (2014, December). Understanding Self-Conscious Emotions and Emotion Regulation in Depression and Bipolar Affective Disorder. Research poster presented at the International Conference of Public Mental Health and Neurosciences (ICPMN-2014), Bangalore, India.


• Rajan, G. & Khosla, M. (2014, January). Examining Self-Conscious Emotions and Emotion Regulation in Depression and Bipolar Affective Disorder: Implications for Emotional Well-Being. Research paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on Cognition and Health held from January 23-25, 2014 in the Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.