Since the Nineties, the Cescom research group gave an effective contribution to the introduction and development of communication psychology in Italy. The book “Psicologia della comunicazione” [Communication psychology] was the first handbook in Italy in this field. Deceptive, seductive and ironical communication have also been examined both by proposing new explanatory theoretical models and by advancing empirical evidence as documented by several international publications. Scientific efforts in the miscommunication field found expression in the book “Say not to say. New perspectives on miscommunication” and, recently, in the research article “Cooperative and non cooperative lies in close and casual relationships”.

Also nonverbal communication (mimic, gestures and body posture) was paid special attention to, with the adoption in Italy of innovative methodological devices for its analysis like the software THEME for the detection of hidden patterns in the flow of communicative exchanges (see the book “The hidden structure of interaction. From neurons to cultural patterns”).

In the same years, emotion psychology has been a main subject of study in its different aspects. Besides focusing on the vocal expression of emotions and their recognition by applying the Brunswick lens model (see the book La voce delle emozioni [The voice of emotions], several papers were devoted to this key psychological domain both from a theoretical standpoint and from an applied perspective, regarding the training of emotional competence in e-learning environments. Research activity on emotions led the CESCOM group to focus also on optimism as a cross point between positive emotions and subjective well-being (see “L’ottimismo” [Optimism] and the paper “Fostering emotional attunement: Optmistic shaping of emotional experiences”.

Studies in emotion and communication psychology lead the CESCOM research group to expand their scientific activity to include cultural and intercultural psychology, as “natural” horizon of communication, among its most relevant research areas/avenues. The book “Psicologia della cultura” [Culture Psychology], the first Italian handbook in this field, advanced a new paradigm of culture as symbolic system overcoming the dichotomised distinction between “nature-nurture”. This theoretical perspective has been applied to the experimental study of emotions between Indians and Italian (see the paper published in “Personality and Individual Differences”) and, recently, between Chinese and Italians (see the paper published in “The Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology”).

Based on the evidence that bi-multicultural individuals possess at least two cultural interpretative frames among which they can switch in response to specific cues in the environment (cultural frame switching, Hong et al., 2000), leading to a far better intercultural adjustment than monoculturals (Yoo et al., 2006), the CESCOM group devoted their scientific activity in this area to the concept of multicultural mind. Theoretical foundation of this concept was laid down in the book “La mente multiculturale” [The multicultural mind].