: mjunnarkar@jgu.edu.in

Research Interests

Criminal Psychology, Courtroom Psychology, Eyewitness Testimony, Psychological Well-being

Prof. (Dr.) Mohita Junnarkar

Professor & Vice Dean (Research)

B. Sc. (Mumbai University);
M. H. Sc. (SNDT Women’s University)
Ph. D. (IIT Bombay)

Dr. Mohita Junnarkar serves as a Professor and Vice Dean – Research at Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences (JIBS), O. P. Jindal Global University. She has completed her Ph.D. in Psychology from IIT Bombay in 2013 and post-doctoral fellowship in positive psychology focusing on assessment and validation of psychological scales from IIT Delhi in 2015. She has about 9 years of research experience and 7 years of teaching experience. Her key teaching areas are applied positive psychology, psychometrics, adolescent development and cognitive psychology and her research areas are eyewitness testimony, psychometrics, and adolescent development. Currently, in eyewitness testimony she is investigating “how can eyewitness memory accuracy be enhanced and what is difference in neuronal pathways for correct identification and misidentification by eyewitness?” In the field of adolescent development she is seeking answers to “how to identify the early signs of languishing mental health of adolescent at home and in school and how to communicate effectively with adolescents on day-to-day basis so that they flourish? Mohita is a part of several budding organizations such as an Executive Committee Member of the National Positive Psychology Association and a Founding member of the Society of Young Psychologists. She has also conducted several training programs for teachers and Government officials and delivered guest lectures in her area of expertise.

Research Experience

Mohita has presented her research findings at numerous international and national conferences. She has published about 18 papers in national and international peer-reviewed journals in psychometric validation of positive psychology constructs and has about eight book chapters. She has published four (co-authored) books – “Measures of Positive Psychology: Development and Validation” (2016) and “Death Penalty: Perspectives from India and Beyond” (2020) with Springer and “Maximizing Human Potential Through Behavioural Competencies” (2019) with Bloomsbury. Mohita was also instrumental in establishing psychological laboratory during her Ph.D. Three research scholars have been awarded Ph.D. under her supervision. She was also serving as a reviewer for Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology.

Teaching Experience

Mohita’s teaching journey commenced in January 2007 prior to her Ph.D. She was teaching young social work students. She started co-teaching Introduction to Psychology and Human Cognitive Processes to BTech students at IIT Bombay as a teaching assistant. Subsequently, since 2015 she started teaching as a Full-Time Psychology faculty. She has taught a wide array of subjects such as Research Methods, Cognitive Psychology, Psychology of the Courtroom, Social Psychology, Health Psychology, Positive Psychology at UG and PG levels (Master, M.Phil and Ph.D.).

Publications

Journal Papers

  1. Singh, K., Junnarkar, M., Singh, D., Suchday, S., Mitra, S., & Dayal, P. (2019). Associations between Religious/ Spiritual Practices and Well-Being in Indian Elderly Rural Women. Journal of Religion and Health, 1 – 22. (Indexing: SCOPUS; PSYCINFO).
  2. Singh, K., Junnarkar, M. & Mitra, S. (2018). Validation of Hindi Translated Scales on Grit, Resilience and Well-being. Journal of Indian Academy of Applied Psychology (JIAPP), 44 (1), 89-98. (Indexing: SCOPUS)
  3. Singh, K., Junnarkar, M., & Jain, A. (2017). Factors Affecting Mental Health of North Indian Adolescents. Psychological Studies, 1-10. (Indexing: SCOPUS; PSYCINFO, ProQuest)
  4. Kaur, J. & Junnarkar, M. (2017). Emotional Intelligence and Intimacy in Relationships. The International Journal of Indian Psychology. (Indexing: Index Copernicus)
  5. Singh, K., Junnarkar, M. & Jaswal, S. (2017) Validation of the Flourishing Scale and the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience in India. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 19(8): 943-954. DOI 10.1080/13674676.2016.1229289. (Indexing: SCOPUS; PSYCINFO)
  6. Singh, K., Singh, A., Kaur, J., Junnarkar, M. & Slezackova, A. (2016) Cross-cultural differences in Gunas and other well-being dimensions. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 24, 139-146. (Indexing: SCOPUS; PSYCINFO)
  7. Singh, K., Junnarkar, M., Jaswal, S. & Kaur, J. (2016) Validation of Meaning in Life Questionnaire in Hindi (MLQ-H). Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 19(5), 448-458 DOI 10.1080/13674676.2016.1189759. (Indexing: SCOPUS; PSYCINFO)
  8. Singh, K., Bassi, M, Junnarkar, M. & Negri, L. & (2015). Mental Health and Psychosocial Functioning in Adolescence: An Investigation among Indian Students from Delhi. . Journal of Adolescence, 39, 59-69. (Indexing: SCOPUS; PSYCINFO; Impact Factor: 2.704)
  9. Singh, K. & Junnarkar, M. (2015). Correlates and Predictors of Positive Mental Health for School Going Children. Personality and Individual Differences, 76, 82-87. DOI 10.1016/j.paid.2014.11.047. (Indexing: SCOPUS; PSYCINFO; Impact Factor: 2.417)
  10. Singh, K., Junnarkar, M. & Sharma, S. (2015). Anxiety, Stress, Depression & Psycho-social Functioning of Indian Adolescents. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 57(4), 41-48. (Indexing: SCOPUS; Web of Science, PubMed) 
  11. Singh, K., Ruch, W. & Junnarkar, M. (2014). Effect of the Demographic Variables and Psychometric properties of the Personal Well-Being Index for School Children in India. Child Indicators Research, 7 (3), 1-15. DOI 10.1007/s12187-014-9264-4. (Indexing: SCOPUS; ProQuest; Impact Factor: 1.187)
  12. Singh, K. & Junnarkar, M. (2014). Validation and Effect of Demographic Variables on Perceived Quality of Life by Adolescents. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 12, 88-94. doi>http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2014.06.020</doi (Indexing: SCOPUS; PSYCINFO).
  13. Singh, K., Kaur, J., Singh, D. & Junnarkar, M. (2014). Socio-Demographic Variables Affecting Well-Being: A Study on Indian Rural Women. Psychological Studies, 59(2), 197-206. DOI 10.1007/s12646-014-0239-9 (Indexing: SCOPUS; PSYCINFO, ProQuest)
  14. Junnarkar, M. & Khan, A. (2013). Eyewitness Identification: Importance of Belief in Memory Accuracy. Indian Journal of Psychology and Education, 3 (1) . (Indexing: Scientific Indexing Services, Scholars Impact Factor, General Impact Factor).

Books

  1. Sahni, S. P. & Junnarkar, M. (2020). The Death Penalty: Perspectives from India and Beyond. Springer Nature, Singapore. ISBN 978-981-15-3129-3 (SCOPUS Indexed)
  2. Sahni, S. P. & Junnarkar, M. (2019) Maximizing Human Potential Through Behavioral Competencies: 100 Core Competencies. Bloomsbury Publications, India. ISBN: 978-93-89000-65-8.
  3. Singh, K., Junnarkar, M. & Kaur, J. (2016). Measures in Positive Psychology, Springer India. ISBN: 978-81-322-3631-3. (SCOPUS Indexed)
  4. Junnarkar, M., Kamath, R. & Koshy, S. (2011). Child Adoption: A study of Adopted Adolescents: Psycho-Social Adjustment of Adopted Adolescents in India. LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing. ISBN: 978-3844332070

Book Chapters

  1. Junnarkar, M. & Lakhani, S. (2021). Investigating the Eyewitness: Accuracy and Fallacies of Memory. In Sahni, S. P. & Bhadra P. (Eds). Criminal Psychology and the Criminal Justice System in India and Beyond, Springer Nature, Singapore.
  2. Junnarkar, M. & Adlakha K. (2021). Decision Making in The Courtroom: Perspective of the Judiciary. In Sahni, S. P. & Bhadra, P. (Eds). Criminal Psychology and the Criminal Justice System in India and Beyond, Springer Nature, Singapore.
  3. Junnarkar, M. & Karishma (2020). Mental Health Status: Indian Perspective. In Sahni, S. P., Srivastava, J., Thakur, A., Lakhani, S. & Jain. G. (Eds). Let’s Talk about Depression: A Focus on Australia, India, and USA. Bloomsbury Publications ISBN: 9789389867701
  4. Junnarkar, M., Sahni, S. & Gill, S. (2020). Resilience and Well-Being in Sports. In Pradhan, R. K & Kumar, U. (Eds). International Handbook of Advances in Emotion, Wellbeing and Resilience: Theoretical Perspectives and Practical Applications, Apple Academic Press, Taylor and Francis Group. ISBN: 9781771888905
  5. Sahni, S. P., & Junnarkar, M. (2019). Well-being of Domestic Workers. In U. Mahanta and I. Gupta (eds.). Recognition of the Rights of Domestic Workers in India, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-5764-0_9, Springer Nature, Singapore. ISBN 9789811357633
  6. Sharma, T., Krishnan, A. & Junnarkar, M. (2018). Well-being and Happiness of Elderly Women (Chapter 12). In Sran, S. & Wadhawan, P. (Eds). Perspectives of Successful Ageing. New Delhi, Book Age Publications.
  7. Singh, K. & Junnarkar, M. (2016). The Well-Being of Information Technology Professionals. The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Positivity and Strengths-Based Approaches at Work, First Edition. Edited by Lindsay G. Oades, Michael F. Steger, Antonelle Delle Fave, and Jonathan Passmore. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.