Self, Social Identity, and Health
RESEARCH AREAS
Psychophysiology of Stress, Anxiety, and Emotion
The body’s responses to psychological threats, and those that accompany efforts to cope with them, include changes in the autonomic nervous system and in cardiovascular activity that, over time, contribute to the development of heart disease. Certain of these biological responses also provide a window into the cognitive and affective processing of threats, and psychological underpinnings of coping behavior. They also may serve as markers to identify individuals who are at risk of developing mental health problems such as anxiety disorders. The concept of psychological stress plays an important role as a framework for understanding these phenomena, as do theories of emotion and motivation.
Current projects include:
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1. Psychophysiology of Gender-Related Threat: How do stressful events associated with one’s gender-related beliefs affect the autonomic and cardiovascular systems? How do people cope with these events? Do physiological and behavioral effects of these events increase the risk of heart disease?
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2. Psychophysiology of Trauma Exposure: What are the biological effects of recalling and recounting a traumatic experience? Do those responses identify individuals at risk for the development of post-traumatic stress disorder?
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3. Electrocortical Measurement of Threat Sensitivity: Can measurement of the brain’s spontaneous electrical activity (electroencephalography, or EEG) help us to identify individuals who are especially sensitive to certain forms of threat, and predict how they will cope? Can electrocortical responses to threat-related stimuli (event-related potentials, or ERP) shed light on cognitive, affective, and social processes activated by psychological threat?
Beliefs about social groups have important implications for health. Perceived attributes of men and women, and of members of racial/ethnic groups and group members, can promote prejudice and discrimination, major forms of psychological stress. Beliefs about physical and mental health problems influence decisions to seek medical care or psychotherapy, and may undermine adherence to evidence-based treatments. Among the conceptual frameworks that facilitate the investigation of these phenomena are those involving precarious manhood and psychological essentialism, and stereotype-related processes such as subtyping and subgrouping.
Current projects include:
1. Stereotypes and Parental Status: What stereotypes are associated with parental status, especially that of being childless by choice? What are the differential effects of childless-by-choice status on how men and women are perceived? What are the implications of these stereotypes for the evaluation of social targets with different parental statuses?
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2. Causal Beliefs about Depression: How do essentialist beliefs about depression influence expectations about its course, severity, and treatability? What are the effects of essentialist thinking about depression on stigmatizing attitudes toward those with this disorder? Can causal network analysis shed light on the structure and content of individual's lay models of depression? How are those models influenced by experience with one's own depression or that of friends and family members?
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3. Relational Schemas Associated With Racism: Experiences of racial discrimination shape schemas for thinking about relationships with others. Discrimination has been linked to relational schemas involving vigilance, hostility, rejection sensitivity, and stereotype confirmation concerns. Are these relational schemas each uniquely related to discriminatory experiences? Or do they form overlapping constructs? How are they organized?