Are Gender Differences in Self-Reported Rumination Explained by Women��s Stereotyping?

Although Response Styles Theory posits gender differences in ruminative thought related to depression, evidence of these differences resides largely in self-report data, leading us to hypothesize that stereotyping may influence women??s perceived rumination. In an online survey with 94 U.S. Midwestern college women and 74 men, the re-affirmed relationship between gender and rumination (such that women reported higher levels than men) was moderated by general stereotype acceptance and endorsement of traditional roles for women (benevolent sexism). Only for women were stereotype acceptance and benevolent sexism positively related to perceived rumination, suggesting that rumination may be reported most by women who believe it to be a gender-appropriate response and raising questions about the robustness of gender differences in actual rumination.     

Hearing Bad News

Personal reports of receiving bad news provide data that describes patients' comprehension, reflections, experienced emotions, and an interpretative commentary with the wisdom of hindsight. Analysis of autobiographical accounts of "hearing bad news" enables the identification of patterns of how patients found out diagnoses, buffering techniques used, and styles of receiving the news. I describe how patients grapple with the news, their somatic responses to hearing, and how they struggle and strive to accept what they are hearing. I discuss metaphors used within the languages of hearing bad news. Finally, I discuss implications for a change of focus in the breaking bad news research agenda, that is, from the physician's "performance" to a patient-focused agenda.     

Genetics and criminal responsibility

Some believe that genetics threatens privacy and autonomy and will eviscerate the concept of human nature. Despite the astonishing research advances, however, none of these dire predictions and no radical transformation of the law have occurred. Advocates have tried to use genetic evidence to affect judgments of criminal responsibility. At present, however genetic research can provide little aid to assessments of criminal responsibility and it does not suggest a radical critique of responsibility.     

Relationships and Inflammation across the Lifespan: Social Developmental Pathways to Disease

There are well documented links between close relationships and physical health, such that those who have supportive close relationships have lower rates of morbidity and mortality compared to those who do not. Inflammation is one mechanism that may help to explain this link. Chronically high levels of inflammation predict disease. Across the lifespan, people who have supportive close relationships have lower levels of systemic inflammation compared to people who have cold, unsupportive, conflict-ridden relationships. Not only are current relationships associated with inflammation, but past relationships are as well. In this article, we will first review the literature linking current close relationships across the lifespan to inflammation. We will then explore recent work showing troubled past relationships also have lasting consequence on people's inflammatory levels. Finally, we will explore developmental pathways that may explain these findings.     

Cat-Calls and Culpability: Investigating the Frequency and Functions of Stranger Harassment

Stranger harassment is defined as experiencing unwanted sexual attention from strangers in public contexts. We conducted two studies investigating the person and situation factors of U.S. undergraduate males that facilitate stranger harassment. Men from a large Midwestern university indicated their engagement in harassment both when alone and in groups, as well as their motives for this behavior in both settings. We also assessed their Likelihood to Sexually Harass (LSH). We predicted that high LSH men would be most likely to report engaging in harassment when in groups, compared to when alone. We also predicted these group behaviors would be motivated by anonymity and group bonding. Results support our hypotheses about the predictors and motives of stranger harassment in college men.     

Color preferences in gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Color plays an important biological role in the lives of many animals, with some species exhibiting preferences for certain colors over others. This study explored the color preferences of two species of ape, which, like humans, possess trichromatic color vision. Six western lowland gorillas, and six chimpanzees, housed in Belfast Zoological Gardens, were exposed to three stimuli (cloths, boxes, sheets of acetate) in red, blue, and green. Six stimuli of the same nature, in each of the three colors, were provided to both species for 5 days per stimulus. The amount of interest that the animals showed toward each stimulus of each color was recorded for 1 hr. Results showed that the apes, both when analyzed as two separate groups, and when assessed collectively, showed significant color preferences, paying significantly less attention to the red-, than to the blue- or green-colored stimuli. The animals' interest in the blue- and green-colored stimuli did not differ significantly. Overall, the findings suggest that gorillas and chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, may harbor color preferences comparable to those of humans and other species.     

The Gender Wage Gap: An Explanation of Men’s Elevated Wage Entitlement

Perceptions of wage entitlement differ between women and men such that men are more likely to feel worthy of higher pay. Based on a combination of status-related theories and evidence from two studies of 120 undergraduate men, we examined men’s reactions to gendered threats to their task abilities. When told that women typically outperform men, men responded with elevated projections of their own competence without reducing their self-pay. These effects were not related to endorsements of masculinity ideology. Instead, exaggerated competence was related to individual men’s heightened legitimate entitlement, and resistant high self-pay was linked to narcissistic entitlement. These patterns demonstrate that what appears to be a gender-based phenomenon is explained more accurately by men’s internalized status beliefs.     

Psychoneuroimmunology: Psychology's Gateway to the Biomedical Future

ABSTRACT— How do stressful events and negative emotions influence the immune system, and how big are the effects? This broad question has been intensely interesting to psychoneuroimmunology researchers over the last 3 decades. Many promising lines of work underscore the reasons why this question is still so important and pivotal to understanding and other advances. New multidisciplinary permutations provide fresh vistas and emphasize the importance of training psychologists more broadly so that they will be central and essential players in the advancement of biomedical science.