Stigma as ego depletion: how being the target of prejudice affects self-control

This research examined whether stigma diminishes people's ability to control their behaviors. Because coping with stigma requires self-regulation, and self-regulation is a limited-capacity resource, we predicted that individuals belonging to stigmatized groups are less able to regulate their own behavior when they become conscious of their stigmatizing status or enter threatening environments. Study 1 uncovered a correlation between stigma sensitivity and self-regulation; the more Black college students were sensitive to prejudice, the less self-control they reported having. By experimentally activating stigma, Studies 2 and 3 provided causal evidence for stigma's ego-depleting qualities: When their stigma was activated, stigmatized participants (Black students and females) showed impaired self-control in two very different domains (attentional and physical self-regulation). These results suggest that (a) stigma is ego depleting and (b) coping with it can weaken the ability to control and regulate one's behaviors in domains unrelated to the stigma.     

Defensive projection, superimposed on simplistic object relations, erodes patient-provider relationships in high-risk pregnancy: an empirical investigation

In an attempt to illustrate the relevance of psychoanalytic theory and research to behavior medicine, an empirical investigation was conducted of females treated at a high-risk pregnancy specialty clinic (N = 58). Drawing from psychoanalytic object relations theory, it was hypothesized and confirmed that use of projection as a defense mechanism during pregnancy, superimposed on simplistic object relations, predicted an erosion of patient-provider relationships during the pregnancy/postdelivery period. Findings are interpreted through the perspective of mentalization, pertaining to individuals' ability to understand the mental states of self and others, specifically under significant stress. Implications for psychoanalytically oriented assessment and treatment, and for the rift between psychoanalysis and research, are discussed.     

Life satisfaction in chronic pain patients: the stress-buffering role of the centrality of religion

Chronic pain (CP) is a stressful condition that severely impacts individuals' lives. Researchers have begun to explore the role of religion for CP patients, but the literature is scarce, especially for West European populations. Drawing from the transactional theory of stress, this study examined the associations between the religious meaning system and the life satisfaction for a group of CP patients who were members of a Flemish patients' association. To take into account the religious landscape of West European countries, the centrality of one's religious meaning system, rather than religious content, was the focus. Results from the questionnaires completed by 207 patients suggest that the centrality of a meaning system is an important factor in the promotion of life satisfaction for this group, above and beyond the influence of several control variables. Furthermore, the centrality of the religious meaning system moderated or buffered the detrimental influence of pain severity on life satisfaction.     

Learning fine-grained and category information in navigable real-world space

Spatial judgments are affected by both fine-grained and categorical knowledge. We investigated whether, and how, the two forms of knowledge are learned in real-world, navigable space, as well as the time course of learning each type of knowledge. Participants were Northwestern University undergraduates who estimated the locations of buildings and other landmarks on campus. The Northwestern campus is roughly divided into three regions whose borders are not easy to discern, either from a map or by navigation. Nevertheless, students often refer to these regions linguistically and use them when making housing decisions, choosing classes, and so forth. We found that knowledge of both the fine-grained configuration of locations and the regional distinctions increased with time. However, regional influences on judgments occurred later in students’ time on campus. Consequently, computed distances across the nonexistent border between north and south campus locations became more biased with time. The results have implications for understanding how spatial representations develop in navigable environments.     

Religious Involvement among Caribbean Blacks in the United States

This study examined demographic and denominational differences in religious involvement (i.e., organizational, non-organizational, subjective) among Caribbean Blacks (Black Caribbeans) residing in the U.S. using data from the National Survey of American Life. Caribbean Blacks who were born in the U.S. had lower levels of religious involvement than those who immigrated and respondents originating from Haiti (as compared to Jamaica) had higher levels of religious involvement, while persons from Trinidad-Tobago reported lower service attendance than did Jamaicans. Older persons, women and married persons generally demonstrated greater religious involvement than their counterparts, while highly educated respondents expressed lower levels of self-rated religiosity. Denominational differences indicated that Baptists reported high levels of religious involvement; however, in several cases, Pentecostals and Seventh Day Adventists reported greater involvement.     

Are True Scores and Construct Scores the Same? A critical examination of their substitutability and the implications for research results

Relations between constructs are estimated based on correlations between measures of constructs corrected for measurement error. This process assumes that the true scores on the measure are linearly related to construct scores, an assumption that may not hold. We examined the extent to which differences in distribution shape reduce the correlation between true scores on a measure and scores on the underlying construct they are intended to measure. We found, via a series of Monte Carlo simulations, that when the actual construct distribution is normal, nonnormal distributions of true scores caused this correlation to drop by an average of only .02 across 15 conditions. When both construct and true score distributions assumed different combinations of nonnormal distributions, the average correlation was reduced by .05 across 375 conditions. We conclude that theory‐based scales intended to measure constructs usually correlate highly with the constructs they are constructed to measure. We show that, as a result, in most cases true score correlations only modestly underestimate correlations between different constructs. However, in cases in which the two constructs are redundant, this underestimation can lead to the false conclusion that the constructs are ‘correlated but distinct constructs,’ resulting in construct proliferation.     

Remembering the past and imagining the future: A role for nonvisual imagery in the everyday cognition of blind and sighted people

Past research has associated depression with memory biases pertaining to the frequency, duration, and specificity of past events. Associations have been proposed between both negative and positive memory biases and depression symptoms. However, research has not examined the occurrence of actual events over time in the study of memory bias. To address these limitations and investigate whether a negative or positive memory bias is associated with symptoms of depression, we collected weekly data on specific types of life events over a 4-year period from a sample of college students, and asked students to recall event frequency at the end of that period. Exaggerated recall of frequency for positive events but not other types of events was associated with depression symptoms, using both continuous and categorical measures. Moderator analyses indicated that these effects were evidenced primarily for memories involving the self and among individuals low in trait self-enhancement. The current study indicates that positive memory-frequency bias is an important type of memory bias associated with symptoms of depression. Results support the idea that the link between memory bias for positive event frequency and depressed mood arises out of a current-self vs past-self comparison.