Forming impressions: effects of facial expression and gender stereotypes

The present study of 138 participants explored how facial expressions and gender stereotypes influence impressions. It was predicted that images of smiling women would be evaluated more favorably on traits reflecting warmth, and that images of non-smiling men would be evaluated more favorably on traits reflecting competence. As predicted, smiling female faces were rated as more warm; however, contrary to prediction, perceived competence of male faces was not affected by facial expression. Participants’ female stereotype endorsement was a significant predictor for evaluations of female faces; those who ascribed more strongly to traditional female stereotypes reported the most positive impressions of female faces displaying a smiling expression. However, a similar effect was not found for images of men; endorsement of traditional male stereotypes did not predict participants’ impressions of male faces

Powerless Men and Agentic Women: Gender Bias in Hiring Decisions

We examined male power-roles as a potential moderator of gender bias in hiring decisions. Drawing from previous work on perceptions of agentic women and precarious manhood theory, we predicted that men in low-power roles may react more negatively to agentic women compared to men in high-power roles. In two experiments, male participants evaluated résumés from male and female job candidates applying for a managerial position. Across experiments, results suggest that lacking power may facilitate biased hiring decisions. U.S. college men assigned to (Experiment 1, n = 83) or primed (Experiment 2, n = 84) with a low-power role rated the female applicant as less hireable and recommended a lower salary for her compared to the male applicant. This difference did not occur in the high-power or baseline conditions. A metaanalysis combining the results of both experiments confirmed that gender bias was limited to the low-power condition. Results are discussed in terms of powerlessness as a masculinity threat that may have downstream consequences for women.Office of the Vice President for Research, University of South Carolin

Communication about genetic testing with breast and ovarian cancer patients: a scoping review

© 2018, The Author(s). Genetic testing of patients with cancer is increasingly offered to guide management, resulting in a growing need for oncology health professionals to communicate genetics information and facilitate informed decision-making in a short time frame. This scoping review aimed to map and synthesise what is known about health professionals’ communication about genetic testing for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer with cancer patients. Four databases were systematically searched using a recognised scoping review method. Areas and types of research were mapped and a narrative synthesis of the findings was undertaken. Twenty-nine papers from 25 studies were included. Studies were identified about (i) information needs, (ii) process and content of genetic counselling, (iii) cognitive and emotional impact, including risk perception and recall, understanding and interpretation of genetic test results, and anxiety and distress, (iv) patients’ experiences, (v) communication shortly after diagnosis and (vi) alternatives to face-to-face genetic counselling. Patients’ need for cancer-focused, personalised information is not always met by genetic counselling. Genetic counselling tends to focus on biomedical information at the expense of psychological support. For most patients, knowledge is increased and anxiety is not raised by pre-test communication. However, some patients experience anxiety and distress when results are disclosed, particularly those tested shortly after diagnosis who are unprepared or unsupported. For many patients, pre-test communication by methods other than face-to-face genetic counselling is acceptable. Research is needed to identify patients who may benefit from genetic counselling and support and to investigate communication about hereditary breast and ovarian cancer by oncology health professionals

Assessing the Habits and Opinions of Recycling Through the Use of a News Article

Psychology Research PosterPrevious research consistently finds that people associate negative stereotypes, such as laziness & gluttony, with people who are obese. Although studies find that lifestyle is only a minor influence on weight gain, people continue to have negative attitudes towards obese people. Such negative attitudes can “spill over” and affect people’s perceptions of an obese individual’s performance. In the present study, participants were led to believe they were assessing the habits and opinions of recycling after reading a news article about a recycling program to be launched in a city called Pomville. A picture of either an obese man or an obese woman was presented with the news article, and described as the author of the news article. In the control condition, no picture was associated with the author of the news article. After reading the article, participants rated their attitudes about the quality of the new article. I expected to find that participants would report more negative attitudes towards the quality of news article when the article was authored by either an obese man or woman. However, contrary to my prediction, data did not support my hypothesis. Several reasons for these findings are discussed.Angelo State University Faculty-Mentored Research Gran

College Student Stress: Investigating Personality and Coping Strategy

This research investigated stress and coping strategies of undergraduate students based on their personalities

Warmth Trumps Competence in Evaluations of Both Ingroup and Outgroup

Research from a number of social psychological traditions suggests that social perceivers should be more concerned with evaluating others' intentions (i.e., warmth) relative to evaluating others' ability to act on those intentions (i.e., competence). The present research examined whether warmth evaluations have cognitive primacy over competence evaluations in a direct reaction-time comparison and whether the effect is moderated by ingroup versus outgroup membership. Participants evaluated as quickly as possible whether warmth versus competence traits described photographs of racial ingroup versus outgroup members expressing neutral emotions. Responses supported the hypothesis that evaluations of warmth take precedence over evaluations of competence; participants were faster to evaluate others on warmth-related traits compared to competence-related traits. Moreover, this primacy effect was not moderated by racial group membership. The data from this research speak to the robustness of the primacy of warmth in social evaluation

Renal FcRn Reclaims Albumin but Facilitates Elimination of IgG

The widely distributed neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) contributes to maintaining serum levels of albumin and IgG in adults. In the kidney, FcRn is expressed on the podocytes and the brush border of the proximal tubular epithelium. Here, we evaluated the role of renal FcRn in albumin and IgG metabolism. Compared with wild-type controls, FcRn−/− mice had a lower t½ for albumin (28.7 versus 39.9 h) and IgG (29.5 versus 66.1 h). Renal loss of albumin could account for the former, suggested by the progressive development of hypoalbuminemia in wild-type mice transplanted with FcRn-deficient kidneys. Furthermore, serum albumin levels returned to normal in FcRn−/− recipients of wild-type kidneys after removing the native FcRn-deficient kidneys. In contrast, renal loss could not account for the enhanced elimination of IgG in FcRn−/− mice. These mice had minimal urinary excretion of native and labeled IgG, which increased to wild-type levels in FcRn−/− recipients of a single FcRn-sufficient kidney (t½ of IgG was 21.7 h). Taken together, these data suggest that renal FcRn reclaims albumin, thereby maintaining the serum concentration of albumin, but facilitates the loss of IgG from plasma protein pools