Michael Inzlicht in September issue of Psychophysiology

Michael Inzlicht co-authored a paper with Kyle Nash and Ian McGregor (both at York University) entitled, "Line bisection as a neural marker of approach motivation" in the September issue of Psychophysiology. In this paper the authors validate the use of of the line bisection task as a behavioral measures of cerebral asymmetry and attendant approach/avoid motivational states. Despite its wide adoption by motivation researchers, up until now, the line bisection task has not been confirmed as a valid measure of the precise pattern of activity linked to approach motivation.

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Sonia Kang and Michael Inzlicht in the September issue of JSI

Recent U of T graduate Sonia Kang (currently a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University) and Michael Inzlicht have published an article in the September issue of the Journal of Social Issues. Along with their co-author Belle Derks, Sonia and Mickey comment on the potential impact that social neuroscience will have on the study of stigma and intergroup relations, particularly with regard to social and public policy. The authors outline the pros and cons of using social neuroscience to inform public policy, and provide some suggestions for best practices to ensure that these methodologies are used responsibly and appropriately. This thought piece is an interesting read for anyone interested in social neuroscience or in extending social psychological findings to the realm of public policy.

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Michael Inzlicht and Sonia Kang in the September issue of JPSP

Michael Inzlicht and U of T alumna Sonia Kang (now a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University) have published an article in the September issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The article reports on four studies which examined the potential of stereotype threat to spill over and negatively impact stigmatized individuals in life domains traditionally viewed as stereotype-free. The researchers found that math-related stereotype threat can spill over and lead women to respond with greater hostility and aggression and to indulge in unhealthy eating behaviors. Next, they found that vividly reliving an emotional experience of prejudice led individuals to make riskier decisions on a series of judgment and decision-making tasks. Finally, using EEG, they found that coping with stereotype threat directly influenced attentional control via disruptions to the brain's performance-monitoring system. In all, the results of this project show that coping with stereotype threat can spill over and have negative repercussions for a broad range of stereotyped groups in a diverse array of non-stereotyped domains.

Articles about this research have been published in a number of media outlets, including the Toronto Star, the Independent (UK), and Montreal Gazette.

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Book on Social Pain Co-Edited by Geoff MacDonald Published

A book reviewing the nascent research on social pain, edited by Geoff MacDonald and Lauri Jensen-Campbell of University of Texas, Arlington, has been published by APA. The book, titled "Social Pain: Neuropsychological and Health Implications of Loss and Exclusion," includes chapters by several highly accomplished scholars including Jaak Panksepp, Robert Gatchel, and Andrew Baum, Naomi Eisenberger, and Nathan DeWall. The book explores the phenomenon of social pain from a multi-disciplinary perspective. You can learn more about the book here.

Terry Borsook and Geoff MacDonald in November issue of PAIN

Geoff MacDonald and Terry Borsook will be published in November's issue of PAIN with "Mildly negative social encounters reduce physical pain sensitivity". In this study, healthy participants rated the intensity and unpleasantness of painful stimuli before and after engaging in a structured interaction with a confederate who was instructed to respond in either a friendly or indifferent manner. It was found that participants who experienced the indifferent social exchange reported less sensitivity to pain after the interaction relative to baseline (i.e., hypoalgesia). Participants exposed to the positive social interaction, on the other hand, exhibited no change in pain sensitivity. These findings have implications for clinical pain assessments, suggesting that something as simple as the demeanor with which a clinician approaches a patient can impact patient pain reports, with consequences for pain management.

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