Carol J Nemeroff

University of New Brunswick · Renaissance College

This volume explores various approaches to leadership from both the past and the present, critically analysing these in the light of possible future challenges and scenarios. In addition, by drawing from the field of future studies, it introduces the reader to concepts of leadership that are ‘future-ready’.

Obesity is an issue for young adults in the U.S. This population is particularly vulnerable to weight gain as they move from adolescence to young adulthood, especially as they transition from high school to college. Adopting a health promotion approach, a university-based cluster of researchers, community advocates, and a technology partner embarke...

This paper reviews principles from decision psychology relevant to understanding and increasing acceptance of urban recycled water, and supplements existing literature by suggesting an additional factor: adaptation insensitivity. We integrate into our discussion previously unpublished results from a study conducted in 2007, which surveyed 2680 resp...

HIV prevention interventions are generally effective at reducing sexual risk. Although these interventions have been widely disseminated in the USA, their success depends largely on whether subpopulations who have been prioritized for risk reduction are willing to participate. Understanding the factors predicting service utilization is critical to...

There is a worldwide and increasing shortage of potable fresh water. Modern water reclamation technologies can alleviate much of the problem by converting wastewater directly into drinking water, but there is public resistance to these approaches that has its basis largely in psychology. A psychological problem is encapsulated in the saying of thos...

Redefines the classical conception of magic as a cognitive intuition or belief in the existence of imperceptible forces or essences that transcend the usual boundary between the mental/symbolic and physical/material realities, in a way that (1) diverges from the received wisdom from the technocratic elite, (2) serves important functions, and (3) fo...

To investigate relationships between institutional mistrust (systematic discrimination, organizational suspicion, and conspiracy beliefs), HIV risk behaviors, and HIV testing in a multiethnic sample of men who have sex with men (MSM), and to test whether perceived susceptibility to HIV mediates these relationships for White and ethnic minority MSM....

Cognitive escape provides a model for examining the cognitive processes involved in escaping from thoughts of HIV/AIDS in a population of men who have sex with men (MSM). This investigation presents psychometric information and validation data on the Cognitive Escape Scale (CES), a measure of HIV-related cognitive avoidance. This study also examine...

A preference-based measure of responses to warning labels was used to study alternative alcohol warning labels that differed in: (a) length, (b) presence of qualifier words, (c) alternative content, and (d) specific beverage. The specific risks mentioned were more important than the overall label length, qualifier words reduced avoidance responses,...

Research on the sexual behavior of young adults has documented a casual/regular partner distinction in terms of condom use and perceived risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). How this population distinguishes between the 2 partner types has not been known, making it impossible to assess the rationality of this strategy. In the p...

Extreme overreaction to nonrisky contact with persons with AIDS is considered to be a case of the operation of the sympathetic magical law of contagion. Prior work has shown that this principle (once in contact, always in contact) holds in the belief systems of American adults. In this paper, we show that four characteristics of this law correspond...

Despite pervasive discussion of “barebacking” in the HIV prevention literature, inconsistencies exist in how the term is defined. Moreover, little is known about whether gay and bisexual men concur with any of the definitions in the literature. In this study, gay and bisexual men (n = 398) were provided with four scenarios, describing various circu...

This study investigated the relationship between suppressing thoughts about HIV risk and several outcomes related to HIV risk, including sexual risk behavior and HIV prevention service use, in men who have sex with men (MSM). Synthesizing the ironic processing theory (D. M. Wegner, 1994) with a cognitive escape paradigm (D. J. McKiman, D. G. Ostrow...

Psychological Sense of Community (PSOC) theoretically comprises four components (Membership, Influence, Fulfillment of Needs, and Shared Emotional Connection), but existing measures of the components are psychometrically lacking. The current study sought to develop valid and reliable measures of the four theoretical components by building on and co...

A growing body of research links perceived discrimination to psychological distress. However, recent reviews of this literature suggest that the subjectivity inherent in reports of discrimination is an important methodological consideration. Specifically, personality characteristics may predispose individuals to psychological distress and also affe...

In a qualitative investigation of young feminists' experience of body consciousness, 25 feminist women each participated in one of 6 focus groups examining the ways they experienced body image and negotiated cultural messages about women's appearance. Participants described their experience with objectification and its impact on their body image, s...

A growing body of research implicates internalized homophobia--the internalization of society's antihomosexual sentiments by gay and lesbian people--as a factor contributing to HIV-related sexual risk behavior in gay and bisexual men. Although accumulating evidence links internalized homophobia and sexual risk behavior, no study has explored the im...

In this study, we examined the extent to which young children can be influenced by the perceived blessed status of an actor in their evaluations of behavior as a lie or mistake. Children aged 4 and 5 years attending Catholic schools in an urban center in Northern Italy were provided with a situation in which two girls in church were blessed with ho...

“Third wave” feminists, raised in the wake of an established feminist movement as well as a strong anti-feminist backlash, are beginning to define their own feminist agenda. “Third wave” feminists are exploring the contradictions in their lived experience as feminists, and examining the inter section of feminism with their other identities. Young f...

"Third wave" feminists, raised in the wake of an established feminist movement as well as a strong anti-feminist backlash, are beginning to define their own feminist agenda. "Third wave" feminists are exploring the contradictions in their lived experience as feminists, and examining the intersection of feminism with their other identities. Young fe...

This book uses research and theory to an in-depth account of children's understanding of biology and health. Each of the contributors views children's understanding in these areas to be to some extent adaptive to their well-being and survival and uses evidence collected through a variety of different techniques to consider whether young children ar...

Although numerous risk factors for bulimia nervosa have been identified, no multivariate models of bulimia have been empirically investigated with longitudinal data. The current study provided a confirmatory test of the dual pathway model of bulimia nervosa using prospective data from a community sample of adolescents (N = 218). Latent variable mod...

Although sociocultural pressures are thought to contribute to bulimia nervosa, little research has examined the mechanisms by which these factors might actually produce eating pathology. The present study tested an integrative model of bulimia that centers around dietary restraint and affect regulation pathways. It also incorporates perceived socio...

Three surveys of American undergraduate students explore a central aspect of the concept of "physical self:" the vulnerability or sensitivity of different parts of the body surface, especially apertures, to intrusion and contamination. The basic measure used was rated displeasure at imagined contact of various body parts of the subject with plain n...

Investigated whether the choice of healthy, nonfattening foods vs unhealthy, fattening ones gives rise to moral judgments about the eaters. 290 undergraduates were presented with 1 of 4 bogus profiles of a person, which differed only in gender and foods consumed. Ss rated the target on morality; potential mechanisms of effects were also explored. R...

AIDS-related research has documented overreactions to casual contact and underreactions to sexual risk. This contradiction is explained by "magical contagion", a principle of thinking common in traditional societies, wherein contagion is considered socially discriminating, such that harmfulness depends on the nature of the relationship between sour...

AIDS-related research has documented overreactions to casual contact and underreactions to sexual risk. This contradiction is explained by “magical contagion,” a principle of thinking common in traditional societies, wherein contagion is considered socially discriminating, such that harmfulness depends on the nature of the relationship between sour...

The media have been heavily implicated as sources of overconcern with body focus, attractiveness, and thinness, primarily for women. Attendant negative consequences are widely assumed. Yet there appears to be a recent media trend to concern with physical health and fitness, rather than just appearance. This trend has not been empirically assessed....

The media have been heavily implicated as sources of overconcern with body focus, attractiveness, and thinness, primarily for women. Attendant negative consequences are widely assumed. Yet there appears to be a recent media trend to concern with physical health and fitness, rather than just appearance. This trend has not been empirically assessed....

This study examined whether common reactions to AIDS are consistent with operation of the "magical law of contagion," a traditional belief that describes the transfer of properties, whether moral or physical, harmful or beneficial, through contact. Three features of magical contagion, explored in previous work, were re-examined. These features some...

This study investigates a metaphorical account of bulimia that proposes that bulimics lack a clearly defined sense of self, and subsequently utilize their physical bodies as a means of self-definition and regulation. Three major aspects of this perspective were assessed: identity disturbance; use of the binge and purge as means of emotional regulat...

This study investigates a metaphorical account of bulimia that proposes that bulimics lack a clearly defined sense of self, and subsequently utilize their physical bodies as a means of self-definition and regulation. Three major aspects of this perspective were assessed: identity disturbance; use of the binge and purge as means of emotional regulat...

Hypothesized that superstitions are most likely to develop among people who believe that they can, via their own actions, exert some control over chance outcomes. 37 undergraduates completed a chance orientation scale and participated in a golf-putting task. Ss attempted 50 putts on an artificial turf putting green. Superstitious behavior was defin...

This book raises the idea of a distinct discipline of cultural psychology, the study of the ways that psyche and culture, subject and object, and person and world make up each other. Cultural Psychology is a collection of essays from leading scholars in anthropology, psychology, and linguistics who examine these relationships with special reference...

The law of contagion put forth about 100 yrs ago to account for magical belief systems in traditional cultures holds that when 2 objects (usually animate) come into contact with each other, there is a potentially permanent exchange of properties between them. The operation of this principle in the interpersonal domain was explored by questionnaire...

Investigated the operation of 2 laws of sympathetic magic in 50 American adults (aged 17–50 yrs) using both measurements in the laboratory and questionnaire response. The 1st law, contagion, holds that "once in contact, always in contact." That is, there can be a permanent transfer of properties from one object (usually animate) to another by brief...

Notes that magical thinking generally provides a way to promote meaning and understanding of the many baffling events that occur in the world of any human. Topics discussed in this chapter include the following: the laws of sympathetic magic, the law of similarity, and the law of contagion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserve...