Jennifer Lee Howell

University of California, Merced | UCM · Department of Psychology

Mindfulness witnessed a substantial popularity surge in the past decade, especially as digitally self-administered interventions became available at relatively low costs. Yet, it is uncertain whether they effectively help reduce stress. In a preregistered (OSF https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/UF4JZ; retrospective registration at ClinicalTrials.gov N...

Providing people with feedback about their intergroup biases is a central part of many diversity training and other bias‐education efforts. Although this practice may increase self‐awareness, people sometimes respond negatively to learning about their own biases. In the present review, we provide a framework for understanding when feedback about in...

We investigated the role of implicit and explicit associations between harm and COVID‐19 vaccines using a large sample ( N = 4668) of online volunteers. The participants completed a brief implicit association test and explicit measures to evaluate the extent to which they associated COVID‐19 vaccines with concepts of harmfulness or helpfulness. We...

In the present study, we examine how subgroups of people are characterized by different profiles of uncertainty surrounding COVID‐19, susceptibility, and recovery. Participants ( N = 199) were U.S. residents recruited online for a longitudinal study during the summer of 2020. We first, identified groups using latent profile analysis (LPA) and then...

People with chronic illnesses are at increased risk of contracting COVID‐19. Still, little is known about whether such an increased risk relates to COVID‐19‐related protective behaviors among those with chronic illness. This study compares the self‐reported COVID‐19 risky and protective behaviors—specifically physically distancing, handwashing, and...

Dark Triad personality traits (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machivellianism) predict increased selfish thinking and behavior. In the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic, they have been related to behaviors such as greater hoarding and decreased COVID‐preventative behaviors. Here we examined whether the Dark Triad might predict selfish beliefs and beha...

In two studies, we investigated the extent to which people are biased toward people with the same COVID-19 vaccine brand using a monetary allocation task. Informed by theoretical approaches to intergroup bias and the minimal-groups paradigm, we expected that, when deciding how to allocate financial resources among three different people—each with a...

Past research suggests that being comparatively optimistic about one's risk for disease is associated with benefits to mental health, such as lowered stress and anxiety. However, few studies have longitudinally examined whether comparative optimism has the same protective benefits during the COVID‐19 pandemic. The current study examined levels of c...

Does geographic variation in personality across the United States relate to COVID‐19 vaccination rates? To answer this question, we combined multiple state‐level datasets: (a) Big Five personality averages (i.e., extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness; Rentfrow et al., 2008), (b) COVID‐19 full‐vaccination rates (C...

Collisson et al. (2020) found Dark Triad traits and gender role beliefs predicted “foodie calls,” a phenomenon where people go on a date with others, to whom they are not attracted, for a free meal. Because gender roles and dating norms differ across cultures, we conducted a registered replication across different cultures by surveying 1838 heteros...

Background: Given the sensitive nature of COVID-19 beliefs, evaluating them explicitly and implicitly may provide a fuller picture of how these beliefs vary based on identities and how they relate to mental health. Objective: Three novel brief implicit association tests (BIATs) were created and evaluated: two that measured COVID-19-as-dangerous...

Uncertainty is prevalent in various health contexts. It is imperative to understand how health-related uncertainty can impact individuals’ healthcare experiences and health decision making. The purpose of the present paper is to provide five overarching recommendations from an interdisciplinary team of experts to address gaps in the literature on h...

Uncertainty about the future often leads to worries about what the future will bring, which can have negative consequences for health and well-being. However, if worry can act as a motivator to promote efforts to prevent undesirable future outcomes, those negative consequences of worry may be mitigated. In this article, we apply a novel model of un...

Despite efforts by universities to promote racial/ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic diversity, college students continue to report discrimination. In two studies, we examined the frequency, predictors, and health consequences of experiencing everyday discrimination at a Hispanic-Serving Institution. Findings show the majority of students reported e...

Aims Past research suggests that people report a greater desire to consume alcohol when they experience social threat—or threats to their social selves, such as social exclusion. Nevertheless, experimental research on the role of social threat in alcohol consumption is limited. The present study examined the causal relationship between social threa...

The objective of this study was to examine the link between systemic and general psychosocial stress and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in a group of U.S. Latinos as a function of acculturation and education within the blended guiding conceptual framework of the biopsychosocial model of the stress process plus the reserve capacity model. We anal...

Objective. Past research suggests that eating alone is associated with less social support and poorer physical health. The current study examines the comparative health and well-being of Hispanic/Latino(a/x) and non-Hispanic/Latino(a/x) students, with a focus on comparing self-reported well-being to the observed marker of social well-being that is...

Do geographic differences in collectivism relate to COVID-19 case and death rates? And if so, would they also replicate across states within arguably the most individualistic country in the world—the United States? Further still, what role might the U.S.'s history of ethnic strife and race-based health disparities play in either reinforcing or unde...

Research implicates experiences of discrimination in exacerbating cardiometabolic disease (CMD) risk. Belongingness has been suggested as a buffer against the adverse effects of discrimination. However, when discrimination occurs in an environment to which one feels they belong, then the potential benefits of belongingness may dissipate or even exa...

Certain disapproving friends and family may interfere in others’ romantic relationships by undermining commitment processes. In the current study, we assessed whether friends and family members’ scores on the Dark Tetrad, a constellation of socially aversive personality traits including narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism, predict...

This is a preprint of an article accepted for publication in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine. Research implicates experiences of discrimination in exacerbating cardiometabolic disease (CMD) risk. Belongingness has been suggested as a buffer against the adverse effects of discrimination. However, when discrimination occurs in an environment to w...

The objective of this study was to examine the link between systemic and general psychosocial stress and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in a group of U.S. Latinos as a function of acculturation and education within the biopsychosocial model of the stress process. We analyzed data from self-identifying Mexican-origin adults (n = 396, 56.9% female...

We conducted a preregistered multi-laboratory project (k = 36; N = 3531) to assess the size and robustness of ego depletion effects using a novel replication method, termed the paradigmatic replication approach. Laboratories implemented one of two procedures that intended to manipulate self control and tested performance on a subsequent measure of...

People are unrealistically optimistic about future health outcomes, believing that they are less likely to experience adverse health outcomes relative to their peers and relatively to objective indicators of what is likely to occur. In this entry we distinguish between different types of unrealistic optimism. We also review three broad causes of un...

Although learning health information can prove critical for health promotion, people sometimes opt to avoid learning such information. In this entry, we review and discuss health information avoidance research. We first examine the prevalence of health information avoidance and review demographic and personality predictors of health information avo...

Research links open communication and self-disclosure to a host of beneficial outcomes in romantic relationships, including better relationship quality, relationship satisfaction, feelings of closeness and commitment, and relationship longevity. However, learning some information about a partner may evoke negative consequences. In two studies, we e...

Avoiding information about one’s health can have long-term implications for health and well-being. Two studies examined the relationship between health information avoidance and coping self-efficacy, or a sense that one can effectively cope. In Study 1, coping self-efficacy, but not general self-efficacy, was associated with information avoidance....

The present research examined how nostalgia influences temporal self-appraisals and whether those appraisals relate to current mood. Across two studies, participants recalled either an ordinary or nostalgic memory and subsequently provided appraisals of their present and past selves (Studies 1 and 2). Overall, participants who recalled ordinary mem...

With 20 items, the State Self-Esteem Scale (SSES) can be cumbersome in settings that demand efficiency. The present research created an efficient six-item version of the SSES that preserves score reliability and validity and its three-dimensional structure: social, appearance, and performance self-esteem. Item response theory and confirmatory facto...

We compared the role of personality (neuroticism, conscientiousness, and dispositional optimism) during stressful preparation and waiting periods. Study 1 compared the role of personality in the experience of undergraduate students (N = 120) preparing for and awaiting their grade on a midterm exam in a 1-week longitudinal study. Study 2 extended th...

During healthcare visits, physicians may set communication goals such as providing their patient with information about treatment; however, no recommendations exist regarding which goals physicians should prioritize during their often-brief interactions with patients. Two studies examined five communication goals (providing information, reducing di...

Objective: The present study examined how cognitions and emotions characteristic of awaiting uncertain news influenced healthy (diet/exercise) and unhealthy (alcohol use) behaviors in three samples of people awaiting important news. Design: Study 1 examined voting-eligible citizens during the month prior to learning the results of the 2016 U.S. pre...

Researchers have long theorized about the function of self‐esteem. Theories such as sociometer, terror management, and self‐determination have each received substantial empirical support, but all purport a different function of self‐esteem. Despite each theory's persuasiveness, they are sometimes at odds, and there remains no clear consensus regard...

A foodie call occurs when a person, despite a lack of romantic attraction to a suitor, chooses to go on a date to receive a free meal. The present study examines predictors of a deceptive form of the foodie call in the context of male–female dates: when a woman purposefully misrepresents her romantic interest in a man to dine at his expense. In two...

Research on self‐determination theory (SDT) suggests that people have fundamental needs to feel autonomous, competent, and socially connected, and that fulfilling these needs is critical for well‐being. In the present study, we examined whether fulfilling psychological needs is associated with physical and psychological well‐being—specifically slee...

Using a sample of 258 first-time voters in a bellwether swing state during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, we examined the extent to which people assumed that the major presidential candidates shared their values and defensiveness about these assumptions. Participants estimated their agreement with the two major-party candidates, completed an...

Whether awaiting biopsy results, a grade on a midterm, or a decision from a journal editor, people feel distressed as they wait for uncertain news. In the present study, we investigated how people’s perceptions of their romantic partner, specifically their partner’s responsiveness to their support needs, corresponds with key aspects of the waiting...

In two studies, we examined whether people’s decision to receive evaluations of their own attractiveness depended on whether the evaluations came from sources that might threaten their self-views. Participants believed that evaluators rated their attractiveness based on a photograph taken earlier and ostensibly uploaded to a website. Participants t...

We investigated whether learning that one is biased predicts defensive reactions to feedback on Implicit Association Tests (IATs; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwarz, 1998). In an archival data set (Study 1, N = 219,426) and in an online experiment (Study 2, N = 1,225), people responded most defensively to feedback when: (a) their implicit and explicit at...

People frequently await uncertain news, yet research reveals that the strategies people naturally use to cope with uncertainty are largely ineffective. We tested the role of mindfulness for improving the experience of a stressful waiting period. Law graduates awaiting their bar exam results either reported their trait mindfulness (Study 1; N = 150)...

One useful theory to predict health behavior is the prototype-willingness model (PWM), which posits that people are more willing to engage in behavior to the extent that they have a positive view of the prototypical person who performs that behavior. The goal of the present research is to test whether adding an implicit measure of prototype favorab...

Despite concern about environmental issues, many people engage in environmentally-unfriendly behavior. The present research introduces a novel predictor of environmentally-friendly behavior: attitudes toward the prototypical environmentalist, or the favorability of a mental image someone has of the typical, representative environmentalist. Based on...

A robust body of literature on the better-than-average effect suggests that people believe that they are better than the average others across a variety of domains. In two studies, we examined whether these better-than-average beliefs occur for bias related to stereotyping and prejudice. Moreover, we investigated the hypothesis that better-than-ave...

The present study examined the possibility that waiting is bad for one’s subjective health. Specifically, we examined longitudinal trends in the self-reported health, self-reported sleep disruption, distress, and emotion regulation strategies of law school graduates waiting for their bar exam results. Multilevel analyses suggest that waiting was pa...

Objective: Early detection of disease is often crucially important for positive health outcomes, yet people sometimes decline opportunities for early detection (e.g., opting not to screen). Although some health-information avoidance reflects a deliberative decision, we propose that information avoidance can also reflect an automatic, nondeliberati...

Although early detection of disease is key, people sometimes opt to avoid learning personal health information. Correlational research suggests that people will avoid health information if they lack social support. In the present study, we aimed to investigate this social motive for health-information avoidance experimentally. We examined whether s...

Emerging evidence suggests that individuals spontaneously self-affirm, by reflecting on values and strengths, in response to daily threats. We examined the prevalence and demographic and well-being correlates of spontaneous self-affirmation in the general population. Participants (n = 3185) completed the cross-sectional, nationally representative 2...

We assessed whether people express more prejudice and discrimination toward mixed-weight couples (i.e., romantic partners with dissimilar body mass indexes [BMIs]) than matched-weight couples. In Study 1, people rated mixed-weight couples less favorably than matched-weight couples. In Study 2, people acted as matchmakers; they chose to pair potenti...

People differ in their openness to different types of information and some information may evoke greater avoidance than does other information. We developed an 8-item measure of people's tendency to avoid learning information. The flexible instrument can function as both a predictor and outcome measure. The results from 4 studies involving 7 sample...

Many people who endorse gender equality do not personally identify as feminists. The present research offers a novel explanation for this disconnect by examining people’s attitudes toward feminist prototypes—the central, representative feminist that comes to mind when they think of feminists as a group. Results from two samples support the hypothes...

Self-affirming-such as by reflecting on one's strengths and values-reduces defensiveness to threatening information, reduces negative effects of stereotype threat, and promotes prosociality. These outcomes may promote physical health, highlighting a need to examine the role of self-affirmation in medical and health contexts. Data were collected as...

Oral and pharyngeal cancer is highly treatable if diagnosed early, yet late diagnosis is commonplace apparently because of delays in undergoing an oral cancer examination. We explored predictors of scheduling and attending an oral cancer examination among a sample of Black and White men who were at high risk for oral cancer because they smoked. Dur...

Action hypocrisy is the tendency to recommend behavior for others that one would personally be unwilling to undertake. Six studies examine the relationship between action hypocrisy and psychological distance. Studies 1a and 1b and 2 demonstrate action hypocrisy in three populations and in 2 different contexts. Studies 3 to 5 support a psychological...

The present study used archival data to examine how White, Black, and biracial Black/White people respond to implicit attitude feedback suggesting that they harbor racial bias that does not align with their self-reported attitudes. The results suggested that people are generally defensive in response to feedback indicating that their implicit attit...

Social connections are essential to health and well-being. However, when pursing social acceptance, people may sometimes engage in behavior that is detrimental to their health. Using a multi-time-point design, we examined whether the structure of an emerging network of students in an academic summer school program correlated with their physical hea...

This study assessed the nature of psychology and its consensus regarding core content. We hypothesized that psychology possesses little agreement regarding its core content areas and thus may "envy" more canonical sciences, such as physics. Using a global sample, we compared psychologists' and physicists' perceptions regarding the nature of their f...

In these two studies, we examined whether the inferences people make about likable and dislikable targets align with the predictions of balance theory. We hypothesized that people exhibit a liking-similarity effect by perceiving greater similarity with a likable person than a dislikable person. To test this hypothesis, we manipulated the likability...

Objective: Despite the fact that skin cancer is highly avoidable, incidence and death rates in the United States continue to climb. The pattern is particularly problematic among young, White women, who sometimes overexpose themselves to harmful ultraviolet rays in hopes of being tan. Research has suggested that positivity toward prototypes of indi...

Are people who lack personal and interpersonal resources are more likely to avoid learning potentially threatening information? We conducted four studies assessing three different populations (undergraduates, high school students, and a nationally-representative sample of adults), using a variety of measures and methods (e.g., single and multi-item...

Research documents a disparity between Black and White Americans in mortality for oral cancer that appears to result in part from behaviors such as lower oral cancer screening among Black Americans. We examined barriers to oral cancer screening among Black Americans. We surveyed Black Americans (N = 366) living in rural Florida to identify barriers...

To examine factors influencing dentists' intentions to counsel adolescents. Florida dentists (N = 929) responded to 3 descriptions of an office visit by an adolescent patient. In the standard-of-care condition the patient consumed excessive sugar. In the other 2 conditions, a reliable source or patient's mother revealed the patient was sexually act...

People facing potentially threatening feedback sometimes opt to avoid it in an attempt to preserve a cherished self-view. In three studies, we examined whether people would adopt such a strategy in the context of the Black-White Implicit Association Test (IAT), which has the potential to reveal implicit prejudice. Study 1 demonstrated that people e...

Despite the importance of learning about one's health, people sometimes opt to remain ignorant. In three studies, we investigated whether prompting people to contemplate their reasons for seeking or avoiding information would reduce avoidance of personal health information. In Study 1, people were more likely to opt to learn their risk for type 2 d...

Objective: Mortality from mouth and throat cancer (MTC) is higher among Black Americans than White Americans partially because of late stage detection through screening. The disparity in mortality is particularly problematic among Black Americans living in rural areas who have limited access to preventative resources. Our study explored barriers t...

Objective: Black Americans suffer greater mortality from Oral and Pharyngeal Cancer (OPC) than do White Americans partially because of late stage detection. Mortality may be particularly problematic for Blacks living in rural areas because of limited access to health care. We surveyed Black Americans living in rural areas to identify barriers to OP...

Background Although knowledge can be powerful and bring a variety of important benefits, people often opt to remain ignorant. Purpose We propose that people are particularly inclined to remain ignorant when learning information could obligate undesirable behavior. Method In three studies, participants completed an online risk calculator and then le...

People confronting potentially undesirable situations frequently must choose between action and inaction, and the choice people most admire may not correspond with the choice they make. Three studies examined the discrepancy between values and personal choices in the face of potentially undesirable situations. Across all studies participants percei...

Although screening for medical problems can have health benefits, the potentially threatening nature of the results can lead people to avoid screening. In three studies, we examined whether affirming people's self-worth reduces their avoidance of medical-screening feedback. Participants completed an online risk calculator for a fictitious medical c...

The authors describe a classroom-based demonstration of the correspondence bias-the tendency for observers to make dispositional attributions for an actor's behavior. The demonstration is memorable, effective, takes roughly 5 minutes, and produced improvement in understanding of the bias.

The present study tested the prediction that male teachers are judged more harshly than female teachers for engaging in heterosexual intercourse with a student. One-hundred and eighty-seven adults (116 women, 71 men) evaluated a hypothetical newspaper article describing an alleged student-teacher relationship as part of a 2 (Gender Dyad: Male Teach...