Jeremy Jamieson

• University of Rochester

Disagreements over conflicting viewpoints are common and have important implications for social relationships and overall well-being. A large corpus of research from the political and social sciences documents the myriad negative consequences of disclosing dissenting viewpoints. However, relatively less is known about how sharing (and encountering)...

Individuals embody various social identities that can impact how they interface with the social environment. Stigma theories suggest that members of low-status or marginalized groups possess devalued social identities, and therefore, experience more stress. While social identities can lead to increased stress, individuals’ appraisals of their ident...

The biopsychosocial model (BPSM) of challenge and threat provides a framework for understanding stress responses in motivated performance situations, including how stress relates to performance. In this model, experiences of challenge—characterized by evaluations of personal coping resources matching or exceeding situational demands—elicit approach...

Esports refers to competitive video gaming where individuals compete against each other in organized tournaments for prize money. Here, we present the Competitive Esports Physiological, Affective, and Video (CEPAV) dataset, in which 300 male Counter Strike: Global Offensive gamers participated in a study aimed at optimizing affect during esports to...

Physiological synchrony—or similarity between two people’s physiological responses—is thought to have important consequences for health and well-being and has been observed in social relationship contexts. The present study investigated variability in dyads’ physiological synchrony as a function of both partners’ behaviors during an emotionally sal...

Affective responses during stressful, high-stakes situations can play an important role in shaping performance. For example, feeling shaky and nervous at a job interview can undermine performance, whereas feeling excited during that same interview can optimize performance. Thus, affect regulation—the way people influence their affective responses—m...

The biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat emphasizes how individuals appraise stress. Close relationship theories emphasize the interpersonal context, communication, and outcomes that arise from stress. We integrate these approaches by examining the individual variability surrounding appraisals of sufficient (more challenge, less threat) or...

Large language models (LLMs), such as OpenAI's GPT-4, Google's Bard or Meta's LLaMa, have created unprecedented opportunities for analysing and generating language data on a massive scale. Because language data have a central role in all areas of psychology, this new technology has the potential to transform the field. In this Perspective, we revie...

Background Single‐session interventions have the potential to address young people's mental health needs at scale, but their effects are heterogeneous. We tested whether the mindset + supportive context hypothesis could help explain when intervention effects persist or fade over time. The hypothesis posits that interventions are more effective in e...

This research examined the influence of Black–White income inequality on negative interracial psychological outcomes and the role of perceived interracial competition as a mediational mechanism. The research utilized three different designs across three preregistered experiments to assess the proposed processes. Study 1 (N = 846) used a measurement...

Large Language Models (LLMs), such as OpenAI’s GPT-4 or Google’s Bard, have created unprecedented opportunities for analyzing and generating language data on a massive scale. Because language is core to all areas of psychology, this new technology holds the potential to transform the field. In this Review, we first present emerging applications of...

Social-evaluative stressors—experiences when the self could be negatively judged by others—pose a major threat to adolescent health via their effects on internalizing disorders, such as anxiety and depression. Preventative interventions to help adolescents improve their responses to social-evaluative stressors, however, have rarely been effective....

Social-evaluative stressors—experiences when the self could be negatively judged by others—pose a major threat to adolescent health via their effects on internalizing disorders, such as anxiety and depression. Preventative interventions to help adolescents improve their responses to social-evaluative stressors, however, have rarely been effective....

The field experiment presented here applied a stress regulation technique to optimize affective and neuroendocrine responses and improve academic and psychological outcomes in an evaluative academic context. Community college students (N = 339) were randomly assigned to stress reappraisal or active control conditions immediately before taking their...

This research examined the effects of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic on perceived Black-White intergroup competition and negative intergroup psychological outcomes. Two datasets (collected before [2018] and after the onset of [April, 2020] COVID-19) were combined (N = 2,131) for this research. The data provided support for the hypothesis that p...

There remains a dearth of research on causal roles of perceived interracial competition on psychological outcomes. Towards this end, this research experimentally manipulated perceptions of group-level competition between Black and White individuals in the U.S. and tested for effects on negative psychological outcomes. In Study 1 (N = 899), particip...

Background and Objectives Social interactions involving personal disclosures are ubiquitous in social life and have important relational implications. A large body of research has documented positive outcomes from fruitful social interactions with amicable individuals, but less is known about how self-disclosing interactions with inimical interacti...

Background and Objectives: Social interactions involving personal disclosures are ubiquitous in social life and have important relational implications. A large body of research has documented positive outcomes from fruitful social interactions with amicable individuals, but less is known about how self-disclosing interactions with inimical interact...

Adolescents who hold an entity theory of personality—the belief that people cannot change—are more likely to report internalizing symptoms during the socially stressful transition to high school. It has been puzzling, however, why a cognitive belief about the potential for change predicts symptoms of an affective disorder. The present research inte...

Three studies examined the effects of receiving fewer signs of positive feedback than others on social media. In Study 1, adolescents (N = 613, Mage = 14.3 years) who were randomly assigned to receive few (vs. many) likes during a standardized social media interaction felt more strongly rejected, and reported more negative affect and more negative...

Mathematics anxiety is a major impediment to achievement in mathematics and science academic domains. Although important steps have been made in understanding the psychological processes of mathematics anxiety, as well as developing promising interventions, less is known about the relationship among mathematics anxiety, affective and biological res...

Suppressing the expression of negative emotions tends to undermine individuals' and their partners' wellbeing. However, sometimes expressive suppression may be relatively innocuous given that individuals commonly withhold negative emotions in order to maintain close relationships, and this may be especially the case when expressive suppression is e...

Given the powerful implications of relationship quality for health and well-being, a central mission of relationship science is explaining why some romantic relationships thrive more than others. This large-scale project used machine learning (i.e., Random Forests) to 1) quantify the extent to which relationship quality is predictable and 2) identi...

Restrictiveness, a component of relationship dominance associated with monitoring and regulating partners' behavior, is a risk factor and accelerant of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Few studies, however, have examined in vivo physiological responses associated with restrictiveness. Toward this end, 105 romantic couples (N = 210) completed measur...

The current research examined the interpersonal dynamics of emotion regulation in a stressful collaborative context. Little is known about how regulating one's own stress responses impacts teammates. In this article, we propose that individual efforts to regulate emotions can impact teammates for the better. We tested hypotheses arising from this c...

The dominant cultural valuation of stress is that it is “bad for me.” This valuation leads to regulatory goals of reducing or avoiding stress. In this article, we propose an alternative approach—stress optimization—which integrates theory and research on stress mindset (e.g., Crum, Salovey, & Achor, 2013) and stress reappraisal (e.g., Jamieson, Men...

OBJECTIVE. Scholars disagree on whether income inequality has incentive or disincentive effects. In the present research, we move beyond such debate and focus on the motivational processes that income inequality predicts. First, income inequality makes economic stratification salient, and therefore should promote perceived competitiveness. Second,...

This research investigated whether highlighting the difference between norm-based approach and avoidance motivation impacts performance goal reporting accuracy. Participants were randomly assigned to receive no instructions, or reading materials indicating that norm-based approach and avoidance motivation are the same (Same condition) or different...

There exists a racial income gap in America: Blacks earn ∼38% less than Whites, but little is known about its relation to interracial psychological outcomes. Toward this end, the present research examined associations between the Black–White income gap and perceptions of interracial competition and, subsequently, negative intergroup outcomes. Study...

This study examined whether anticipating interacting with a partner higher in attachment insecurity predicted greater physiological threat in an emotion regulation context. Eighty-eight couples watched an emotionally negative film clip, prepared to discuss the video with their partner, and then engaged in a conversation. One dyad member (regulator)...

This study examined the impact of noise on cognitive performance in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), while concurrently measuring sympathetic responses. Adolescents with and without ASD completed visually presented span tasks in a 2 × 2 experimental manipulation of noise (quiet vs. 75 dB gated broadband noise) and task difficulty (easier vs. harder)...

Background and objectives: Effects of reappraising stress arousal during an interpersonal competition were tested on physiological functioning and performance. Additionally, the moderating role of gender was explored. Design and method: Participants (N = 279) were randomly assigned to a stress reappraisal, stress-is-debilitating, or a neutral contr...

Objective Performance‐approach goals and performance‐avoidance goals are conceptually distinct, but they are often moderately or even highly positively correlated. The present research examines lay conceptions of approach and avoidance motivation as a moderator of this intergoal relation. Method Study 1 (N = 281) assessed whether participants cons...

OBJECTIVE. Scholars disagree on whether income inequality has incentive or disincentive effects. In the present research, we move beyond such debate and focus on the motivational processes that income inequality predicts. First, income inequality makes economic stratification salient, and therefore should promote perceived competitiveness. Second,...

How does emotion regulation impact teammates? We present data from a dyadic experiment(N=266) that assessed in vivo stress responses in teammates during collaborative (a face-to-face product design task) and then individual work (a product pitch to evaluators). Throughout the experiment, one manipulated teammate reappraised their stress arousal (re...

Anxiety and sensory symptoms are highly prevalent and meaningful in the daily lives of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Despite the importance of carefully measuring, researching, and treating these symptoms, current methods in ASD seldom include self-report. This study investigated the consistency of adolescent and parent reports o...

Grades often decline during the high school transition, creating stress. The present research integrates the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat with the implicit theories model to understand who shows maladaptive stress responses. A diary study measured declines in grades in the first few months of high school: salivary cortisol (N = 360...

Grades often decline during the transition to high school, and this can be stressful. The present research integrates the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat with the implicit theories models of coping to understand who shows maladaptive stress responses and who is resilient. A diary study measured declines in grades in the first few mont...

Background: The dominant perspective in society is that stress has negative consequences, and not surprisingly, the vast majority of interventions for coping with stress focus on reducing the frequency or severity of stressors. However, the effectiveness of stress attenuation is limited because it is often not possible to avoid stressors, and avoid...

The biopsychosocial (BPS) model of challenge and threat posits that resource and demand appraisals interact in situations of acute stress to determine affective responses, and concomitant physiological responses, motivation, and decisions/behaviors. Regulatory approaches that alter appraisals to regulate challenge and threat affective states have t...

This research examined how situations in which self- and relationship-interests are misaligned can "get under the skin" to negatively impact cardiovascular and relationship processes. Interdependence theory was integrated with the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat to better understand the biological processes that underlie relationship...

Regulating affective responses to acute stress has the potential to improve health, performance, and well-being outcomes. Using the biopsychosocial (BPS) model of challenge and threat as an organizing framework, we review how appraisals inform affective responses and highlight research that demonstrates how appraisals can be used as regulatory tool...

Testosterone reactivity has been conceptualized as a marker of social submission at low levels and social dominance at high levels. However, hormonal fluctuations in response to romantic partners remain largely unknown. Towards this end, 88 couples (N = 176) discussed an emotional video. Prior to the conversation, one member the dyad (the “agent”)...

This research examined opposing motivational processes produced by competition in vivo. Participants (N = 115) were randomly assigned to competition or no competition conditions, and completed a risk behavior measure (the Columbia Card Task). Cardiovascular responses were monitored during performance to assess challenge (approach-motivated) and thr...

Emotion suppression is one of the most studied topics in emotion regulation. However, little is known about how response-focused regulation strategies unfold in romantic relationships from the perspectives of both emotion regulators and their interaction partners. Using the biopsychosocial (BPS) model of challenge and threat as an organizing framew...

This research integrated implicit theories of personality and the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat, hypothesizing that adolescents would be more likely to conclude that they can meet the demands of an evaluative social situation when they were taught that people have the potential to change their socially relevant traits. In Study 1 (N...

For students to thrive in the U.S. educational system, they must successfully cope with omnipresent demands of exams. Nearly all students experience testing situations as stressful, and signs of stress (e.g., racing heart) are typically perceived negatively. This research tested the efficacy of a psychosituational intervention targeting cognitive a...

This research examined the influence of social stress on risk processes in youths. Study 1 (N = 89) randomly assigned male youths to perform either a stressful social-evaluative or nonstressful control task followed by a risk-perception measure. Compared to controls, social stress participants perceived less risk in their environment. Study 2 (N =...

Research has accumulated on the impact of intragroup conflict on group outcomes, but little is known about the effects of dissent on the individuals who provide it. Here, we examined how being the agent and target of dissent impacted physiological responses and psychological needs. Groups of three (a participant and two confederates) completed a ma...

This study examined the effects of reappraising stress arousal on affective displays, physiological responses, and social performance during an evaluative situation. Participants were sampled from across the social anxiety spectrum and instructed to reappraise arousal as beneficial or received no instructions. Independent raters coded affective dis...

The recently proposed Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project has the potential to stimulate new research and overcome many of the limitations of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders taxonomy. In the present article we focus, in three main sections, on how theory and research from developmental psychopathology can inform RDoC....

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a pervasive problem associated with debilitating impairments in social settings. This research explored the affective and physiological reactions to social evaluation and examined the efficacy of an arousal reappraisal intervention in altering cardiovascular reactivity and affective responses. Across two studies, so...

Contrary to lay beliefs, physiological changes that co-occur with stress are not necessarily bad. Much can be done during stressful experiences to promote adaptive responses. In this article, we review recent research on one method for improving acute stress responses: reappraising arousal. A growing body of research suggests that cognitive apprais...

Prior research has revealed racial disparities in health outcomes and health-compromising behaviors, such as smoking and drug abuse. It has been suggested that discrimination contributes to such disparities, but the mechanisms through which this might occur are not well understood. In the research reported here, we examined whether the experience o...

This research examined the impact of subtle stereotype threat cues (i.e., no mention of group differences) on motivation. Recent research suggests that blatant manipulations of threat motivate targets to attempt to disprove relevant stereotypes, but this motivation can, in turn, undermine performance. On the other hand, research suggests that subtl...

Stereotype threat and stereotype priming have both been shown to impair test performance. Although research suggests threat-based concerns distinguish the experience of threat from priming (Marx & Stapel, 2006), it is not clear whether these psychological phenomena impact performance via similar or distinct mechanisms. The current work demonstrates...

In this chapter, we explore brain and body mechanisms that link the experience of stereotype threat to changes in cognitive and behavioral performance. We begin by identifying a model of causal sequences of stereotype threat: psychological states associated with stereotype threat, neurobiological responses triggered by these psychological states, a...

Researchers have theorized that changing the way we think about our bodily responses can improve our physiological and cognitive reactions to stressful events. However, the underlying processes through which mental states improve downstream outcomes are not well understood. To this end, we examined whether reappraising stress-induced arousal could...

To study mediation, investigators sometimes examine the effect of an independent variable on an unrelated filler task that precedes the focal task. This approach assumes that the same psychological process drives performance on both tasks. The authors tested this assumption in a stereotype threat paradigm by manipulating whether or not the interven...

This meta-analysis examined the home-field advantage in athletics, with an emphasis on potential moderators. The goal of this research was to quantify the probability of a home victory, thus only studies that included win–loss data were included in the meta-analysis. A significant advantage for home teams was observed across all conditions (Mπ= .60...

In the first direct test of the assumption that an evaluative source is necessary to produce stereotype threat effects, we combined a traditional stereotype threat manipulation with a scoring manipulation. Participants in a “pooled” condition believed that their scores would be averaged across gender, whereas in a “segregated” condition participant...

Ostracism threatens fundamental needs of belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence, which should motivate participants to respond to this threat. However, research has yet to examine the role of need threat in producing motivation after ostracism. In the current work, participants completed a "cognitive ability" (antisaccade) task f...

This research examined the benefits of interpreting physiological arousal as a challenge response on practice and actual Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores. Participants who were preparing to take the GRE reported to the laboratory for a practice GRE study. Participants assigned to a reappraisal condition were told arousal improves performanc...

The mere effort account argues that stereotype threat motivates participants to want to perform well, which potentiates prepotent responses. If the prepotent response is correct, performance is facilitated. If incorrect and participants do not know, or lack the knowledge or time required for correction, performance is debilitated. The Graduate Reco...

Research traditions in psychology in which the evaluation-performance relationship was examined do not show agreement on the mediating process, nor is there any compelling evidence that favors one account over the others. On the basis of a molecular analysis of performance on the Remote Associates Test (RAT), Harkins (2006) argued that the potentia...

Stereotype threat refers to the concern that is experienced when a stigmatized individual feels at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about his/her group (Steele & Aronson, 1995). Although a multitude of research demonstrates that threat debilitates performance in stereotyped domains, little is known about how stereot...

Although the fact that stereotype threat impacts performance is well established, the underlying process(es) is(are) not clear. Recently, T. Schmader and M. Johns (2003) argued for a working memory interference account, which proposes that performance suffers because cognitive resources are expended on processing information associated with negativ...

This study examined the role that self-monitoring plays in behavioral mimicry. Participants were exposed to videotaped targets who were laughing, yawning, frowning, or neutral in their expression. Participants’ behavioral mimicry while viewing the targets was recorded. It was hypothesized that higher self-monitors would show greater mimicry than lo...