Ethan F. Kross - US grants

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The main goals of the proposed research are to (a) shed light on the basic mechanisms that enable people to adaptively "process" and re-represent intense negative experiences without increasing negative arousal, and (b) examine the translational implications of these mechanisms. My previous research suggests that two critical mental operations play a key role in facilitating such adaptive, reflective processing of negative emotions - a self-distanced, 3rd person perspective (rather than a self-immersed, 1st person perspective) and a "why" focus on the specific reasons underlying one's negative experience (rather than a "what" focus on the specific felt emotions experienced). Building on these findings, the proposed research will pursue the above goals with two specific aims. Aim 1 is to assess the physiological mechanisms that underlie the effects of the key operations described above (i.e., distanced-why strategy). Aim 2 is to investigate the translational potential of the distanced-why strategy by examining its utility for long-term coping with symptoms (e.g., intrusions, rumination, avoidance) surrounding intense negative experiences against a control group. These aims will be examined using both experimental and field methods. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]

Racial discrimination is a frequent and often pervasive phenomenon in the lives of many African Americans. Research reveals that more than 60 percent African American adults report encountering racial discrimination in their lives. Frequent experiences with racial discrimination appear to come with some cost to the psychological and physical well-being of African Americans. Indeed, racial discrimination has been consistently implicated in mental health and physical health outcomes for African Americans. Although most of the previous studies linking racial discrimination to measures of mental health have utilized cross-sectional data, recent longitudinal research suggests a causal link between the frequency of perceived racial discrimination and psychological distress such that experiences of racial discrimination leads to subsequent distress. There is also evidence linking racial discrimination to Cardiovascular (CV) activity and physical health outcomes among African Americans. Importantly, not all African Americans are impacted equally by discrimination. One potential source for this differential vulnerability is racial identity. Racial identity is defined as that part of the person's self-concept that is related to her/his membership within a race. The goal of this project is to determine how racial identity attitudes influence appraisal and coping with racial hassles in African American students' everyday lives, whether these students appraise and cope differently with racial and nonracial stressors, and whether racial stressors have a more negative effects on students' mood and cardiovascular activity compared to nonracial stressors. This research project uses mixed-methodologies and consists of five interrelated studies that will explicate the processes by which college students' racial identity attitudes and situational factors interact to influence how they appraise and cope with racial hassles in their everyday lives.

The broader impacts of this research are evident in that it will shed light on the physiological implications of racial discrimination that have been linked to broader racial disparities in educational achievement and attainment as well as well being and health for African Americans. The research conducted within this project will also provide an opportunity for students from underrepresented groups to gain greater exposure to psychological research as research assistants and study participants, and will provide a valuable training experience for a number of undergraduate and graduate students.

The threat of Ebola gripping our nation has incited a crisis that has far-reaching implications for public health and policy. This poses an important and timely opportunity to simultaneously (a) advance scientific knowledge concerning how self-control works in consequential, high-stakes contexts, and (b) translate existing research in this area to enhance public health and policy surrounding Ebola and future crises involving similar threats. The proposed research will capitalize on these opportunities by using methods from neuroscience and social psychology to examine whether a well-studied, simple linguistic shift that promotes self-control can be harnessed to reduce anxiety and enhance short- and long-term Ebola-related decision-making and behavior. This project was submitted in response to NSF 15-006 Dear Colleague Letter on the Ebola Virus.

Previous work by the PI (Ethan Kross, University of Michigan) and colleagues has shown that using one's own name to refer to the self during introspection (i.e., "Why is Ethan feeling this way?"), rather than the first person pronoun "I" (i.e., "Why am I feeling this way?"), powerfully enhances people's ability to control their thoughts, feelings, and behavior under stress, facilitates emotionally intelligent decision-making, and does so effortlessly. These shifts in language facilitate self-control by providing the psychological distance needed to calmly navigate stressful thoughts and events. Building on this work, the proposed research will manipulate whether people reflect on their thoughts and feelings about Ebola using 1st or 3rd person perspectives, and examine whether these shifts in language reduce Ebola-related anxiety and irrational decision-making and behavior.