Ozlem Ayduk - US grants

Every day, people encounter temptations that they need to overcome in order to obtain desirable future outcomes. School children face them when they decide to do their homework instead of watching TV, and adults face them when they decide to save for their retirement rather than enjoy an extensive vacation. What makes it possible to resist temptation some times, but not others? Is it basic brain function and anatomy, some of which may be based on genetic variations? The goal of this research is to understand the cognitive and neural bases of self-control, in particular the ability to override impulsive responding and to delay immediate gratification in the service a delayed, but more desirable, future consequence. The investigators will examine this process in detail at three levels. First, at the level of mental processes, the researchers will examine the extent to which self-control has to do with people's ability (1) to block the entry of unwanted information (e.g., by paying attention to something else), or (2) to suppress unwanted thoughts (e.g., by thinking about something else), or (3) to stop themselves from acting (e.g., by keeping one's hand from moving). Second, self-control processes will be analyzed at the level of brain functioning and anatomy. Past research has identified areas of the brain that become particularly activated when people engage in these processes, as well as connections between areas of the brain that seem to play a key role. These functional and anatomical features will be related to effective self-control strategies, such as shutting out information, suppressing thoughts, and inhibiting behavior. Finally, self-control processes will be examined at the level of genetics. Recent research has found that variations in some genes may be related to people's ability to self-control. Modern technology has made it possible to examine which variation of these genes people have using a simple, non-invasive and cost-effective method, when the target DNA sequences are known. Using such methods, the researchers will determine if these known gene variations are also related to the three mental processes, as well as the brain functioning and anatomy associated with them.

The participants will come from a longitudinal study, which began with a sample of 306 participants when they were enrolled in preschool in the early 1970s. The ability to pursue long-term goals in the face of immediate temptation was assessed once every decade since the original testing. Participants have now reached their late 30s and early 40s, and information about their life-outcomes, such as their occupational, marital, and physical health, and mental health status are becoming available. In the proposed project, we will study two groups of people in this longitudinal study. Individuals in one group have displayed high levels of self-control consistently over four decades, and those in the other group have consistently displayed self-control abilities well below the average of the cohort. By comparing these groups, we hope to learn the extent to which basic mental processes, brain functions and anatomy, and genetic variations are related to self-control. What we learn from this study may lead to a more precise understanding of the mechanisms that enable self-control, and may provide a foundation for future intervention to facilitate people's efforts to exert self-control.

The University of California-Berkeley proposes to conduct an AGEP Broadening Participation Research in STEM Education project entitled Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Mechanisms in Improving Mentoring Relationships for Underrepresented Students in STEM Fields. The purpose of the project is to understand how students can develop positive mentor-mentee relationships and the psychological barriers that may undermine positive mentor-mentee relationships. The researchers will examine whether targeting socio-emotional processes at the interpersonal and intrapersonal levels can enhance effective mentoring for underrepresented minority students in STEM. The research focuses both on the lack of interpersonal trust and warmth, that has been shown to characterize intergroup interactions (inter-individual processes), and the egocentric perspective and the heightened sense of threat that often accompany such interactions (intra-individual processes).

The project will provide theoretically and empirically informed insights about the nature of the mentoring relationship by contributing to the understanding of how underrepresented students' identification with and success in the university and their majors can be improved. The results could prove to be transformative and significant for all STEM disciplines.

The Directorate of Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences offers postdoctoral research fellowships to provide opportunities for recent doctoral graduates to obtain additional training, to gain research experience under the sponsorship of established scientists, and to broaden their scientific horizons beyond their undergraduate and graduate training. Postdoctoral fellowships are further designed to assist new scientists to direct their research efforts across traditional disciplinary lines and to avail themselves of unique research resources, sites, and facilities, including at foreign locations. This postdoctoral fellowship trains a young scientist exploring the strategies for mitigating certain threats that arise due to intergroup mentoring, which is often the case for under-represented minorities in the STEM fields. This fellowship support is under the "Broadening Participation" track of the SBE postdoctoral fellowships program.

Under-represented minorities (URMs) perform lower than their majority-group counterparts across STEM domains. One factor that may contribute to URMs? underperformance is that they are typically mentored by majority-group members, a result of the numerical underrepresentation of URM faculty and upper-level management in STEM. Critically, the intergroup nature of these mentoring relationships is likely to activate discrimination-related threats and negative affect for both mentors and mentees. Specifically, majority-group individuals often worry about being perceived as prejudiced, and URMs in historically stigmatized contexts often worry that they will face discrimination. Consequently, rather than creating an opportunity for professional growth, intergroup mentoring may present a threat for both mentors and mentees, and impede progress for URMs in STEM. The goal of the current research is to promote academic and professional success for URMs in STEM, and thus increase rates of URM participation to generate a larger and more diverse STEM workforce.

The current research attempts to mitigate the threats experienced during intergroup mentoring through self-distancing. Self-distancing is a self-regulatory strategy wherein a person observes and analyzes the self from a 3rd person perspective, and has been shown to reduce negative affect, and improve communication skills. In the current studies, White and URM participants adopt the role of mentors and students, respectively, and interact with one another. Additionally, we manipulate the degree to which participants view their mentoring interaction from a self-distanced perspective. To understand the physiological mechanisms through which self-distancing influences mentoring outcomes, the current research examines neural and immune reactivity. Furthermore, to test the longer-term behavioral consequences of neural and immune reactivity during a mentoring interaction, participants return to the lab for a one-week follow-up session. These studies have the potential to reveal basic mechanisms that drive important outcomes in interracial mentoring relationships.