Mendes, 5
Curriculum Vitae
Wendy Berry Mendes
Department Address
Harvard University
William James Hall, Room 1420
33 Kirkland Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617.495.3863
Fax: 617.495.3728
http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~wbm/
Education
B.A./B.S./M.A. 1993/1995 California State University, Long Beach
Psychology/Quantitative Psychology
Ph.D. 2003 University of California, Santa Barbara
Social Psychology
Post-Doctoral Scholar 2003-2004 University of California, San Francisco
Psychology and Medicine
Academic Appointments
July 2004 – 2008 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology,
Harvard University
July 2008 – present John L. Loeb Associate Professor of Social Science, Department of Psychology, Harvard University
Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society
Harvard School of Public Health
Center on the Developing Child
Harvard University
Funding History ______
National Institute of Mental Health, MH12013
Transactional coping from a biopsychosocial perspective, 1998 – 2001
Pre-doctoral fellowship (NRSA)
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Grant
Effects of stigmatization on cardiovascular reactivity, 1999
$20,000; P.I.
Robert Wood Johnson Health Disparities
Autonomic and neuroendocrine responses following discrimination: Effects of SES and race in a community sample, 2003—2005
$35,000; P.I.
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Mindfulness-based stress reduction and neuroendocrine and ANS activity, 2005 – 2010
Co-I
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
Effects of discrimination on physical and mental health, awarded, 2006 – 2011 (RO1 HL079383)
$2.3m; Co-PI; PI on subcontract
National Institute of Aging: Pilot Project for the Program of Global Demography of Aging
Cognitive functioning under stress: An examination of how physiological responses affect decision-making in older adults, 2006 – 2008
$20,597; PI
Research Enabling Grant, Harvard University
When is social contact effective at reducing inter-racial anxiety? 2007—2008
$67,500; PI
Robert Wood Johnson Grant
Neuroendocrine and cardiovascular consequences of expecting and experiencing discrimination, 2007—2008
$22,104; PI
National Institute of Mental Health
The disjunction between mental and physical health outcomes for African Americans, 2007—2010 (MH082620) National Research Service Award
$184,404; Faculty Sponsor; Investigator: Akinola
The Alliance of Civilizations Foundation
How humiliation engenders anger, aggression and retribution, 2007 – 2009
$50,000; PI
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Metabolic and immunologic effects of meditation, 2009 – 2013
Co-I
National Institute of Aging
The biology of resilience: Oxytocin, social relationships and health, 2008 – 2010, R21 AG030632
Co-I (PI: Kubzansky)
Mind, Brain, & Behavior Interfaculty Initiative
Contagiousness of racial bias: A psychophysiological examination of how mother’s intergroup anxiety influences babies’ preferences for social groups (with Elizabeth Spelke)
$20,000; PI
National Institute of Aging
Race-based social stress and health trajectories from adolescence to adult, 2010- 2012, 1RC2AG036780
$982,000; PI
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (pending)
The effects of race, status, and discrimination on acute stress reactivity
Publications ______
*indicates graduate student advisee or post-doctoral trainee
**indicates undergraduate advisee
Book
Blascovich, J., Mendes, W. B., Dickerson, S., & Vanman, E. (forthcoming). Handbook of Social Psychophysiology. Affective Science Series.
Peer-reviewed journal articles
Blascovich, J., Mendes, W. B., Hunter, S. & Salomon, K. (1999). Social facilitation as challenge and threat. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 68-77.
Mendes, W. B., Blascovich, J., Major, B. & Seery, M. D. (2001). Challenge and threat during upward and downward social comparisons, European Journal of Social Psychology, 31, 477-497.
Blascovich, J., Mendes, W. B., Hunter, S., Lickel, B., & Kowai-Bell, N. (2001). Perceiver threat in social interactions with stigmatized others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 253-267.
Mendes, W. B., Blascovich, J., Lickel, B., & Hunter, S. (2002). Cardiovascular reactivity during social interactions with White and Black men. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 939-952.
Allen, K., Blascovich, J., & Mendes, W. B. (2002). Cardiovascular reactivity and the presence of pets and spouses: The truth about cats and dogs. Psychosomatic Medicine, 64, 727-739.
Mendes, W. B., Reis, H., Seery, M.D., & Blascovich, J. (2003). Cardiovascular correlates of emotional expression and suppression: Do content and gender context matter? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 771-792.
Blascovich, J., Mendes, W. B., Tomaka, J., Salomon, K., & Seery, M.D. (2003). The robust nature of the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat: A reply to Wright and Kirby. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 7, 234-243.
Weisbuch, M., Mendes, W. B., Seery, M D., & Blascovich, J. (2005). The psychological influence of stimuli outside of subjective awareness during motivated performance situations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1203-1216.
Epel, E. S., Lin, J., Wilhelm, F., Wolkowitz, O. M., Cawthon, R., Adler, N., Dolbier, C., Mendes, W. B, & Blackburn, E. H. (2006). Cell aging in relation to stress arousal and cardiovascular disease risk factors and genetic variation. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 31, 277-287.
Mendes, W. B., Blascovich, J., Hunter, S., Lickel, B., & Jost, J. (2007). Threatened by the unexpected: Challenge and threat during inter-ethnic interactions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 698-716.
Winner of the Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize for 2007
Mendes, W. B., *Gray, H., Mendoza-Denton, R., Major, B. & Epel, E. (2007). Why egalitarianism might be good for your health: Physiological thriving during stressful intergroup encounters. Psychological Science, 18, 991-998.
Nock, M. K. & Mendes, W. B. (2008). Physiological arousal, distress tolerance, and social problem solving deficits among adolescent self-injurers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76, 28-38.
Gramzow, R., *Willard, G., & Mendes, W. B. (2008). Big tales and cool heads: Academic exaggeration is related to cardiac vagal reactivity. Emotion, 8, 138-144.
Mendes, W. B., Major, B., McCoy, S., & Blascovich, J. (2008). How attributional ambiguity shapes physiological and emotional responses to social rejection and acceptance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 278-291.
*Gray, H., Mendes, W. B., Denny-Brown, C. (2008). An in-group advantage to detecting intergroup anxiety. Psychological Science, 19, 1233-1237.
*Akinola, M. & Mendes, W. B. (2008). The dark side of creativity: biological vulnerability and negative mood leads to greater artistic creativity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1677-1686.
Winner of the SPSP best graduate student authored paper award 2008
Navarrete, C. D., Olsson A., *Ho, A., Mendes, W. B., *Thomsen, L. & Sidanius, J.
(2009). The roles of race and gender in the persistence of learned fear. Psychological Science, 20, 155-158.
Schmader, T., Forbes, C. E., Zhang, S., & Mendes, W. B. (2009). A meta-cognitive perspective on the cognitive deficits experienced in intellectually threatening environments. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 584-596.
*Kassam, K., *Koslov, K., & Mendes, W. B. (2009). Decisions under distress: Stress profiles influence anchoring and adjustment. Psychological Science.
*Jamieson, J., Mendes, W. B., **Blackstock, E. & Schmader, T. (2009). Turning the knots in your stomach into bows: Reappraising arousal improves performance on the GRE. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
*Eliezer, D., Major, B., & Mendes, W. B. (in press). Gender identification moderates psychological and physiological responses to perceived sexism. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
*Page-Gould, E., Mendes, W. B., & Major, B. (revise-resubmit). Perceptual and physiological benefits of intergroup contact. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
*Waugh, C. E., Panage, S., Mendes, W. B., & Gotlib, I. H. (submitted). When stressful events do not happen: Cardiac and affective recovery from anticipatory threat.
Major, B., *Townsend, S., *Sawyer, P., & Mendes, W. B. (submitted). Can the absence of prejudice be more threatening than its presence? It depends on one’s worldview.
*Eliezer, D., *Townsend, S. M., *Sawyer, P. J., Major, B., & Mendes, W. B. (submitted). System justifying beliefs moderate the relationship between perceived discrimination and resting blood pressure.
Mendes, W. B. (forthcoming). Links between mind and body across the life span: A case for maturational dualism in the experience of emotion. Emotion Review.
Mendes, W. B. & *Koslov, K. (forthcoming). Overcorrection. Personality and Social Psychology Compass.
Reviews and chapters
Blascovich, J. & Mendes, W. B. (2000). Challenge and threat appraisals: The role of affective cues. In Forgas, J. (Ed.). Feeling and thinking: The role of affect in social cognition. Cambridge University Press, Paris, 59-82.
Blascovich, J., Mendes, W. B., Hunter, S., & Lickel, B. (2000). Stigma, threat, and social interactions. In: Heatherton, Kleck, Hebl, & Hull (Eds.). The Social Psychology of Stigma. Guilford Press, New York, 307-333.
Blascovich, J., Mendes, W. B., & Seery, M.D. (2002). Intergroup threat: A multi-method approach. In D. M. Mackie & E. R. Smith (Eds.). From prejudice to intergroup emotions: Differentiated reactions to social groups (pp. 89-109). New York: Psychology Press.
Mendes, W. B. (2007). Social Facilitation. Encyclopedia of Social Psychology, R. Baumeister & K. Vohs (Eds).
Mendes, W. B. (2009). Assessing the autonomic nervous system. In: E. Harmon-Jones and J. Beer (Eds.) Methods in Social Neuroscience. Guilford Press.
Blascovich, J. & Mendes, W. B. (in press). Social psychophysiology and embodiment. In: S. T. Fiske, D.T. & Gilbert, D. T. (Eds.). The Handbook of Social Psychology, 5th Edition. New York: Wiley.
Mendes, W. B. & Jamieson, J. (forthcoming). Embodiment of stereotype threat: Physiological underpinnings of performance decrements. In: M. Inzlicht & T. Schmader (Eds). Stereotype threat: Theory, process, and application. New York: Oxford.
*Akinola, M. & Mendes, W. B. (forthcoming). Measuring the pulse of an organization: incorporating psychophysiological assessments into the organizational toolbox. To appear in: Research Methods in Organizational Behavior.
Honors & Awards ______
Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
Dean’s Honor Roll – Top 1% of graduating university students (CSULB)
Gilbert J. Padilla Memorial Award – Outstanding Psychology Graduate Student (CSULB)
Chuck McClintock Memorial Award – Outstanding Scholarship and Service (UCSB)
Society for Psychophysiological Research Student Poster Award, 2000, 2001
UCSB Dissertation Fellowship (2002)
Milton Research Fund Award (Harvard, 2005)
Cooke Research Fund Award (Harvard, 2005, 2008)
Nominee for Levenson Teaching Award (Harvard, 2005, 2006)
One of Harvard Undergraduates’ “Favorite Professors” (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
Winner of the Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize for best paper (2007)
SPSP Best Graduate Student Paper Award (Akinola & Mendes) (2008)
Nominee for the Everett Mendelsohn Excellence in Mentoring Award (2009)
SAGE Young Scholar Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (2009)
Invited Colloquia______
UCLA Health Psychology area meeting, February, 2001
UC San Francisco Veterans Hospital Administration, December, 2003
Yale University, Social Area Meeting, November, 2004
UC San Francisco, Osher Center, November, 2004
Northeastern University, Social Psychology Area meeting, November, 2004
Tufts Psychology, Departmental Colloquium. March, 2005
Boston College, Affective Science Series, October, 2005
Harvard University, Department of Education, November, 2005
MGH, Nuclear Magnetic Imaging (NMR), June, 2006
UC San Francisco, Mind and Biology Seminar, January, 2007
UC San Francisco, Robert Woods Johnson Health Disparities Group, February, 2007
UC San Francisco, Psychology and Medicine Seminar, February, 2007
UC Berkeley, Institute for Personality and Social Psychology, April, 2007
Stanford University, Social Area, April, 2007
UC Santa Barbara, Social Area, May, 2007
Dartmouth Minary Conference, August, 2007
Harvard University, Osher Center, November, 2007
Harvard University, Clinical Area, December, 2007
Brandies University, Departmental Colloquium, March 2008
Northwestern University, Departmental Colloquium, April 2008
University of Massachusetts Amherst, Social Area, September 2008
University of Michigan, Departmental Colloquium, February 2009
University of Connecticut, Social Area, February 2009
Harvard School of Public Health, Robert Woods Johnson Health & Society, April 2009
Cornell University, Departmental Colloquium, April 2010
University of Chicago, Business School Colloquium, April 2010
Conference Presentations: Selected Paper Presentations______
Mendes, W. B., Watson, J., Kelley, T., & Blascovich, J. (Sept. 1998). The effects of opposite-sex and same-sex supportive friends on CV reactivity during evaluative and non-evaluative tasks. Paper presented at the Society for Psychophysiological Research, Denver, CO.
Mendes, W. B. & Blascovich, J. (April, 1999). Cardiovascular reactivity during inter-racial interactions: Effects of race and status on phenomenological challenge and threat. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association (W. B. Mendes, chair), Irvine, CA.
Mendes, W. B. & Blascovich, J. (June, 1999). Perceptions of stigmatization on cardiovascular reactivity. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society (W. B. Mendes, moderator), Denver, CO.
Mendes, W. B. (February, 2001). The utility of automatic and controlled measures during intergroup interactions. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, symposium on social neuroscience (B. Bartholow, chair), San Antonio, TX.
Mendes, W. B. (April, 2001). Effects of interactions with counter-stereotypical persons on challenge and threat responses. Paper presented at the first meeting of the Social Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, symposium on stereotyping (M. Lieberman, chair), Los Angeles, CA.
Mendes, W. B. (March, 2003). Autonomic reactivity as a function of the perceptions of stigmatization. Paper presented at the American Psychosomatic Medicine Meeting, symposium on the Social Self and Health (M. Kemeny, chair), Phoenix, AZ.
Mendes, W. B. (May, 2004). Threatening social comparisons. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, symposium on social comparisons (D. Marx, chair), Chicago, IL.
Mendes, W. B. (September, 2004). Intergroup interactions and threat: A multi-method approach. New England Social Psychology Association.
Mendes, W. B. (Jan, 2005). Cardiovascular responses during threatening social comparisons. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, symposium on social comparisons (D. Marx, chair), New Orleans, LA.
Mendes, W. B. (May, 2005). Stigmatization and its physiological reactivity. Invited Hot Topic presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, Los Angeles, CA.
Mendes, W. B. (Jan, 2006). Overcorrection, compunction or misattribution? The fractionation of automatic and controlled measures during intergroup interactions. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, symposium on stigma and political correctness (M. Norton, chair), Palm Springs, CA.
Mendes, W. B. (August, 2006). Intergroup emotions: The dark side of being positive. Paper presented at the ISRE, symposium on Intergroup Emotions, Atlanta, GA.
Mendes, W. B. (August, 2006). Racial discrimination and its cardiovascular and neuroendocrine concomitants. Paper presented at the, American Psychological Association, symposium on Stigma and Discrimination (J. Stone, chair), New Orleans, LA.