Diversity

John Baugh, Ph.D.

I study the social stratification of linguistic diversity in advanced industrialized societies, with particular attention to the linguistic plight of socially dispossessed populations. My initial interest in this area began with quantitative and experimental studies of linguistic variation among African Americans. These studies evolved into applied linguistic research devoted to policy issues in medicine, education, and law. Gradually my research expanded to include populations who suffered various forms of linguistic discrimination, including deaf communities, as well as speakers who lack fluency in the dominant linguistic norms of their respective societies. Most of my research is interdisciplinary, drawing extensively upon related work in the fields of anthropology, ethnography, linguistics, and sociology. These experimental investigations are tailored to have practical applications when possible. Recent work focuses on the racial identification of speakers based on the sound of their voices during telephone conversations, a process I term "linguistic profiling." Very often these discriminatory acts have legal implications in civil and criminal court cases involving the denial of housing, predatory lending practices by financial institutions, and related forms of "covert discrimination" in which linguistic factors play a key role. In 2004, I received a Pioneer of Fair Housing award from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for my work in this area. I have continued to promote awareness and discussion on the subject as the director of the American Linguistic Heritage Survey, an ongoing study sponsored by the Ford Foundation to examine the prevalence of linguistic profiling in the United States.

• Baugh, J. (1983). Black Street Speech: Its History, Structure and Survival. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
• Baugh, J. (1999). Out of the Mouths of Slaves: African American Language and Educational Malpractice.  Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. 
• Baugh, J. (2000). Beyond Ebonics: Linguistic Pride and Racial Prejudice. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 
• Baugh, J. (2001). Coming full circle: Some circumstances pertaining to low literacy achievement among African Americans. In J. L. Harris, G. Alan, & K. E. Pollock (Eds.), Literacy in African American Communities. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Baugh, J. (2002). African American language and literacy. In M. J. Schleppegrell, & M. C. Colombi (Eds.), Developing Advanced Literacy in First and Second Languages: Meaning with Power. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Baugh, J. (2006). Review of the development of African American English. Language in Society, 35, 152-155. 
• Baugh, J., & Alim, H. S. (in press). Black Language, Education, and Social Change. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Brian D. Carpenter, Ph.D.

One aspect of my research focuses on identity and its intersection with age, gender, and sexual orientation.  The social climate in which gays and lesbians live has changed dramatically in the last 30 years. Gays and lesbians are, to a certain extent, more open about their sexual orientation and more visible to family, friends, coworkers, and society. This change has meant that young gays and lesbians matured in an environment vastly different from that of their predecessors. The goal of my research in this area is to examine the impact of cultural changes via cohort differences among gays and lesbians of different ages. To do so, my colleagues and I compare age identity in homosexual and heterosexual individuals of different ages. In addition, we are comparing the relative importance of family versus friend social networks in social support. Previous theorists suggested that gays and lesbians rely more on friendship than family networks because of inconsistent support offered by families. It is unclear whether this trend remains true for younger cohorts of individuals.  Another area of interest is the intersection of identities and how people manage the presentation of their various identities (e.g., their race, gender, sexual orientation, even religious and political affiliation) across different personal and professional contexts.  We are exploring these issues among students, faculty, and staff here on the WU campus.

Denise Head, Ph.D.

The broad focus of my research program is the exploration of the constellation of the age-related brain changes and their relations with cognition. There are three primary threads within this overarching theme. For one line of research, the focus is on characterizing the nature of aging effects on the brain and accompanying cognitive changes with both normal and pathological aging examined. An example is the delineation of the component processes that contribute to age-related deficits in spatial navigation and associated brain changes. The second major concentration involves examination of moderators and mediators of brain and cognitive aging, including such factors as cardiovascular health, exercise, lifetime stress and personality traits. The third major component of my research program entails investigation of the efficacy of intervention and training. In this area, the research focuses on aerobic exercise and cognitive training. The underlying objective of all these research lines is to gain a greater understanding of the neural underpinnings of cognitive aging, the contributing factors and effective intervention.

• Head, D., Rodrigue, K., Kennedy, K., & Raz, N. (2008). Neuroanatomical and cognitive mediators of age-related differences in episodic memory. Neuropsychologia, 22, 491-507.
• Head, D., Rodrigue, K., Kennedy, K., & Raz, N. (2009). Age differences in perseveration: cognitive and neuroanatomical mediators of performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Neuropsychologia, 47, 1200-1203.
• Storandt, M., Mintun, M., Head, D., & Morris, J. C. (2009). Longitudinal cognitive performance in nondemented people with [¹¹C]PIB imaging. Archives of Neurology, 66, 1476-1481.
• Head, D., & Isom, M. (2010). Age effects on wayfinding and route-following skills. Behavioural Brain Research, 209, 49-58.
• Bugg, J. M., & Head, D. (2011). Exercise moderates age-related atrophy of the medial temporal lobe. Neurobiology of Aging, 32, 506-514.
• Jackson, J. D., Balota, D. A., & Head, D. (in press). Exploring the relationship between personality and regional brain volume in healthy aging. Neurobiology of Aging.

 Tom Rodebaugh, Ph.D.

My research focuses on anxiety (particularly social anxiety) and its assessment and treatment. One of the challenges of assessing anxiety is doing so appropriately across various forms of diversity. Such factors as cultural background or age can lead people to respond differently to questions even if their experience of anxiety is actually quite similar. Overall, my work in this area suggests that the effects of diversity on the assessment of anxiety are complex, and deriving good answers for how to best assess across diverse populations involves asking precise questions. Some instruments work relatively well across a broad variety of participants, whereas others may not. Similarly, some psychological constructs related to anxiety work similarly across diverse populations, whereas others may function differently in different groups.

• Remen, A. L., Chambless, D. L., & Rodebaugh, T. L. (2002). Gender differences in the construct validity of the Silencing the Self Scale. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26, 151-159. 
• Hambrick, J. P., Rodebaugh, T. L., Balsis, S., Woods, C. M., Mendez, J. L., & Heimberg, R. G. (2010). Cross-ethnic measurement equivalence of measures of depression, social anxiety, and worry. Assessment, 17, 155-171.
• Rodebaugh, T. L., Heimberg, R. G., Brown, P. J., Fernandez, K. C., Blanco, C., Schneier, F. R., & Liebowitz, M. R. (2011). More reasons to be straightforward: Findings and norms for two scales relevant to social anxiety. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 25, 623-630.
• Levinson, C. A., Langer, J. K., & Rodebaugh, T. L. (in press). Social anxiety and self-construal: Considering personality. Personality and Individual Differences.

Pascal Boyer, Ph.D.

I am the Henry Luce Professor of Individual and Collective Memory. The aim of the Luce Program in Individual and Collective Memory is to provide a forum where processes of individual and cultural memory can be studied as an integral field transcending disciplinary boundaries. In my research I examine cognitive development and the influence of early developmental conceptual structures on culture. The goal of this research is to describe young children's most fundamental concepts (e.g., number, animacy, or the minds of others) and examine how these facilitate the acquisition of cultural knowledge in a variety of domains (e.g., numeracy, biological knowledge, religious categories). I have also conducted anthropological work on the transmission of technical and religious knowledge in Africa.

• Boyer, P. (2010). Intuitive Detection of Mental Disorder: A Cognitive Background to Folk-Psychiatries, Philosophical Psychology 23, 821-844.
• Boyer, P. & Szechtman, H. [Eds.] (2010). Threat-Detection and Precaution: Neuro-physiological, Behavioral, Cognitive and Psychiatric Aspects, Special Issue, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 35, 989-1080.
• Boyer, P.  & Wertsch, J. V. (Eds.) (2009). Memory in Mind and Culture, New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Boyer, P. (2008). Bound to Belief? Nature, 455, 1038-1039.

Alan Lambert, Ph.D.

I conduct research on the expression versus suppression of stereotypes. A primary goal of my research is to understand how aspects of the "situation," the perceiver's personality, as well as transitory mood states (e.g., happiness versus sadness) might lead people to either use or avoid using stereotypic knowledge as a basis for responding to others. In addition to my work on stereotyping, I am interested in the processes underlying perceptions of risk and self-vulnerability. 

• Lambert, A. J., Payne, B. K., Jacoby, L. L. Shaffer, L. M., Chasteen, A. L. & Khan, S. K. (2003). Stereotypes as dominant responses: On the “social facilitation” of prejudice in anticipated public contexts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 277-295.
• Payne, B.K., Jacoby, L. L. & Lambert, A. J. (2004). Memory monitoring and the control of stereotype distortion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 52-64.
• Lehavot, K,. & Lambert, A. J. (2007) Toward a greater understanding of antigay prejudice: On the role of sexual orientation and gender role violation, Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 29, 279-292.
• Scherer, L. D., & Lambert, A. J. (2009). Counterstereotypic exemplars in context: Evidence for intracategory differentiation using implicit measures. Social Cognition, 27, 523-­550.
• Scherer, L. D., & Lambert, A. J. (in press). Implicit race bias revisited: On the utility of task context in assessing implicit attitude strength. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
• Lambert, A. J., Chasteen, A. L. & Payne, B. K., & Shaffer, L. M. (2004). Typicality and group variability as dual moderators of category-based inferences.  Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 708-722.

Thomas Oltmanns, Ph.D.

My lab is conducting a longitudinal study concerned with the trajectory and impact of personality disorders in later life.  Participants in this study include a representative sample of 1,600 St. Louis residents between the ages of 55 and 64.  This unique sample is truly diverse, including men and women from all types of educational and economic backgrounds; 32% are African American.  Because we collect information from our participants at regular 6-month intervals, the data set allows us to consider the relationship between personality, life events, and many aspects of social adjustment, including marital satisfaction, social support, and partner aggression.

• Spence, C.T., & Oltmanns, T.F. (in press). Recruitment of African American men: Over-coming challenges for an epidemiological study of personality and health. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology.
• Oltmanns, T.F., & Gleason, M.E.J. (2011). Personality, health, and social adjustment in later life. In L.B. Cottler (Ed.), Mental health in public health: The next 100 years (pp. 151-179). New York: Oxford University Press.

At the heart of this investigation is a fundamental interest in interpersonal perception for personality traits.  We are studying ways in which people see themselves, ways in which they are seen by other people, and their beliefs about what other people think of them. These studies lie directly at the intersection between basic science and clinical research.  They depend heavily on methods and concepts developed by investigators studying interpersonal perception.

• Oltmanns, T.F., & Turkheimer, E. (2009). Person perception and personality pathology. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 32-36.
• Oltmanns, T.F., & Balsis, S. (2011).  Personality pathology in later life: Questions about the measurement, course, and impact of disorders. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 7, 321-349.

One outgrowth of my previous research has been an interest in the cross-cultural validity of self-report instruments.  Our data indicate that some standard assessment devices are not valid when used with African Americans.  Investigations currently under way focus on the development of personality measures that are not culturally biased.

• Williams, M.T., Turkheimer, E., Schmidt, K., & Oltmanns, T.F. (2005). Ethnic identification biases responses to the Padua Inventory for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Assessment, 12, 174-185.
• Thomas, J., Turkheimer, E., & Oltmanns, T.F. (2000). Psychometric analysis of racial differences on the Maudsley Obsessional Compulsive Inventory. Assessment, 7, 247-258.

Desirée White, Ph.D.

My research focuses on the developmental trajectories of executive abilities in typically-developing children and children with damage to frontal regions of the brain. A population of particular interest is children with sickle cell disease, which is predominantly African American. Strokes occur in approximately 1/3 of children with sickle cell disease before they reach their 12^th birthdays, and most of these strokes damage frontal brain regions. We are conducting studies to examine inhibitory control, working memory, strategic processing, and academic achievement in these children. We have an ongoing tutoring program to improve school performance by providing rehabilitation for impairments in working memory and strategic memory processing. In a multi-center study, we are examining the utility of blood transfusion in preventing the recurrence of stroke and further decline in cognitive abilities in this underserved and understudied population of children.

• Brandling-Bennett, E., White, D. A., Armstrong, M., Christ, S. E., & DeBaun, M. (2003). Patterns of verbal long-term and working memory performance reveal deficits in strategic processing in children with frontal infarcts related to sickle cell disease. Developmental Neuropsychology, 24, 1-12.
• Yerys, B. E., White, D. A., Salorio, C. F., McKinstry, R. C., Moinuddin, A., & DeBaun, M. R. (2003). Memory strategy training in children with cerebral infarcts related to sickle cell disease. Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, 25, 495-498.

• White, D. A., Moinuddin, A., Mckinstry, R., Noetzel, M., Armstrong, M., & DeBaun, M. R. (2006). Cognitive screening for silent cerebral infarction in children with sickle cell disease. Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, 28, 166-169.
• King, A. A., White, D. A., McKinstry, R. C., Noetzel, M., & DeBaun, M. R. (2007). A pilot randomized education rehabilitation trial is feasible in sickle cell and strokes. Neurology, 68, 2008-2011.
• Christ, S. E., Moinuddin, A., McKinstry, R. C., DeBaun, M., & White, D. A. (2007). Inhibitory control in children with frontal infarcts related to sickle cell disease. Child Neuropsychology, 13, 132-141.
• Casella, J. F., King, A. A.,  Barton, B. White, D. A., Noetzel, M., J., Ichord, R. N., Terrill, C., Hirtz, D., McKinstry, R. C., Strouse, J. J., Howard, T. H., Coates, T. D., Minnitti, C. P., Campbell, A. D., Vendt, B. A., Lehmann, H., & DeBaun, M. R. (2010). Design of the silent infarct transfusion (SIT) trial. Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, 27, 69-89.