Cytokine responses and math performance: The role of stereotype threat and anxiety reappraisals

Abstract

This research independently manipulated two potential attenuators of stereotype threat -reappraisal of anxiety and test framing -to explore their independent and combined effects. Female participants took a difficult math exam that was described as gender-biased or gender-fair and were told that anxious arousal could positively impact performance or were given no information regarding arousal. Levels of the cytokine Interleukin-6 (IL-6), an immune marker of inflammation, were measured in oral mucosal transudate (OMT) both before and after the exam. Our findings indicate that directing reappraisal of physiological arousal attenuated increases in IL-6 across test framing conditions, and was especially effective under stereotype threat (i.e., gender-biased test condition). Reappraisal also mapped onto better test performance in the threat condition. Together, these findings provide insight into the unique and interactive effects of two situational interventions meant to reduce stereotype threat, indexed here by both physiological and performance-based correlates of threat.

How to Improve Adolescent Stress Responses

“…A power analysis based on an average effect size ( d =.66) from similar social-situational intervention research in laboratory settings using standardized social stress induction paradigms led to a targeted sample of 30 participants per condition (Beltzer, Nock, Peters, & Jamieson, 2014; Jamieson et al, 2010; Jamieson, Nock, & Mendes, 2012; Jamieson, Nock, et al, 2013; John-Henderson, Rheinschmidt, & Mendoza-Denton, 2015). A total of N =60 high school students were recruited from the Rochester, NY area using posted flyers and study information distributed by peers/teachers.…”

Lay Theories About Whether Emotion Helps or Hinders: Assessment and Effects on Emotional Acceptance and Recovery From Distress

“…Those who valued negative emotions (e.g., anger, nervousness) showed weaker links between the negative emotions they experienced day-to-day and poor psychosocial functioning and physical health (Luong et al, 2015). Other studies have shown that inducing positive beliefs about the functionality of specific emotional states (e.g., anxiety) or features (e.g., physiological arousal) promotes recovery from stressful situations (Low et al, 2008;Jamieson et al, 2010Jamieson et al, , 2012John-Henderson et al, 2015), and wellbeing (Chow and Berenbaum, 2016). The fact that negative emotions can be viewed as useful shows that people's beliefs about the functionality of emotion do not simply reflect how they want to feel (Chow et al, 2015), or how pleasurable they perceive certain feelings to be (Netzer et al, 2018).…”

An Entity Theory of Intelligence Predicts Higher Cortisol Levels When High School Grades Are Declining

“…Second, past research grounded in the BPS model of challenge and threat has most frequently studied situation-specific or acute stress processes in targeted motivated-performance situations (e.g., classroom mathematics exams; Jamieson, Peters, Greenwood, & Altose, 2016;John-Henderson, Rheinschmidt, & Mendoza-Denton, 2015). However, less research has examined whether situation-general belief systems, such as implicit theories of intelligence can differentially predict appraisals and physiological responses (for exceptions, see Chen, Langer, Raphaelson, & Matthews, 2004;Crum et al, 2013).…”