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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
EMPLOYMENT
July 2004 – June 2008 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology,
Harvard University
July 2008 – present John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences, Department of Psychology,
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
(Folkman, P.I.) Co-Investigator.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Effects of discrimination on physical and mental health, awarded, 2006 - 2011 (RO1 HL079383)
$2.3m (co-PI; Major, P.I.)
$836,362; P.I. 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; P. I.
Research Enabling Grant, Harvard University
When is social contact effective at reducing inter-racial anxiety? 2007 - 2008
$67,500; P.I.
Robert Wood Johnson Grant
Neuroendocrine and cardiovascular consequences of expecting and experiencing discrimination, 2007-2008
$22,104; P.I.
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; Sponsor; Investigator: Akinola
The Alliance of Civilizations Foundation
How humiliation engenders anger, aggression, and retribution, 2007 - 2009
$50,000; P.I.
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (pending)
Metabolic and Immunologic Effects of Meditation, 2008 – 2012
Co-PI National Institute of Aging (pending)
The biology of resilience: Oxytocin, social relationships and health, 2008 – 2010 (R21 AG030632)
$37,097; Co-PI (PI: Kubzansky)
PUBLICATIONS
Book
Blascovich, J., Mendes, W. B., Dickerson, S., & Vanman, E. (Eds). (forthcoming). Handbook of Social Psychophysiology. Affective Science Series.
Articles and chapters
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.
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.
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, 477-479.
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.
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., 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-Remington, M., Mendes, W. B., Seery, M D., & Blascovich, J. (2005). The nonconscious influence of religious symbols in motivated performance situations Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1203-1216.
Epel, E. S., Lin, J., Wilhelm, F., Wolkowitz, O. M., Adler, N., Dolbier, C., Cawthon, R., Mendes, W. B. & Blackburn, E. (2006). Cell aging in relation to stress arousal and cardiovascular disease risk factors. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 31, 277-287.
Mendes, W. B. (2007). Social facilitation. Encyclopedia of Social Psychology, R. Baumeister & K. Vohs (Eds.).
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.]
Mendes, W. B., Gray, H., Mendoza-Denton, Major, B. & Epel, E. (2007). Why egalitarianism might be good for your health: Physiological thriving during inter-racial interactions. Psychological Science, 18, 991-998.
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.
Nock, M. & Mendes, W. B. (2008). Physiological arousal, distress tolerance, and social problem solving deficits among adolescent self-injurers. Journal of Clinical and Consulting Psychology, 76, 28-38.
Gramzow, R., Willard, G., & Mendes, W. B. (2008). Big tales and cool heads: GPA exaggeration is related to increased parasympathetic activation. Emotion, 8, 138-144.
Mendes, W. B. (in press). Autonomic nervous system. In: E. Harmon-Jones and J. Beer (Eds.) Methods in the Neurobiology of Social and Personality Psychology. Guilford Press.
Akinola, M. & Mendes, W. B. (in press). The dark side of creativity: biological vulnerability and negative mood leads to greater artistic creativity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
Gray, J., Mendes, W. B., & Denny-Brown, C. (in press). An in-group advantage to detecting intergroup anxiety. Psychological Science.
Naravette, C. D., Olsson, A., Ho, A., Mendes, W. B., Thomsen, L. & Sidanius, J. (in press). The roles of race and gender in the persistence of learned fear.Psychological Science.
Mendes, W. B. (forthcoming). Over-correction. Social and Personality Psychology Compass.
Blascovich, J. & Mendes, W. B. (forthcoming). Social psychophysiology. In: S.T. Fiske, D.T. Gilbert, & G. Lindzey (Eds.). The Handbook of Social Psychology, 5th Edition. New York: Wiley.
Akinola, M. & Mendes, W. B. (forthcoming). Measuring the pulse of an organization: Incoporating physiological tools to study organizational behavior. To appear in: B. Staw (Ed.) Research in Organizational Behavior.
HONORS & AWARDS
Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
Graduate Dean’s Honor Roll – Top 1% of university graduate students, 1995
Gilbert J. Padilla Memorial Award (CSULB) – Outstanding Psychology Graduate Student, 1995
Chuck McClintock Memorial Award (UCSB) – Outstanding Scholarship, 1998-1999
Society for Psychophysiological Research Student Poster Award – October 2000
UCSB Dissertation Fellowship, 2001
Milton Research Fund Award, 2005
Cooke Research Fund Award, 2005
Nominee for Levenson Teaching Award (Harvard, 2005, 2006)
One of Harvard Undergraduates’ “Favorite Professors” (Harvard, 2006, 2007)
Winner of the Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize for best paper, 2007
INVITED COLLOQUIA
UCLA, Health Psychology area meeting, February, 2001
Northwestern University, January, 2002
Ohio State Unviersity, Social Psychology, January, 2002
UC Davis, November, 2003
University of California, San Francisco Veterans Hospital Administration, December, 2003
Harvard University, Social Psychology, 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
Robert Woods Johnson Health Disparities Group, UCSF, February, 2007
UC San Francisco, Psychology and Medicine Seminar, February, 2007
UC Berkeley, Institute of Personality and Social Research, March, 2007
Stanford University, Social Psychology Area Meeting, April, 2007
University of California, Santa Barbara, Social Psychology, May, 2007
Dartmouth Minary Conference, August, 2007
Harvard University, Osher Center, November, 2007
Harvard University Clinical Area, December, 2007
Brandeis University, Departmental Colloquium, March, 2008
Northwestern University, Departmental Colloquium, April, 2008
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS: PAPER PRESENTATIONS
Mendes, W. B., Watson, J., Kelley, T., & Blascovich, J. (Sept. 1998). The effects of opposite-sex and same-sex supportive friends on cardiovascular 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 Angelese, CA.
Mendes, W. B. (January, 2006). Overcorrection, compunction, or misattribution? The fractionation of automatic and consciously controlled measures in response to stigmatized partners. Paper presented at annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, symposium on Stigma in the Age of 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 International Society for Research in Emotions, 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, New Orleans, LA.
Mendes, W. B., (October, 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 Psychophysiological Research, symposium on self-regulation (D. Amodio), Vancouver, BC.
Mendes, W. B. (January, 2007). Physiological thriving: Neuroendocrine and cardiovascular concomitants of valence and motivation. Paper presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology pre-conference on Emotion, symposium on neurobiological aspects of emotion, Memphis, TN.
Mendes, W. B. & Koslov, K. (February, 2008). When biases emerge: Autonomic and neuroendocrine reactivity predict in-group preferences and stereotyped judgments when self-regulation is taxed. Paper presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, symposium on self-regulation, Albuquerque, NM.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
National Science Foundation Grant Review Panel: Social Psychology (2003)
APA Science Leadership Council (2005, 2006)
Editorial Board Member:
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes (2005 - present)
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Personality Processes and Individual Differences (2005 - present)
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (2006- present)
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (2007 - present)
Psychological Bulletin (2008 - present)
Ad hoc Reviewer:
Psychological Bulletin
Psychological Science
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Journal of Research in Personality
Psychophysiology
Health Psychology
British Journal of Psychology
Psychology and Health: An International Journal
Emotion
Group Processes and Intergroup Relation
Cognition and Emotion
Health Psychology
Journal of Nonverbal Behavior
National Science Foundation Grant: Social Psychology & Neuroscience
Professional Affiliations
1993 - Present Honor Society - Phi Kappa Phi
1995 - Present SAS Users Group International
1998 - Present American Psychological Society
1998 - Present American Psychological Association
1998 - Present Society for Psychophysiological Research
1998 - Present Society for Personality and Social Psychology
2004 - Present Emotion Research Group
2007 - Present Emotion Research Group
Committee Work
2004 – 2006 Co-chair of the Harvard Psychology Colloquium Committee
2004 – 2006 Harvard Psychology Methods/Statistics Committee
2005 – 2006 Animal Cognition Search Committee
2005 – 2006 Subject Pool Committee (Chair in Spring 2006)
2005 – 2006 Curriculum for Undergraduate Education
2007 – 2008 Subject Pool Committee (Chair in Spring 2006)
2008 SPSP Program Committee
TEACHING AND RESEARCH INTERESTS
- Research Methods (lecture course)
- Social Psychophysiology (graduate seminar)
- Psychology and Medicine (undergraduate seminar)
- Advanced Statistics (graduate training & special seminar)
- Emotion (graduate seminar)
| Stigma & Discrimination |
Intergroup Processes & Stereotyping |
Coping & Stress |
| Emotion |
Psychoneuroendocrinology |
Social Neuroscience |
| Social Psychophysiology |
Aging & Decision Making |
Status & Hierarchies |
|
