Deborah E Ward
Biographic Data
| ID | 764999 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Deborah E Ward |
| GIVEN NAMES | Deborah E |
| FAMILY NAME | Ward |
| SIGNATURE | WARD D E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University at Buffalo, State University of New York |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2574-4861 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 28 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 23 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Positive Feedback as a Lever to Boost Students’ STEM Outcomes
Although many college students intend to major in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), dropout from these fields is high, especially among members of historically underrepresented groups, such as women and racial-ethnic minorities. We propose a minimal, yet potentially powerful intervention to broaden participation in STEM: giving positive feedback to students in STEM. Studies 1 and 2 found that giving positive feedback is le…
Camera on or off? Appearance-based rejection sensitivity in virtual classroom and work settings
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a widespread shift to online learning and work, moving daily interactions with others into virtual spaces. In the current research, we examined how visibility of one’s appearance shapes individuals’ experiences in virtual settings. We investigated this question through the lens of Appearance-based Rejection Sensitivity (Appearance-RS) – a personality processing system characterized by anxious expectations of being r…
When rightness is wrong
When Do Real-World Rejections Motivate People to Seek out Symbolic Social Bonds? Insights From the Risk-Regulation Model
Lack of belonging can negatively affect mental and physical health, but experiences with social rejection are routine. Two studies examined whether being unable to mitigate the risk of rejection in real-world relationships motivates people to defensively immerse themselves in symbolic social bonds with celebrities and fictional characters. Study 1 (four daily diary samples) and Study 2 (cross-sectional sample) operationalized the ability to mitig…
Perceptions of Safety and Threat in the Environment
The Safety and Threat in Environment Perceptions (STEP) scale assesses perceptions of environments as safe (welcoming, inclusive) or threatening (critical, intimidating). We first evaluated the factor structure of the scale and demonstrated its unique predictive validity in classrooms (Studies 1 and 2), gyms (Studies 3 and 4), and the workplace (Study 5). When seeing classrooms with stereotypically masculine (vs. neutral) objects, women perceived…
I’m Still Spending
People with financially contingent self-worth (FCSW) base their self-esteem on money and feel pressured to achieve financial success. However, the present research suggests such individuals may be vulnerable to compulsive buying and experiencing distress and impairment in their lives from engaging in this maladaptive behavior (Study 1a–1b). Study 2 identified a key mechanism: People with FCSW experience more motivational conflict between wanting …
Perceived social mobility and system justification predict greater well‐being, but less prosocial behaviour
In the present research, we propose that perceptions of social mobility (PSM) are beneficial for oneself but costly to others. Supporting this idea, people who were led to think that social mobility in society is probable (vs. improbable) (Study 1a/b, N = 754; Study 3a/b, N = 938) or held this belief at a dispositional level (Study 2a/b, N = 877) showed greater endorsement of system justifying beliefs, which was related to greater happiness and l…
Sensitizing the Behavioral-Immune System
People who believe they are invulnerable to infectious diseases often fail to protect themselves against the disease threats that others pose to them. The current paper hypothesizes that social pain—the experience of feeling interpersonally hurt or rejected—can sensitize the behavioral-immune system by giving people added reason to see others as worthy of protecting themselves against. We obtained four daily diary samples involving 2,794 particip…
That’s a great question!” instructors’ positive responses to students’ questions improve STEM-related outcomes
How instructors respond to students’ questions may serve as an important cue that shapes students’ self-perceptions and motivation. Across five studies, when participants imagined asking questions in a STEM context and receiving a positive (vs. neutral or negative) response from instructors, they felt greater self-efficacy and belonging, which predicted greater intentions to join the lab and to recruit other students. Positive verbal responses we…
Pursuing safety in social connection regulates the risk-regulation, social-safety, and behavioral-immune systems
A new goal-systems model is proposed to help explain when individuals will protect themselves against the risks inherent to social connection. This model assumes that people satisfy the goal to feel included in safe social connections-connections where they are valued and protected rather than at risk of being harmed-by devaluing rejecting friends, trusting in expectancy-consistent relationships, and avoiding infectious strangers. In the hypothes…
Facing the Facets
Mindfulness has been associated with enhanced coping with stress. However, it remains unclear how dispositional mindfulness impacts the nature and valence of experiences during active stressors. Across 1,001 total participants, we used cardiovascular responses from the biopsychosocial model of challenge/threat to assess the degree to which individuals cared about a stressor in the moment and had a positive versus negative psychological experience…
Looking for Safety in All the Right Places
Elections and pandemics highlight how much one’s safety depends on fellow community members, a realization that is especially threatening when this collective perceives political realities inconsistent with one’s own. Two longitudinal studies examined how people restored safety to social bonds when everyday experience suggested that fellow community members inhabited inconsistent realities. We operationalized consensus political realities through…
Happiness—To enjoy now or later? Consequences of delaying happiness and living in the moment beliefs
How do people think about happiness? Is it something best enjoyed as an investment over time, or is it something fleeting that should be savored? When people view happiness as an investment, they may endorse delaying happiness (DH)-the belief that working hard and sacrificing opportunities for happiness now will contribute to greater future happiness. When people view happiness as fleeting, they may endorse living in the moment (LM)-the belief th…
For the love of money
Financial conflicts are among the top reasons for dissatisfaction and dissolution in romantic relationships. Beyond economic strain, however, few studies have examined the psychological antecedents of financial conflicts that contribute to relationship satisfaction. The present research examined whether basing one's self-esteem on financial success was associated with greater perceived financial conflicts with one's partner and worse relationship…
Can’t Buy Me Love (or Friendship)
Although people may think that money improves one’s relationships, research suggests otherwise. Focusing on money is associated with spending less time maintaining relationships and less desire to rely on others for help. But why does focusing on money relate to worse social outcomes? We propose that when people base their self-esteem on financial success—that is, have financially contingent self-worth—they are likely to feel pressured to pursue …
Psychological pathways linking income inequality in adolescence to well-being in adulthood
Does exposure to income inequality in adolescence relate to well-being in adulthood? In Studies 1 and 2 (N = 888), individuals who grew up in U.S. counties with higher income inequality expected greater benefits of financial success as adults, were more likely to base their self-worth on money, and felt less happy and satisfied with their lives. Upward social comparisons may play a key role in this process. Participants who made upward (vs. downw…
When a small self means manageable obstacles
Finding the silver lining
The present research sought to identify a novel factor that reduces the emotional impact of relationship dissolution. Specifically, we examined individuals' use of redemptive narratives-a form of narrative focused on positive outcomes in negative situations-in post-dissolution journal entries written over the course of a 4-day diary study. An interaction emerged, that is, individuals reported reduced emotional distress to the extent that they had…
Apsa Teaching and Learning Conference Track Summaries
This track served not only to continue the discussion of the importance of internationalizing the curriculum, but also as an impetus for laying out a framework to do so. The papers and subsequent discussions in this track highlighted both the challenges and the opportunities for internationalization in the classroom and the discipline
Apsa Teaching and Learning Conference Track Summaries
The seventh annual Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC) was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from February 5 to 7, 2010, with 224 attendees onsite. The theme for the meeting was “Advancing Excellence in Teaching Political Science.” Using the working-group model, the TLC track format encourages in-depth discussion and debate on research dealing with the scholarship of teaching and learning
African Americans and U.S. Politics
This paper argues that since the 1960s, African Americans have substantially increased their political participation in the U.S. political system. It claims that Blacks in the U.S. have built a strong political foundation and that their influence in the country's political system has grown within the past four decades. The paper highlights, however, that more Black women tend to be active participants in the electoral process than Black men and t…
Internationalizing the American Politics Curriculum
The increasing recognition of a global interdependence among our economies and societies places a significant amount of pressure on educational institutions to prepare future citizens for successful participation in this “new world order.” While there might be general agreement that globalization or internationalization is a “major trend in education” or a “worldwide phenomenon,” there are barriers to internationalization, some of which can be in…
The Segregated Origins of Social Security
Mary Poole builds on the pioneering scholarship of Jill Quadagno, Barbara Nelson, Gwendolyn Mink, and Linda Gordon, contributing significantly to the debate regarding the role of race in the history of welfare state development. Poole uses a wealth of data from government sources to document step-by-step the evolution of the Social Security Act. She focuses her analysis on four programs created by the Social Security Act that she considers the mo…
Finding the silver lining
The present research sought to identify a novel factor that reduces the emotional impact of relationship dissolution. Specifically, we examined individuals' use of redemptive narratives-a form of narrative focused on positive outcomes in negative situations-in post-dissolution journal entries written over the course of a 4-day diary study. An interaction emerged, that is, individuals reported reduced emotional distress to the extent that they had…
For the love of money
Financial conflicts are among the top reasons for dissatisfaction and dissolution in romantic relationships. Beyond economic strain, however, few studies have examined the psychological antecedents of financial conflicts that contribute to relationship satisfaction. The present research examined whether basing one's self-esteem on financial success was associated with greater perceived financial conflicts with one's partner and worse relationship…
Perceived social mobility and system justification predict greater well‐being, but less prosocial behaviour
In the present research, we propose that perceptions of social mobility (PSM) are beneficial for oneself but costly to others. Supporting this idea, people who were led to think that social mobility in society is probable (vs. improbable) (Study 1a/b, N = 754; Study 3a/b, N = 938) or held this belief at a dispositional level (Study 2a/b, N = 877) showed greater endorsement of system justifying beliefs, which was related to greater happiness and l…
Internationalizing the American Politics Curriculum
The increasing recognition of a global interdependence among our economies and societies places a significant amount of pressure on educational institutions to prepare future citizens for successful participation in this “new world order.” While there might be general agreement that globalization or internationalization is a “major trend in education” or a “worldwide phenomenon,” there are barriers to internationalization, some of which can be in…
When a small self means manageable obstacles
African Americans and U.S. Politics
This paper argues that since the 1960s, African Americans have substantially increased their political participation in the U.S. political system. It claims that Blacks in the U.S. have built a strong political foundation and that their influence in the country's political system has grown within the past four decades. The paper highlights, however, that more Black women tend to be active participants in the electoral process than Black men and t…
Internationalizing the American Politics Curriculum
The increasing recognition of a global interdependence among our economies and societies places a significant amount of pressure on educational institutions to prepare future citizens for successful participation in this “new world order.” While there might be general agreement that globalization or internationalization is a “major trend in education” or a “worldwide phenomenon,” there are barriers to internationalization, some of which can be in…
The Segregated Origins of Social Security
Mary Poole builds on the pioneering scholarship of Jill Quadagno, Barbara Nelson, Gwendolyn Mink, and Linda Gordon, contributing significantly to the debate regarding the role of race in the history of welfare state development. Poole uses a wealth of data from government sources to document step-by-step the evolution of the Social Security Act. She focuses her analysis on four programs created by the Social Security Act that she considers the mo…
African Americans and U.S. Politics
This paper argues that since the 1960s, African Americans have substantially increased their political participation in the U.S. political system. It claims that Blacks in the U.S. have built a strong political foundation and that their influence in the country's political system has grown within the past four decades. The paper highlights, however, that more Black women tend to be active participants in the electoral process than Black men and t…
Apsa Teaching and Learning Conference Track Summaries
The seventh annual Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC) was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from February 5 to 7, 2010, with 224 attendees onsite. The theme for the meeting was “Advancing Excellence in Teaching Political Science.” Using the working-group model, the TLC track format encourages in-depth discussion and debate on research dealing with the scholarship of teaching and learning
Apsa Teaching and Learning Conference Track Summaries
This track served not only to continue the discussion of the importance of internationalizing the curriculum, but also as an impetus for laying out a framework to do so. The papers and subsequent discussions in this track highlighted both the challenges and the opportunities for internationalization in the classroom and the discipline
Finding the silver lining
The present research sought to identify a novel factor that reduces the emotional impact of relationship dissolution. Specifically, we examined individuals' use of redemptive narratives-a form of narrative focused on positive outcomes in negative situations-in post-dissolution journal entries written over the course of a 4-day diary study. An interaction emerged, that is, individuals reported reduced emotional distress to the extent that they had…
When a small self means manageable obstacles
Can’t Buy Me Love (or Friendship)
Although people may think that money improves one’s relationships, research suggests otherwise. Focusing on money is associated with spending less time maintaining relationships and less desire to rely on others for help. But why does focusing on money relate to worse social outcomes? We propose that when people base their self-esteem on financial success—that is, have financially contingent self-worth—they are likely to feel pressured to pursue …
Psychological pathways linking income inequality in adolescence to well-being in adulthood
Does exposure to income inequality in adolescence relate to well-being in adulthood? In Studies 1 and 2 (N = 888), individuals who grew up in U.S. counties with higher income inequality expected greater benefits of financial success as adults, were more likely to base their self-worth on money, and felt less happy and satisfied with their lives. Upward social comparisons may play a key role in this process. Participants who made upward (vs. downw…
Facing the Facets
Mindfulness has been associated with enhanced coping with stress. However, it remains unclear how dispositional mindfulness impacts the nature and valence of experiences during active stressors. Across 1,001 total participants, we used cardiovascular responses from the biopsychosocial model of challenge/threat to assess the degree to which individuals cared about a stressor in the moment and had a positive versus negative psychological experience…
Looking for Safety in All the Right Places
Elections and pandemics highlight how much one’s safety depends on fellow community members, a realization that is especially threatening when this collective perceives political realities inconsistent with one’s own. Two longitudinal studies examined how people restored safety to social bonds when everyday experience suggested that fellow community members inhabited inconsistent realities. We operationalized consensus political realities through…
Happiness—To enjoy now or later? Consequences of delaying happiness and living in the moment beliefs
How do people think about happiness? Is it something best enjoyed as an investment over time, or is it something fleeting that should be savored? When people view happiness as an investment, they may endorse delaying happiness (DH)-the belief that working hard and sacrificing opportunities for happiness now will contribute to greater future happiness. When people view happiness as fleeting, they may endorse living in the moment (LM)-the belief th…
For the love of money
Financial conflicts are among the top reasons for dissatisfaction and dissolution in romantic relationships. Beyond economic strain, however, few studies have examined the psychological antecedents of financial conflicts that contribute to relationship satisfaction. The present research examined whether basing one's self-esteem on financial success was associated with greater perceived financial conflicts with one's partner and worse relationship…
Sensitizing the Behavioral-Immune System
People who believe they are invulnerable to infectious diseases often fail to protect themselves against the disease threats that others pose to them. The current paper hypothesizes that social pain—the experience of feeling interpersonally hurt or rejected—can sensitize the behavioral-immune system by giving people added reason to see others as worthy of protecting themselves against. We obtained four daily diary samples involving 2,794 particip…
That’s a great question!” instructors’ positive responses to students’ questions improve STEM-related outcomes
How instructors respond to students’ questions may serve as an important cue that shapes students’ self-perceptions and motivation. Across five studies, when participants imagined asking questions in a STEM context and receiving a positive (vs. neutral or negative) response from instructors, they felt greater self-efficacy and belonging, which predicted greater intentions to join the lab and to recruit other students. Positive verbal responses we…
Pursuing safety in social connection regulates the risk-regulation, social-safety, and behavioral-immune systems
A new goal-systems model is proposed to help explain when individuals will protect themselves against the risks inherent to social connection. This model assumes that people satisfy the goal to feel included in safe social connections-connections where they are valued and protected rather than at risk of being harmed-by devaluing rejecting friends, trusting in expectancy-consistent relationships, and avoiding infectious strangers. In the hypothes…
I’m Still Spending
People with financially contingent self-worth (FCSW) base their self-esteem on money and feel pressured to achieve financial success. However, the present research suggests such individuals may be vulnerable to compulsive buying and experiencing distress and impairment in their lives from engaging in this maladaptive behavior (Study 1a–1b). Study 2 identified a key mechanism: People with FCSW experience more motivational conflict between wanting …
Perceived social mobility and system justification predict greater well‐being, but less prosocial behaviour
In the present research, we propose that perceptions of social mobility (PSM) are beneficial for oneself but costly to others. Supporting this idea, people who were led to think that social mobility in society is probable (vs. improbable) (Study 1a/b, N = 754; Study 3a/b, N = 938) or held this belief at a dispositional level (Study 2a/b, N = 877) showed greater endorsement of system justifying beliefs, which was related to greater happiness and l…
When Do Real-World Rejections Motivate People to Seek out Symbolic Social Bonds? Insights From the Risk-Regulation Model
Lack of belonging can negatively affect mental and physical health, but experiences with social rejection are routine. Two studies examined whether being unable to mitigate the risk of rejection in real-world relationships motivates people to defensively immerse themselves in symbolic social bonds with celebrities and fictional characters. Study 1 (four daily diary samples) and Study 2 (cross-sectional sample) operationalized the ability to mitig…
Perceptions of Safety and Threat in the Environment
The Safety and Threat in Environment Perceptions (STEP) scale assesses perceptions of environments as safe (welcoming, inclusive) or threatening (critical, intimidating). We first evaluated the factor structure of the scale and demonstrated its unique predictive validity in classrooms (Studies 1 and 2), gyms (Studies 3 and 4), and the workplace (Study 5). When seeing classrooms with stereotypically masculine (vs. neutral) objects, women perceived…
Positive Feedback as a Lever to Boost Students’ STEM Outcomes
Although many college students intend to major in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), dropout from these fields is high, especially among members of historically underrepresented groups, such as women and racial-ethnic minorities. We propose a minimal, yet potentially powerful intervention to broaden participation in STEM: giving positive feedback to students in STEM. Studies 1 and 2 found that giving positive feedback is le…
Camera on or off? Appearance-based rejection sensitivity in virtual classroom and work settings
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a widespread shift to online learning and work, moving daily interactions with others into virtual spaces. In the current research, we examined how visibility of one’s appearance shapes individuals’ experiences in virtual settings. We investigated this question through the lens of Appearance-based Rejection Sensitivity (Appearance-RS) – a personality processing system characterized by anxious expectations of being r…
When rightness is wrong
Psychology (17 works) · Social Psychology (14 works) · Political science (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Social Psychology (7 works) · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion (6 works) · Economics (6 works) · Medicine (5 works) · Politics (5 works) · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction (5 works)