Heather J Smith
Biographic Data
| ID | 88050 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Heather J Smith |
| GIVEN NAMES | Heather J |
| FAMILY NAME | Smith |
| SIGNATURE | SMITH H J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Sonoma State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0811-729X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 39 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 436 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 38 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1994 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Neighborhood-Based Relative Deprivation and Willingness to Protest the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election
How to improve group affirmation manipulations: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Researchers often ask participants to affirm positive aspects or shared values for a group important to them (a group affirmation manipulation) in order to encourage healthy behavior, acknowledge historical harm, accept group-based criticism, or diffuse the impact of social exclusion. An exploratory meta-analysis of 92 experiments that included a group affirmation manipulation and a threat to participants’ self-integrity revealed an average g of …
The doublespeak discourse of the race disparity audit: An example of the White racial frame in institutional operation
The Race Disparity Audit (RDA) was published in 2017 by the then Conservative government of the UK. The proclaimed aims were to 'reveal racial disparities and to help end the injustices that many people experience'. This paper adopts a critical discourse analysis approach to analysing the RDA and associated webpages, to critically examine the government's purported aims. The linguistic analysis reveals a pernicious form of political doublespeak w…
‘I had a bigger cancer risk than I thought…’: The experience of receiving personalized risk information as part of a skin cancer prevention intervention in the college setting
BACKGROUND: Diagnoses of both melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers are becoming increasingly common among young adults. Interventions in this population are a priority because they do not consistently follow skin cancer prevention recommendations. OBJECTIVES: The goal of the current study was to examine college students' perspectives on and experience with receiving a skin cancer prevention intervention that provided personalized skin cancer ris…
To alleviate group members’ physiological stress, supervisors need to be more than polite and professional
Although stressors are common in group life, people cope better when group authorities treat them with care/concern. However, it remains unclear whether such treatment affects individuals’ physiological stress. In this experiment, individuals engaged in an interview known to increase cortisol (stress biomarker). Surrounding the interview, an ingroup supervisor treated them with standard professionalism (politeness [control]), explicit care/concer…
Many minds make money: People are slower to destroy novel currency known to more ingroup members
If asked to destroy a dollar bill, one would likely hesitate. After all, the destruction of the dollar bill equals the loss of its economic value. Yet the reluctance to destroy a dollar bill may also stem from social knowledge—the fact that it exists in the minds of many members of one's valued group. Here, we investigate whether social knowledge of money increases people's reluctance to destroy it. We create a fictional currency and vary the soc…
Materialist and post-materialist concerns and the wish for a strong leader in 27 countries
There is evidence that democracies are under threat around the world while the quest for strong leaders is increasing. Although the causes of these developments are complex and multifaceted, here we focus on one factor: the extent to which citizens express materialist and post-materialist concerns. We explore whether objective higher levels of democracy are differentially associated with materialist and post-materialist concerns and, in turn, whe…
Activism in the time of Covid-19
In many countries, COVID-19 has amplified the health, economic and social inequities that motivate group-based collective action. We draw upon the SIRDE/IDEAS model of social change to explore how the pandemic might have affected complex reactions to social injustices. We argue that the virus elicits widespread negative emotions which are spread contagiously through social media due to increased social isolation caused by shelter-in-place directi…
Physician treatment quality, visit outcomes and physician age: What predicts older patients' willingness to cooperate
Successful health outcomes require a positive alliance between health provider and patient, especially for older patients often managing chronic medical conditions. We predicted that age differences between physician and patient could serve as a social category cue that impacts older patients' cooperation. Older adults evaluated a hypothetical physician visit (Study 1, N = 308), a hypothetical physician's web page (Study 2, N = 339) or described …
Trustworthiness in Higher Education: The Role of Professor Benevolence and Competence
Trust is a fundamental element of educational success. However, compared to what we know about teachers' perceptions of trust, relatively less is known about students' perceptions of trust. This paper describes two experimental investigations that tested the effects of authority competence and benevolence on students' perceptions of trust and their engagement. The investigations also explored whether university identification moderated the influe…
Personal Relative Deprivation and Mental Health Among University Students: Cross‐sectional and Longitudinal Evidence
Colleges and universities are a unique context in which students encounter similar aged peers from a wide range of economic backgrounds. As emerging adults coping with major life transitions, students may be especially sensitive to upward contrasts with other students who have advantages that they feel they deserve (personal relative deprivation or PRD). We surveyed a population of university students when they were second‐ and third‐year student…
Dynamic relationships between children’s higher‐order regulation and lower‐order reactivity predict development of attention problems
Dual‐process theories contend that interplay between higher‐order (i.e., regulatory) and lower‐order (i.e., reactive) systems influences the development of attention in early childhood. We therefore investigated interactions between an aspect of children's top‐down self‐regulation (i.e., effortful control; EC) and positive reactivity (indexed by observed positive affectivity; PA) and negative reactivity (indicated by cortisol stress reactivity an…
“Our Country Needs a Strong Leader Right Now”: Economic Inequality Enhances the Wish for a Strong Leader
Societal inequality has been found to harm the mental and physical health of its members and undermine overall social cohesion. Here, we tested the hypothesis that economic inequality is associated with a wish for a strong leader in a study involving 28 countries from five continents (Study 1, N = 6,112), a study involving an Australian community sample (Study 2, N = 515), and two experiments (Study 3a, N = 96; Study 3b, N = 296). We found correl…
Observing Discrimination: Implications for Group‐Based Respect and Organizational Morality
When organizational authorities or representatives discriminate, it not only impacts the discrimination target; it also affects those who witness it. In this article, we argue that discrimination within workplace and educational contexts implicates the larger organization in which it occurs in two ways. First, it communicates to targets the extent to which the representatives of an organization respect their group. Second, discrimination implicat…
Cultural Values Moderate the Impact of Relative Deprivation
Relative deprivation (RD) is the judgment that one or one's ingroup is worse off compared with some relevant standard coupled with feelings of dissatisfaction, anger, and resentment. RD predicts a wide range of outcomes, but it is unclear whether this relationship is moderated by national cultural differences. Therefore, in the first study, we used national assessments of individual-collectivism and power distance to code 303 effect sizes from 31…
Weaving Community-University Research and Action Partnerships for environmental justice
This article is a case study of one Community-University Research and Action Partnership (CURAP) focused on soil lead, urban gardening, and environmental justice in Sacramento, California. We argue that creating and sustaining CURAPs requires a process of weaving together diverse strands of knowledge, resources, and lines of accountability that connect all parties involved. Like the physical process of weaving fabric, weaving CURAPs involve creat…
The Mistreatment of Others: Discrimination Can Undermine University Identification, Student Health, and Engagement
Reality and Perception: Power and Paranoia Within the Political Sphere
Factor Structure of the Counselor Burnout Inventory in a Sample of Professional School Counselors
This study tested a five-factor model structure with a sample of professional school counselors. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a modified five-factor model was the most appropriate. In addition, the levels of professional school counselors' burnout differed from other diverse samples of counselors. Implications for professional school counselors are discussed.Keywordsconfirmatory factor analysisschool counselingcounselingcounselor a…
Doubling‐down on deprivation: Using latent profile analysis to evaluate an age‐old assumption in relative deprivation theory
Theorists have long argued that two forms of relative deprivation exist: individual‐based relative deprivation (IRD) whereby a person feels deprived relative to other individuals and group‐based relative deprivation (GRD) whereby a person feels his/her ingroup is deprived relative to other groups . Combinations of IRD and GRD are therefore assumed to produce four response profiles: (i) high on IRD and GRD (i.e. ‘doubly deprived’); (ii) high on IR…
Advances in Relative Deprivation Theory and Research
Relative Deprivation
Relative deprivation ( RD ) is the judgment that one is worse off compared to some standard, accompanied by anger and resentment. If the RD measure includes a clear comparison, angry resentment, and is matched to the outcome level of analysis, RD can explain how objective inequities are translated into subjective experiences. Empirical research indicates that people who feel deprived in comparison to their peers are more likely to engage in devia…
Relative Deprivation: How Subjective Experiences of Inequality Influence Social Behavior and Health
Discussions of the impact of growing inequality have focused on objective indicators. Focusing on what individuals have or do not have can be misleading without understanding how they subjectively interpret the availability of resources. Relative deprivation (RD) occurs when individuals compare themselves with better-off others and conclude that they do not deserve their disadvantage. These upward comparisons, whether imposed or chosen, can damag…
The cost of forgiveness: Observers prefer victims who leave unfaithful romantic partners
Ninety‐six male fraternity members (Study 1), 112 female voters (Study 2), and 219 undergraduates (Study 3) read scenarios in which a group representative forgave, retaliated, or left a romantic partner after the partner's sexual infidelity was publically revealed. Observers rated a victim who forgave his or her partner to be as mature as a victim who ended the relationship, but also as weaker and less competent. They rated a victim who forgave t…
Looking up and Seeing Green: Women’s Everyday Experiences With Physical Appearance Comparisons
Psychological research documents the extent to which physical appearance comparisons are associated with negative emotional experiences, but researchers typically study physical appearance comparisons isolated from other comparison experiences. As part of a signal-contingent experience sampling design, 87 female undergraduate students recorded whether they had made any comparison about any topic after they received a text message at three randoml…
Understanding why the justice of group procedures matters: A test of the psychological dynamics of the group-value model
Procedural justice research has documented many positive consequences of fair decision-making procedures and treatment by authorities. However, it is unclear why these effects of procedural justice occur. The group-value model proposes that fair procedures matter because they communicate two symbolic messages about group membership:(a) whether individuals are respected members of a group and (b) whether they should feel pride in the group as a wh…
The Self-Relevant Implications of the Group-Value Model: Group Membership, Self-Worth, and Treatment Quality
Choosing the Right Pond: The Impact of Group Membership on Self-Esteem and Group-Oriented Behavior
Anger, Fear, or Sadness: Faculty Members' Emotional Reactions to Collective Pay Disadvantage
As part of a mail survey about their work experiences, university faculty members reported their specific emotional reactions to group inequities in faculty pay and benefits. The results indicate that sadness, fear, and anger are distinct emotional responses to a collective disadvantage. Group‐based anger mediated the relationship between collective disadvantage and willingness to protest whereas group‐based sadness mediated the relationship betw…
People Like Us: The Influence of Personal Deprivation and Group Membership Salience on Justice Evaluations
Advances in Relative Deprivation Theory and Research
By whose standard? The affective implications of ethnic minorities' comparisons to ethnic minority and majority referents
In a ‘diary’ study, we examined the frequency and affective implications of 34 ethnic minority students' comparisons to other ethnic minorities or to members of a high‐status ethnic majority (i.e., European‐Americans). Participants made more frequent comparisons to ethnic majority than ethnic minority referents, although neither type of comparison tended to be perceived in terms of group membership (see also Smith & Leach, 2004 ). Comparisons to …
Activism in the time of Covid-19
In many countries, COVID-19 has amplified the health, economic and social inequities that motivate group-based collective action. We draw upon the SIRDE/IDEAS model of social change to explore how the pandemic might have affected complex reactions to social injustices. We argue that the virus elicits widespread negative emotions which are spread contagiously through social media due to increased social isolation caused by shelter-in-place directi…
Experiments as Politics
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the political nature of laboratory experiments. Such experiments can be construed as paradigms of power, open to construction and debate, where different agents and interests are involved in a process of struggle over both (re)presentation and substance. Experimenters should take a reflexive perspective on their own role and power in producing results, and they should recognize that participants in exper…
Weaving Community-University Research and Action Partnerships for environmental justice
This article is a case study of one Community-University Research and Action Partnership (CURAP) focused on soil lead, urban gardening, and environmental justice in Sacramento, California. We argue that creating and sustaining CURAPs requires a process of weaving together diverse strands of knowledge, resources, and lines of accountability that connect all parties involved. Like the physical process of weaving fabric, weaving CURAPs involve creat…
Cultural Values Moderate the Impact of Relative Deprivation
Relative deprivation (RD) is the judgment that one or one's ingroup is worse off compared with some relevant standard coupled with feelings of dissatisfaction, anger, and resentment. RD predicts a wide range of outcomes, but it is unclear whether this relationship is moderated by national cultural differences. Therefore, in the first study, we used national assessments of individual-collectivism and power distance to code 303 effect sizes from 31…
The Mistreatment of Others: Discrimination Can Undermine University Identification, Student Health, and Engagement
Everyday Interactions with University Authorities: Authority Treatment Quality, Outcome Favorability and First-Year Students' University Adjustment
Two hundred and twelve first-year undergraduates completed an authority interaction checklist every time they had a (self-defined) meaningful interaction with university authorities during the first two weeks of their first semester. Students' degree of university identification before they began the term moderated the influence of campus authorities' treatment quality on academic engagement three months later. These longitudinal data provide sup…
Group membership and everyday social comparison experiences
In two everyday experience studies, we examined the degree to which everyday social comparisons are framed by group membership. In the first study, 30 undergraduates attending a public university in the United States completed short questionnaires about their social comparison experiences whenever they were signalled. In the second study, 34 ethnic minority undergraduates from the same university completed similar questionnaires about their socia…
The doublespeak discourse of the race disparity audit: An example of the White racial frame in institutional operation
The Race Disparity Audit (RDA) was published in 2017 by the then Conservative government of the UK. The proclaimed aims were to 'reveal racial disparities and to help end the injustices that many people experience'. This paper adopts a critical discourse analysis approach to analysing the RDA and associated webpages, to critically examine the government's purported aims. The linguistic analysis reveals a pernicious form of political doublespeak w…
The cost of forgiveness: Observers prefer victims who leave unfaithful romantic partners
Ninety‐six male fraternity members (Study 1), 112 female voters (Study 2), and 219 undergraduates (Study 3) read scenarios in which a group representative forgave, retaliated, or left a romantic partner after the partner's sexual infidelity was publically revealed. Observers rated a victim who forgave his or her partner to be as mature as a victim who ended the relationship, but also as weaker and less competent. They rated a victim who forgave t…
Observing Discrimination: Implications for Group‐Based Respect and Organizational Morality
When organizational authorities or representatives discriminate, it not only impacts the discrimination target; it also affects those who witness it. In this article, we argue that discrimination within workplace and educational contexts implicates the larger organization in which it occurs in two ways. First, it communicates to targets the extent to which the representatives of an organization respect their group. Second, discrimination implicat…
Factor Structure of the Counselor Burnout Inventory in a Sample of Professional School Counselors
This study tested a five-factor model structure with a sample of professional school counselors. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a modified five-factor model was the most appropriate. In addition, the levels of professional school counselors' burnout differed from other diverse samples of counselors. Implications for professional school counselors are discussed.Keywordsconfirmatory factor analysisschool counselingcounselingcounselor a…
Doubling‐down on deprivation: Using latent profile analysis to evaluate an age‐old assumption in relative deprivation theory
Theorists have long argued that two forms of relative deprivation exist: individual‐based relative deprivation (IRD) whereby a person feels deprived relative to other individuals and group‐based relative deprivation (GRD) whereby a person feels his/her ingroup is deprived relative to other groups . Combinations of IRD and GRD are therefore assumed to produce four response profiles: (i) high on IRD and GRD (i.e. ‘doubly deprived’); (ii) high on IR…
Looking up and Seeing Green: Women’s Everyday Experiences With Physical Appearance Comparisons
Psychological research documents the extent to which physical appearance comparisons are associated with negative emotional experiences, but researchers typically study physical appearance comparisons isolated from other comparison experiences. As part of a signal-contingent experience sampling design, 87 female undergraduate students recorded whether they had made any comparison about any topic after they received a text message at three randoml…
Materialist and post-materialist concerns and the wish for a strong leader in 27 countries
There is evidence that democracies are under threat around the world while the quest for strong leaders is increasing. Although the causes of these developments are complex and multifaceted, here we focus on one factor: the extent to which citizens express materialist and post-materialist concerns. We explore whether objective higher levels of democracy are differentially associated with materialist and post-materialist concerns and, in turn, whe…
Trustworthiness in Higher Education: The Role of Professor Benevolence and Competence
Trust is a fundamental element of educational success. However, compared to what we know about teachers' perceptions of trust, relatively less is known about students' perceptions of trust. This paper describes two experimental investigations that tested the effects of authority competence and benevolence on students' perceptions of trust and their engagement. The investigations also explored whether university identification moderated the influe…
People Like Us: The Influence of Personal Deprivation and Group Membership Salience on Justice Evaluations
Superordinate Identification, Subgroup Identification, and Justice Concerns: Is Separatism the Problem; Is Assimilation the Answer
The diversity of American society raises concerns about whether authorities can maintain social cohesion amid competing interests and values The group-value model of justice suggests that authorities function more effectively when they are perceived as fair (e g, benevolent, neutral, and respectful) However, such relational evaluations may be effective only if authorities represent a group with which people identify In a diverse society, subgroup…
Justice and power: When will justice concerns encourage the advantaged to support policies which redistribute economic resources and the disadvantaged to willingly obey the law
Two studies are presented which test whether justice can motivate support for government policies and authorities even when such support is not in people's obvious personal or group interest. In the first study, White San Francisco Bay area residents' attitudes toward Congressionally-authored affirmative action policies and anti-discrimination laws were investigated. In the second study, African-American San Francisco Bay area residents' feelings…
Understanding why the justice of group procedures matters: A test of the psychological dynamics of the group-value model
Procedural justice research has documented many positive consequences of fair decision-making procedures and treatment by authorities. However, it is unclear why these effects of procedural justice occur. The group-value model proposes that fair procedures matter because they communicate two symbolic messages about group membership:(a) whether individuals are respected members of a group and (b) whether they should feel pride in the group as a wh…
Choosing the Right Pond: The Impact of Group Membership on Self-Esteem and Group-Oriented Behavior
The Self-Relevant Implications of the Group-Value Model: Group Membership, Self-Worth, and Treatment Quality
Relative Deprivation: Specification, Development, and Integration
The relative deprivation construct has been widely used in the social sciences to explain phenomena from experiencing psychosomatic stress to participating in urban riots. It is currently a valuable tool in research, being used especially to understand processes of social identity and responses to disadvantage by both disadvantaged minorities and privileged majorities. Originally published in 2001, this book assembles chapters by leading relative…
Experiments as Politics
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the political nature of laboratory experiments. Such experiments can be construed as paradigms of power, open to construction and debate, where different agents and interests are involved in a process of struggle over both (re)presentation and substance. Experimenters should take a reflexive perspective on their own role and power in producing results, and they should recognize that participants in exper…
Group membership and everyday social comparison experiences
In two everyday experience studies, we examined the degree to which everyday social comparisons are framed by group membership. In the first study, 30 undergraduates attending a public university in the United States completed short questionnaires about their social comparison experiences whenever they were signalled. In the second study, 34 ethnic minority undergraduates from the same university completed similar questionnaires about their socia…
By whose standard? The affective implications of ethnic minorities' comparisons to ethnic minority and majority referents
In a ‘diary’ study, we examined the frequency and affective implications of 34 ethnic minority students' comparisons to other ethnic minorities or to members of a high‐status ethnic majority (i.e., European‐Americans). Participants made more frequent comparisons to ethnic majority than ethnic minority referents, although neither type of comparison tended to be perceived in terms of group membership (see also Smith & Leach, 2004 ). Comparisons to …
Making the Sexual Harassment of Others Self-Relevant: The Roles of Identity Salience and Value Affirmation
Anger, Fear, or Sadness: Faculty Members' Emotional Reactions to Collective Pay Disadvantage
As part of a mail survey about their work experiences, university faculty members reported their specific emotional reactions to group inequities in faculty pay and benefits. The results indicate that sadness, fear, and anger are distinct emotional responses to a collective disadvantage. Group‐based anger mediated the relationship between collective disadvantage and willingness to protest whereas group‐based sadness mediated the relationship betw…
Everyday Interactions with University Authorities: Authority Treatment Quality, Outcome Favorability and First-Year Students' University Adjustment
Two hundred and twelve first-year undergraduates completed an authority interaction checklist every time they had a (self-defined) meaningful interaction with university authorities during the first two weeks of their first semester. Students' degree of university identification before they began the term moderated the influence of campus authorities' treatment quality on academic engagement three months later. These longitudinal data provide sup…
Relative Deprivation: A Theoretical and Meta-Analytic Review
Relative deprivation (RD) is the judgment that one is worse off compared to some standard accompanied by feelings of anger and resentment. Social scientists use RD to predict a wide range of significant outcome variables: collective action, individual achievement and deviance, intergroup attitudes, and physical and mental health. But the results are often weak and inconsistent. The authors draw on a theoretical and meta-analytic review (210 studi…
Looking up and Seeing Green: Women’s Everyday Experiences With Physical Appearance Comparisons
Psychological research documents the extent to which physical appearance comparisons are associated with negative emotional experiences, but researchers typically study physical appearance comparisons isolated from other comparison experiences. As part of a signal-contingent experience sampling design, 87 female undergraduate students recorded whether they had made any comparison about any topic after they received a text message at three randoml…
Relative Deprivation
Relative deprivation ( RD ) is the judgment that one is worse off compared to some standard, accompanied by anger and resentment. If the RD measure includes a clear comparison, angry resentment, and is matched to the outcome level of analysis, RD can explain how objective inequities are translated into subjective experiences. Empirical research indicates that people who feel deprived in comparison to their peers are more likely to engage in devia…
Relative Deprivation: How Subjective Experiences of Inequality Influence Social Behavior and Health
Discussions of the impact of growing inequality have focused on objective indicators. Focusing on what individuals have or do not have can be misleading without understanding how they subjectively interpret the availability of resources. Relative deprivation (RD) occurs when individuals compare themselves with better-off others and conclude that they do not deserve their disadvantage. These upward comparisons, whether imposed or chosen, can damag…
The cost of forgiveness: Observers prefer victims who leave unfaithful romantic partners
Ninety‐six male fraternity members (Study 1), 112 female voters (Study 2), and 219 undergraduates (Study 3) read scenarios in which a group representative forgave, retaliated, or left a romantic partner after the partner's sexual infidelity was publically revealed. Observers rated a victim who forgave his or her partner to be as mature as a victim who ended the relationship, but also as weaker and less competent. They rated a victim who forgave t…
Reality and Perception: Power and Paranoia Within the Political Sphere
Factor Structure of the Counselor Burnout Inventory in a Sample of Professional School Counselors
This study tested a five-factor model structure with a sample of professional school counselors. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a modified five-factor model was the most appropriate. In addition, the levels of professional school counselors' burnout differed from other diverse samples of counselors. Implications for professional school counselors are discussed.Keywordsconfirmatory factor analysisschool counselingcounselingcounselor a…
Doubling‐down on deprivation: Using latent profile analysis to evaluate an age‐old assumption in relative deprivation theory
Theorists have long argued that two forms of relative deprivation exist: individual‐based relative deprivation (IRD) whereby a person feels deprived relative to other individuals and group‐based relative deprivation (GRD) whereby a person feels his/her ingroup is deprived relative to other groups . Combinations of IRD and GRD are therefore assumed to produce four response profiles: (i) high on IRD and GRD (i.e. ‘doubly deprived’); (ii) high on IR…
Advances in Relative Deprivation Theory and Research
The Mistreatment of Others: Discrimination Can Undermine University Identification, Student Health, and Engagement
Weaving Community-University Research and Action Partnerships for environmental justice
This article is a case study of one Community-University Research and Action Partnership (CURAP) focused on soil lead, urban gardening, and environmental justice in Sacramento, California. We argue that creating and sustaining CURAPs requires a process of weaving together diverse strands of knowledge, resources, and lines of accountability that connect all parties involved. Like the physical process of weaving fabric, weaving CURAPs involve creat…
Observing Discrimination: Implications for Group‐Based Respect and Organizational Morality
When organizational authorities or representatives discriminate, it not only impacts the discrimination target; it also affects those who witness it. In this article, we argue that discrimination within workplace and educational contexts implicates the larger organization in which it occurs in two ways. First, it communicates to targets the extent to which the representatives of an organization respect their group. Second, discrimination implicat…
Psychology (35 works) · Social Psychology (33 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (22 works) · Political science (18 works) · Social Psychology (18 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Law (11 works) · Relative deprivation (10 works) · Cultural Differences and Values (9 works) · Developmental psychology (8 works)