Wendy Berry Mendes
Yale University, Psychology, Faculty Member
- University of California, San Francisco, Psychiatry, Faculty Memberadd
Parents can influence children's emotional responses through direct and subtle behavior. In this study we examined how parents' acute stress responses might be transmitted to their 7- to 11-year-old children and how parental... more
Parents can influence children's emotional responses through direct and subtle behavior. In this study we examined how parents' acute stress responses might be transmitted to their 7- to 11-year-old children and how parental emotional suppression would affect parents' and children's physiological responses and behavior. Parents and their children (N = 214; Ndyads = 107; 47% fathers) completed a laboratory visit where we initially separated the parents and children and subjected the parent to a standardized laboratory stressor that reliably activates the body's primary stress systems. Before reuniting with their children, parents were randomly assigned to either suppress their affective state-hide their emotions from their child-or to act naturally (control condition). Once reunited, parents and children completed a conflict conversation and two interaction tasks together. We measured their sympathetic nervous system (SNS) responses and observed interaction behavior. We obtained three key findings: (a) suppressing mothers' SNS responses influenced their child's SNS responses; (b) suppressing fathers' SNS responses were influenced by their child's SNS responses; and (c) dyads with suppressing parents appeared less warm and less engaged during interaction than control dyads. These findings reveal that parents' emotion regulation efforts impact parent-child stress transmission and compromise interaction quality. Discussion focuses on short-term and long-term consequences of parental emotion regulation and children's social-emotional development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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ABSTRACT Numerous studies have demonstrated that racial bias influences the decision to fire weapons for non-police officer samples. However, little evidence exists about how these biases operate under stressful situations. We... more
ABSTRACT Numerous studies have demonstrated that racial bias influences the decision to fire weapons for non-police officer samples. However, little evidence exists about how these biases operate under stressful situations. We investigated police officers’ decisions to shoot Black and White targets carrying guns or objects in a computer simulation. Officers’ decisions were examined under a stressful context in which the two primary stress systems were activated and under no-stress conditions. Results revealed that under stress, officers made more errors in their shooting decisions compared to no-stress conditions. However, officers were no more likely to make errors based on target race under stress compared to no-stress. Instead, under stress as cortisol increased, officers made fewer errors with armed Black targets, suggesting that HPA activation exacerbates vigilance for threat cues. This study demonstrates the importance of examining how hot situations can influence decision making even among highly trained police officers.
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Social relationships influence physical health, yet questions remain regarding the nature of this association. For instance, when it comes to predicting health-relevant processes in daily life, few studies have examined (a) the relative... more
Social relationships influence physical health, yet questions remain regarding the nature of this association. For instance, when it comes to predicting health-relevant processes in daily life, few studies have examined (a) the relative importance of both positive and negative relational experiences, and (b) variability in relational experiences (in addition to mean levels). To address these gaps, we conducted a daily study ( N = 4,005; ~ 30,000 observations) examining relationships, stress, and physiology in daily life. Heart rate and blood pressure were assessed using an optic sensor and integrated with an app-based study. Results demonstrated that higher mean levels of positive and lower mean levels of negative relational experiences predicted lower stress, better coping, and better physiological functioning in daily life, such as lower systolic blood pressure reactivity. Greater variability in negative (but not positive) relational experiences predicted lower stress, better coping, and lower systolic blood pressure reactivity.
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Gratitude and optimism are positive psychological dispositions associated with beneficial outcomes. To examine their associations with physiological and psychological experiences in daily life, we examined data from an Ecological... more
Gratitude and optimism are positive psychological dispositions associated with beneficial outcomes. To examine their associations with physiological and psychological experiences in daily life, we examined data from an Ecological Momentary Assessment study (N = 4,825), including blood pressure, heart rate, and reports of stress, health behaviors, and thoughts. Trait gratitude and trait optimism both predicted lower heart rate and blood pressure, better sleep quality, more exercise, less stress, more positive expectations and reflections, and greater feelings of appreciation toward others. However, gratitude and optimism were not completely overlapping constructs: Gratitude was a stronger predictor of felt appreciation toward others and pleasantness when reflecting on the best part of the day, whereas optimism was a stronger predictor of sleep quality, lower stress, and lower unpleasantness when reflecting on the worst part of the day. These associations reveal both similar and differential influences of positive dispositions on psychological and physiological outcomes that provide insight into health consequences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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ABSTRACT Objective This study examined the within- and between-person associations of acute and chronic stress with blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) using an app-based research platform. Methods We examined data from 31,964 adults... more
ABSTRACT Objective This study examined the within- and between-person associations of acute and chronic stress with blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) using an app-based research platform. Methods We examined data from 31,964 adults (aged 18–90 years) in an app-based ecological momentary assessment study that used a research-validated optic sensor to measure BP. Results Within-person associations revealed that moments with (versus without) acute stress exposure were associated with higher systolic (SBP; b = 1.54) and diastolic BP (DBP; b = 0.79) and HR (b = 1.53; p values < .001). During moments with acute stress exposure, higher acute stress severity than usual was associated with higher SBP (b = 0.26), DBP (b = 0.09), and HR (b = 0.40; p values < .05). During moments without acute stress, higher background stress severity than usual was associated with higher BP and HR (SBP: b = 0.87, DBP: b = 0.51, HR: b = 0.69; p values < .001). Between-person associations showed that individuals with more frequent reports of acute stress exposure or higher chronic stress severity had higher SBP, DBP, and HR (p values < .05). Between-person chronic stress severity moderated within-person physiological responses to stress such that individuals with higher chronic stress severity had higher average BP and HR levels but showed smaller responses to momentary stress. Conclusions Technological advancements with optic sensors allow for large-scale physiological data collection, which provides a better understanding of how stressors of different timescales and severity contribute to momentary BP and HR in daily life.
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Does acute stress differentially alter cognitive functioning in older versus younger adults? While older adults may be better at handling stress psychologically, their physiological systems are less elastic, potentially impairing the... more
Does acute stress differentially alter cognitive functioning in older versus younger adults? While older adults may be better at handling stress psychologically, their physiological systems are less elastic, potentially impairing the cognitive functioning of older adults after a stressor. We examined cognition following an acute stressor among older (n = 65; ages 60-79) and younger (n = 61; ages 25-40) adults. Participants were randomized to complete the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) in one of three conditions: (a) negative feedback, (b) positive feedback, or (c) no feedback. Participants reported mood states and appraisals of the speech task and we measured cortisol via saliva throughout the study. After the TSST, participants completed standard cognitive tasks to evaluate cognitive flexibility, problem solving, and short-term memory. Results showed that after the TSST, older adults took longer to solve problems compared with younger adults, though they were able to solve the same number of problems. Older adults showed less cognitive flexibility compared with younger adults in all conditions, a finding that was partially exaggerated in the positive feedback condition. There were no age-group differences in short-term memory; however, for older adults greater perceived resources and positive affect were associated with better memory performance. In sum, older and younger adults were both affected by acute stress, and older adults were not more (or less) vulnerable to the effects of stress on cognition, though they did show stronger associations between self-reported affective states and memory performance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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Objective: Physiologic responses of surgery team members under varying levels of intraoperative risk were measured. Background: Measurement of intraoperative physiological responses provides insight into how operation complexity, phase of... more
Objective: Physiologic responses of surgery team members under varying levels of intraoperative risk were measured. Background: Measurement of intraoperative physiological responses provides insight into how operation complexity, phase of surgery, and surgeon seniority impact stress. Methods: Autonomic nervous system responses (interbeat intervals, IBIs) were measured continuously during operations. Role (attending surgeon, surgical resident, operating room nurse), risk of operation (high, low), and primary operator (attending surgeon, resident) predicted IBI reactivity. Physiologic synchrony captured the degree of correspondence between individuals’ physiologic responses within timepoint. Results: 10,005 observations of IBI reactivity were recorded in 26 participants during 16 high-risk (renal transplant and laparoscopic donor nephrectomy) and low-risk (arteriovenous fistula formation) operations. Attending surgeons showed greater IBI reactivity (faster heart rate) than residents a...
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Background Person-centered maternity care (PCMC) has become a priority in the global health discourse on quality of care due to the high prevalence of disrespectful and lack of responsive care during facility-based childbirth. Although... more
Background Person-centered maternity care (PCMC) has become a priority in the global health discourse on quality of care due to the high prevalence of disrespectful and lack of responsive care during facility-based childbirth. Although PCMC is generally sub-optimal, there are significant disparities. On average, women of low socioeconomic status (SES) tend to receive poorer PCMC than women of higher SES. Yet few studies have explored factors underlying these inequities. In this study, we examined provider implicit and explicit biases that could lead to inequitable PCMC based on SES. Methods Data are from a cross-sectional survey with 150 providers recruited from 19 health facilities in the Upper East region of Ghana from October 2020 to January 2021. Explicit SES bias was assessed using situationally-specific vignettes (low SES and high SES characteristics) on providers’ perceptions of women’s expectations, attitudes, and behaviors. Implicit SES bias was assessed using an Implicit A...
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Studies in low-resource settings have highlighted disparities in person-centred maternity care (PCMC)—respectful and responsive care during childbirth—based on women’s socioeconomic status (SES) and other characteristics. Yet few studies... more
Studies in low-resource settings have highlighted disparities in person-centred maternity care (PCMC)—respectful and responsive care during childbirth—based on women’s socioeconomic status (SES) and other characteristics. Yet few studies have explored factors that may underlie these disparities. In this study, we examined implicit and explicit SES bias in providers’ perceptions of women’s expectations and behaviours, as well as providers’ general views regarding factors influencing differential treatment of women. We conducted a convergent mixed-methods study with 101 maternity providers in western Kenya. Implicit SES bias was measured using an adaptation of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and explicit SES bias assessed using situationally specific vignettes. Qualitative data provided additional details on the factors contributing to disparities. Results provide evidence for the presence of both implicit and explicit bias related to SES that might influence PCMC. Differential tr...
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Research Interests: Stress, Medicine, Anxiety, Autonomic Nervous System, Heart rate variability, and 15 moreOveractive bladder, Humans, Psychological, Female, Relaxation, Biofeedback, Respiration, Clinical Sciences, Aged, Middle Aged, Randomized Controlled Trial, ANXIETY, Relaxation Therapy, Respiratory Rate, and Breathing exercises
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Background Sleep can have consequential effects on people’s health and well-being, and these effects may vary among younger and older adults. Purpose: The goal of the present study was to investigate how sleep relates to physiologic and... more
Background Sleep can have consequential effects on people’s health and well-being, and these effects may vary among younger and older
adults.
Purpose: The goal of the present study was to investigate how sleep relates to physiologic and stress responses in daily life across
adulthood.
Methods We used an Ecological Momentary Assessment method in a large sample of participants (N = 4,359; Mage = 46.75, SD = 12.39;
69.30% male, 29.85% female) who completed morning sleep diaries, reported subjective stress, and recorded their heart rate and blood pressure
for 21 days. Sleep was assessed with self-reports of duration, efficiency, and quality.
Results Using multilevel modeling, between-person analyses showed that sleep duration, efficiency, and quality were negatively related to
morning heart rate and stress, such that people who slept longer, more efficiently, or better experienced lower heart rate and stress compared
to those who slept shorter, less efficiently, or worse. Within-person analyses showed that sleep duration, efficiency, and quality predicted
morning heart rate, blood pressure (though less consistently), and stress. That is, people experienced lower heart, blood pressure, and stress
following nights when they slept longer, more efficiently, or better than they typically did. These within-person relationships were moderated
by age, such that the effects of better and longer sleep on lower morning heart rate, blood pressure, and stress were stronger among younger
than older adults.
Conclusion These findings suggest that daily variations in sleep show immediate associations with stress and physiologic responses, but these
daily variations have a stronger relationship among younger compared to older adults.
adults.
Purpose: The goal of the present study was to investigate how sleep relates to physiologic and stress responses in daily life across
adulthood.
Methods We used an Ecological Momentary Assessment method in a large sample of participants (N = 4,359; Mage = 46.75, SD = 12.39;
69.30% male, 29.85% female) who completed morning sleep diaries, reported subjective stress, and recorded their heart rate and blood pressure
for 21 days. Sleep was assessed with self-reports of duration, efficiency, and quality.
Results Using multilevel modeling, between-person analyses showed that sleep duration, efficiency, and quality were negatively related to
morning heart rate and stress, such that people who slept longer, more efficiently, or better experienced lower heart rate and stress compared
to those who slept shorter, less efficiently, or worse. Within-person analyses showed that sleep duration, efficiency, and quality predicted
morning heart rate, blood pressure (though less consistently), and stress. That is, people experienced lower heart, blood pressure, and stress
following nights when they slept longer, more efficiently, or better than they typically did. These within-person relationships were moderated
by age, such that the effects of better and longer sleep on lower morning heart rate, blood pressure, and stress were stronger among younger
than older adults.
Conclusion These findings suggest that daily variations in sleep show immediate associations with stress and physiologic responses, but these
daily variations have a stronger relationship among younger compared to older adults.
Social acceptance (vs. rejection) is assumed to have widespread positive effects on the recipient; however, ethnic/racial minorities often react negatively to social acceptance by White individuals. One possibility for such reactions... more
Social acceptance (vs. rejection) is assumed to have widespread positive effects on the recipient; however, ethnic/racial minorities often react negatively to social acceptance by White individuals. One possibility for such reactions might be their lack of trust in the genuineness of White individuals’ positive evaluations. Here, we examined the role that oxytocin—a neuropeptide putatively linked to social processes—plays in modulating reactions to acceptance or rejection during interracial interactions. Black participants (N = 103) received intranasal oxytocin or placebo and interacted with a White, same-sex stranger who provided positive or negative social feedback. After positive feedback, participants given oxytocin (vs. placebo) tended to display approach-oriented cardiovascular responses of challenge (vs. threat), exhibited more cooperative behavior, and perceived the partner to have more favorable attitudes toward them after the interaction. Following negative feedback, oxyto...
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Changes in autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity can result from a variety of factors including physical movement, postural changes, sleeping, disease, and aging. For social and personality psychologists the value of examining the ANS... more
Changes in autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity can result from a variety of factors including physical movement, postural changes, sleeping, disease, and aging. For social and personality psychologists the value of examining the ANS may be that in many situations ANS responses can indicate shifts in emotion, motivation, attention, and preferences. Several obvious advantages of using ANS responses have been well established. For example, ANS responses are not susceptible to self-report biases often engendered in sensitive contexts in which individuals might be unwilling to report their unexpurgated feelings (Gardner, Gabriel, & Deikman, 2000; Guglielmi, 1999). Additionally, obtaining data “on-line ” allows for a dynamic analysis of moment-to-moment reactions that does not require introspective responses from participants. There are, however, some advantages that are less obvious. ANS responses can temporally precede conscious awareness revealing emotional responses or preferences...
Negative social feedback is often a source of distress. However, self-verification theory provides the counterintuitive explanation that negative feedback leads to less distress when it is consistent with chronic self-views. Drawing from... more
Negative social feedback is often a source of distress. However, self-verification theory provides the counterintuitive explanation that negative feedback leads to less distress when it is consistent with chronic self-views. Drawing from this work, the present study examined the impact of receiving self-verifying feedback on outcomes largely neglected in prior research: implicit responses (i.e., physiological reactivity, facial expressions) that are difficult to consciously regulate and downstream behavioral outcomes. In two experiments, participants received either positive or negative feedback from interviewers during a speech task. Regardless of self-views, positive compared to negative feedback elicited lower self-reported negative affect. Implicit responses to negative feedback, however, depended on chronic self-views with more negative self-views associated with lower blood pressure reactivity, lower facial negativity, and enhanced creativity. These findings point at the role ...
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... Greater left resting intracortical activity as a buffer to social threat Katrina Koslov 1 Wendy BerryMendes 1 Petra E. Pajtas 2 Diego A. Pizzagalli 3 ... 3 Harvard Medical School Corresponding author:Wendy Berry Mendes Department of... more
... Greater left resting intracortical activity as a buffer to social threat Katrina Koslov 1 Wendy BerryMendes 1 Petra E. Pajtas 2 Diego A. Pizzagalli 3 ... 3 Harvard Medical School Corresponding author:Wendy Berry Mendes Department of Psychiatry UC San Francisco ...
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Abstract Core features of motivational states—approach, avoidance, engagement, and disengagement—may be reliably measured from a variety of neurobiological changes, including autonomic nervous system, neural activity, neuroendocrine... more
Abstract Core features of motivational states—approach, avoidance, engagement, and disengagement—may be reliably measured from a variety of neurobiological changes, including autonomic nervous system, neural activity, neuroendocrine systems, and cell biology. The goals of this chapter are to review various biological systems that are concomitant with distinct motivational states, and to examine overlap with and distinctions between conceptual cousins of motivation, namely emotion and stress. We then turn to moderators of the link between motivational states and neurobiology, such as context, thought processes, developmental factors, and sociocultural environments. In so doing, we offer important constraints to links between motivation and neurobiology.
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intense negative emotions can create powerful self-reflective thought and perseverance, leading to increased creativity (De Dreu, Baas, & Nijstad, 2008;
Significance Exaggerated blood pressure (BP) reactivity is associated with the development of hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Stress, and, to a lesser extent, emotions are suggested to be linked to BP reactivity, but this... more
Significance Exaggerated blood pressure (BP) reactivity is associated with the development of hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Stress, and, to a lesser extent, emotions are suggested to be linked to BP reactivity, but this theorizing lacks robust evidence beyond small laboratory or field studies with narrow participant demographics. Using an app-based research study and analyzing more than 330,000 daily responses from over 20,000 people, we show that momentary stress, conceptualized as the perception of demands relative to resources, is associated with greater BP and heart rate reactivity. High-arousal negative emotions are associated with increased physiologic reactivity whereas low-arousal positive emotions are associated with decreased reactivity. These data point to daily stress experiences as likely candidates for improving physical health.
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Significance In our prospective study using nationally representative data from 13,611 adults in the US Health and Retirement Study, we used traditional and machine-learning statistical approaches to reveal the most important factors... more
Significance In our prospective study using nationally representative data from 13,611 adults in the US Health and Retirement Study, we used traditional and machine-learning statistical approaches to reveal the most important factors across the behavioral and social sciences that predict mortality in older adults. In the study, we found that top predictors of mortality spanned all investigated domains, opening up opportunities for future hypothesis generation in observational and clinical studies and the identification of potential new targets for screening and policy.
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Research has long sought to identify which individuals are best at accurately perceiving others' personalities or are good judges, yet consistent predictors of this ability have been difficult to find. In the current studies, we... more
Research has long sought to identify which individuals are best at accurately perceiving others' personalities or are good judges, yet consistent predictors of this ability have been difficult to find. In the current studies, we revisit this question by examining a novel physiological correlate of social sensitivity, cardiac vagal flexibility, which reflects dynamic modulation of cardiac vagal control. We examined whether greater cardiac vagal flexibility was associated with forming more accurate personality impressions, defined as viewing targets more in line with their distinctive self-reported profile of traits, in two studies, including a thin-slice video perceptions study (N = 109) and a dyadic interaction study (N = 175). Across studies, we found that individuals higher in vagal flexibility formed significantly more accurate first impressions of others' more observable personality traits (e.g., extraversion, creativity, warmth). These associations held while including ...
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Receiving help can be a "mixed blessing." Despite the many psychosocial benefits it can carry, it sometimes has negative psychological consequences, such as loss in self-esteem or enhanced guilt. It is, therefore, important to... more
Receiving help can be a "mixed blessing." Despite the many psychosocial benefits it can carry, it sometimes has negative psychological consequences, such as loss in self-esteem or enhanced guilt. It is, therefore, important to understand the factors that modify responses to receiving help from others. We explored the role of the hormone oxytocin (OT) on affective and social responses to receiving help, given the putative role of OT in social bonding and attunement. To this end, we manipulated whether help was received from a same-sex interaction partner (confederate) versus a control condition, crossed with a double-blind administration of intranasal OT (vs. placebo), and examined subjective and observer-rated participant responses to help. We observed significant interactions between OT and the help manipulation. In the placebo condition, receiving help from the interaction partner compared with the control condition had negative consequences, such that participants repor...
Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Emotion, Happiness, Medicine, and 3 moreOxytocin, Placebo, and Attunement
As neuroscience methods begin to dominate emotion research it is critical for researchers to remember that peripheral embodiments are critical to understanding emotional experience and emotion—behavior links. Much of modern emotion... more
As neuroscience methods begin to dominate emotion research it is critical for researchers to remember that peripheral embodiments are critical to understanding emotional experience and emotion—behavior links. Much of modern emotion research assumes reliable mind—body connections that suggest that changes in emotional states influence bodily responses and, vice versa, that somatovisceral information shapes emotional experiences. However, there may be important qualifications to the link between the mind and the (peripheral) body. For example, the ability to sense internal and external bodily states declines in older age as does activation of physiological systems, all of which may contribute to an impairment in emotional experiences and how emotions influence behavior. I describe this phenomenon as maturational dualism and suggest implications of this for emotion in older adults.
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ABSTRACT Numerous studies have demonstrated that racial bias influences the decision to fire weapons for non-police officer samples. However, little evidence exists about how these biases operate under stressful situations. We... more
ABSTRACT Numerous studies have demonstrated that racial bias influences the decision to fire weapons for non-police officer samples. However, little evidence exists about how these biases operate under stressful situations. We investigated police officers’ decisions to shoot Black and White targets carrying guns or objects in a computer simulation. Officers’ decisions were examined under a stressful context in which the two primary stress systems were activated and under no-stress conditions. Results revealed that under stress, officers made more errors in their shooting decisions compared to no-stress conditions. However, officers were no more likely to make errors based on target race under stress compared to no-stress. Instead, under stress as cortisol increased, officers made fewer errors with armed Black targets, suggesting that HPA activation exacerbates vigilance for threat cues. This study demonstrates the importance of examining how hot situations can influence decision making even among highly trained police officers.
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Although higher social class carries mental and physical health benefits, these advantages are less robust among members of racial and ethnic minority groups than among European Americans. We explore whether differential reactions to... more
Although higher social class carries mental and physical health benefits, these advantages are less robust among members of racial and ethnic minority groups than among European Americans. We explore whether differential reactions to discrimination may be a factor in explaining why. Working-class and middle-class Latino American women engaged in an evaluative interaction with a European American woman who rejected them and held either prejudiced or unprejudiced attitudes. We examined how participants responded to this rejection by measuring neuroendocrine reactivity, executive functioning, and the affective content of their verbal responses during the interaction. Among middle-class Latinas, rejection from a prejudiced, compared to unprejudiced, out-group member was associated with less adaptive stress responses, greater cognitive depletion, and more feelings of uncertainty. In contrast, among working-class Latinas, neuroendocrine, cognitive, and affective responses were similar acr...