Curriculum Vitae
Email

The goal of my research is to understand the cognitive and affective processes underlying attitude formation and change, as well as how attitudes guide behavior. To do this, I examine attitudes across a variety of domains from emotional disorders to political ideology to prejudicial attitudes, and use a variety of methodologies. In particular, I am interested in cognitive and affective negativity biases. There are four general lines of research in my lab. 1) I study the cognitive negativity biases underlying depression and anxiety, as well as the role mindfulness may play in reducing these negativity biases. 2) I examine the role of disgust in shaping prejudicial attitudes, sociocultural beliefs, and political behavior. 3) I study the extent to which intergroup contact reduces prejudice. 4) I examine the extent to which affective and cognitive processes change across the life span.

Grants

Texas Woman’s University, Chancellor’s Research Fellow Program, Interpersonal Disgust and the Maintenance of Romantic Relationships, 8/15/17-5/15/18.

WVU Research Corporation, Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, Effects of Intergroup Contact on Academic Success and Retention in Higher Education, 1/15/16-12/31/16.

National Science Foundation (Decision, Risk, and Management Sciences Program), The Relation between Decision Making and Valence Asymmetries: A Comparison of Older and Younger Adults, 2/1/15-5/31/18.

WVU Senate Research Grant, Persistence of Negativity Bias: A Comparison of Younger and Older Adults, 7/1/2014-6/30/2015.

NARSAD Young Investigator Grant, A Performance-Based Measure of Negative Cognitive Style for Diagnosis of Depression and Assessment of Treatment Efficacy, 1/15/13-1/14/16.

VCU Department of Psychology Research Incentive Program Award, BeanFest: An Objective Measure of Negative Cognitive Style, 2010-2011.

Publications

Hernandez, P. R., Hopkins, P. D., Masters, K., Holland, L., Mei, B. M., Richards-Babb, M., Quedado, K., & Shook, N. J. (in press). Student integration into STEM careers and culture: A longitudinal examination of summer faculty mentors and project ownership. CBE-Life Sciences Education.

Ford, C. G., & Shook, N. J. (2018). Negative cognitive bias and perceived stress: Independent mediators of the relation between mindfulness and emotional distress. Mindfulness.

Kiken, L. G., Shook, N. J., Robins, J. L., & Clore, J. N. (2018). Association between mindfulness and interoceptive accuracy in patients with diabetes: Preliminary evidence from blood glucose estimates. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 36, 90-92.

Oosterhoff, B., Shook, N. J., & Metzger, A. (2018). A Matter of fact? Adolescents’ informational assumptions about crime, laws, and authority and their domain-specific beliefs about punishment. Journal of Adolescence, 62, 87-95.

Costello, A. H., Shook, N. J., Wallace, N., & McNeil, C. B. (2018). Examining factors associated with elevated Lie Scale responding on the Child Abuse Potential Inventory. Child Abuse & Neglect, 76, 56-64.

Oosterhoff, B., Shook, N. J., & Ford, C. G. (2018). Is that disgust I see? Political ideology and biased visual attention. Behavioural Brain Research, 336, 227-235.

Shook, N. J., Oosterhoff, B., Terrizzi, J. T., & Clay, R. (2018). Disease avoidance: An evolutionary perspective on personality and individual differences. In T. Shackelford & V. Zeigler-Hill (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Personality and Individual Differences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Shook, N. J., Ford, C. G., Strough, J., Delaney, R., & Barker, D. (2017). In the moment and feeling good: Age differences in mindfulness and positive affect. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 3, 338-347.

Shook, N. J., Oosterhoff, B., Terrizzi, J. A., & Brady, K. M. (2017). “Dirty politics”: The role of disgust sensitivity in voting. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 3, 284-297.

Hopkins, P. D., & Shook, N. J. (2017). Development of an intergroup anxiety toward Muslims scale. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 61, 7-20.

Shook, N. J., Ford, C. G., & Boggs, S. (2017). Dangerous worldview: A mediator of the relation between disgust and social conservatism. Personality and Individual Differences, 119, 252-261.

Oosterhoff, B., Shook, N. J., Clay, R., & Metzger, A. (2017). Differential and domain-specific associations among right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance, and adolescent delinquency. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43, 1296-1310.

Hopkins, P. D., & Shook, N. J. (2017). A review of sociocultural factors that may underlie differences in African American and European American anxiety. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 49, 104-113.

Oosterhoff, B., & Shook, N. J. (2017). From drug laws to recreational substance use: The adaptationist role of disgust sensitivity. Personality and Individual Differences, 104, 544- 553.

Hood, K. B., Shook, N. J., & Belgrave, F. (2017). “Jimmy cap before you tap”: Memorable condom use messages for African American women. Journal of Sex Research, 54, 651-664.

Terrizzi, J. A., & Shook, N. J. (2016). Religion: An evolutionary evoked disease-avoidance strategy. Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Religion. Oxford University Press.

Thomas, R. K., Krosnick, J. A., Shook, N. J., & Chiang, I. A. (2016). “Forever changed?: Some surprising findings about U.S. public opinion after the attacks of 9/11/2001 on the U.S. In. J. A. Krosnick, I. C. Chiang, & T. Stark (Eds.), Exploration in Political Psychology. Psychology Press. New York, New York.

Shook,N. J., Hopkins, P. D., & Koech, J. (2016). The effect of intergroup contact on secondary group attitudes and social dominance orientation. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 19, 328-342.

Shook, N. J., Terrizzi, J. A., Clay, R., & Oosterhoff, B. (2015). In Defense of Pathogen Disgust and Disease Avoidance: A Response to Tybur et al. (2015). Evolution & Human Behavior, 36, 498-504.

Fazio, R. H., Pietri, E. S., Rocklage, M. D., & Shook, N. J. (2015). Positive versus negative valence: Asymmetries in attitude formation and generalization as fundamental individual differences. In J. M. Olson & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 51). San Diego, CA: Elsevier

Kiken, L. G., & Shook, N. J. (2014). Does mindfulness attenuate thoughts emphasizing negativity, but not positivity? Journal of Research in Personality, 53, 22-30.

Hood, K. B., & Shook, N. J. (2014). Who cares what others think? The indirect effect of other’s attitudes on condom use intentions. International Journal of Sexual Health, 26, 282-294.

Terrizzi, J. A., Clay, R., & Shook, N. J. (2014). Does the behavioral immune system prepare females to be religiously conservative and collectivistic? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 189-202.

Pietri, E. S., Fazio, R. H., & Shook, N. J. (2013). Recalibrating positive and negative weighting tendencies in attitude generalization. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 1100-1113.

Hood, K. B., & Shook, N. J. (2013). Conceptualizing women’s attitudes toward condoms use with the tripartite model. Women & Health, 53, 349-368.

Clay, R., Barber, J. M., & Shook, N. J. (2013). Techniques for measuring selective exposure: A critical review. Communication Methods and Measures, 7, 221-245.

Moriello, G., Cotter, J. J., Shook, N., Dodd-McCue, D., & Welleford, E. A. (2013). The effect of implicit stereotypes on the physical performance of older adults. Educational Gerontology, 39, 599-612.