James Wirth 

Research Interests

I am interested in ostracism as it relates to: group membership, perception of faces, stigma, and psychopathy. My current research focuses on how individuals emotionally respond as they are being ostracized. I am also exploring the motivations for the use of ostracism. Additional work I do investigates the effects of mood in group interactions and using implicit and explicit measures to assess attitudes towards stigmatized groups.

Publications/Presentations

Williams, K. D., & Wirth, J. H. (in press). Stealing thunder. To appear in R. Baumeister, & K. D. Vohs (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Social Psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Wesselmann, E. D., Wirth, J. H., & Williams, K. D. (2008, February). When We Ostracize: When an Individual is a Burden to the Group. Poster presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Albuquerque , NM . Wirth, J. H., Wesselmann, E. D., Williams, K. D., & Mroczek, D. K. (2008, February). A Time-Line of Affective Decline During an Ostracism Experience. Poster presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Albuquerque , NM . Wesselmann, E. D., Wirth, J. H., Pryor, J. B., & Williams, K. D. (2007, May). Compensation for the ostracism of a target.  Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago , IL .  Wirth, J. H., Wesselmann, E. D., Pryor, J. B., Reeder, G. D., & Williams, K. D. (2007, May). Effects of Implicit and Explicit Anti-Fat Bias on Exclusionary Behavior.  Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago , IL .  Wirth, J. H., &  Williams, K. D. (2007, May). Consequences of Being Ostracized for a Stigma. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago , IL .  Wirth, J. H., Wesselmann, E. D., Williams, K. D., & Mroczek, D. K. (2007, April). Ostracism hurts quickly and powerfully: Monitoring affective valence during an ostracism experience. Poster presented at Bi-Annual Meeting of the Social Psychologists of Indiana, West Lafayette , IN. Pryor, J. B., Reeder, G. D., Wesselmann, E. D., Williams, K. D., & Wirth, J. (2007, January). They Played a Game: Reactions to Obesity Stigma in a Cyberball Game. Presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Memphis , TN. Wirth, J. H., Govan, C. L., & Williams, K. D. (2007, January). Tolerant on the Outside, Intolerant on the Inside: Dual Responses to Ostracism. Poster presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Memphis, TN. Nainis, N., Paice, J. A., Ratner, J., Wirth, J., Lai, J, & Shott, S. (2006). Relieving symptoms in cancer: Innovative use of art therapy. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 31, 162-169. Wirth, J. H. & Schmitt, M. T. (2006, May). TMI (Too Much Information)? Consequences of Disclosing a Stigmatizing Condition. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.  Wirth, J. H. & Schmitt, M. T. (2006, January). Mental illness disclosure in personal relationships: Closeness mediates outcomes of self-disclosure. Poster presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Palm Springs, CA. Wirth, J. H., Hudgins, J. C., & Paice, J. A. (2005). Use of herbal therapies to relieve pain: A review of efficacy and adverse effects. Pain Management Nursing, 6, 145-167. Wirth, J. H. & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2005, May).  The Role of Gender Stereotypes in Mental Illness Stigma: A National Experiment. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.