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There has been extensive discussion about gender gaps in representation and career advancement in the sciences. However, psychological science itself has yet to be the focus of discussion or systematic review, despite our field’s investment in questions of equity, status, well-being, gender bias, and gender disparities. In the present article, we consider 10 topics relevant for women’s career advancement in psychological science. We focus on issues that have been the subject of empirical study, discuss relevant evidence within and outside of psychological science, and draw on established psychological theory and social-science research to begin to chart a path forward. We hope that better understanding of these issues within the field will shed light on areas of existing gender gaps in the discipline and areas where positive change has happened, and spark conversation within our field about how to create lasting change to mitigate remaining gender differences in psychological science.

The trait-based tendency to respond rashly to emotions is robustly tied to many forms of psychopathology and poor behavioural outcomes, including aggression and suicidality. Researchers have found associations between response inhibition and emotion-related impulsivity; however, effect sizes are often small. Because emotion-related impulsivity emerges in the context of heightened positive and negative emotions, arousal is a candidate trigger of impulsivity. The goals of the present study were to (1) replicate the association between emotion-related impulsivity and response inhibition, and (2) test whether emotion-related impulsivity is associated with arousal-induced decays in response inhibition performance. Participants ( N = 55) completed a self-report measure of emotion-related impulsivity, and then completed a computer-based response inhibition task (the antisaccade task, in which participants must make a rapid saccadic eye movement away from a cue rather than toward it) before and after a well-validated stress induction (the Trier Social Stress Test). Psychophysiological indices of arousal were measured throughout the session. Findings provide partial support for the association between emotion-related impulsivity and pre-stress response inhibition. Contrary to hypotheses, emotion-related impulsivity did not interact with arousal to predict post-stress response inhibition performance after controlling for pre-stress response inhibition performance. Future research is needed to consider clinical samples and to assess whether emotion-related impulsivity is related to deficits in other facets of cognitive control and decision-making.

More than a dozen recent studies have shown that bipolar disorder and key outcomes within bipolar disorder are related to heightened willingness to pursue extremely ambitious life goals, as measured by the Willingly Approached Set of Statistically Unlikely Pursuits (WASSUP). Although it has been argued that this willingness to pursue difficult lifetime ambitions in bipolar disorder could reflect willingness to expend effort toward reward, this has not been tested to date. In this study, 50 individuals with bipolar I disorder were followed until they achieved remission. They then completed the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task (EEfRT) and the WASSUP. Scores on the WASSUP Financial Success subscale, but not the Popular Fame subscale, were significantly associated with decision making on the EEfRT, even after controlling for significant effects of reward magnitude, gender, and age. These two indices appear to measure related facets of reward sensitivity.

Disruptions in activity are core features of mood states in bipolar disorder (BD). In this study, we sought to identify activity patterns that discriminate between mood states in BD. Locomotor activity was collected by using actigraphy for 6 weeks in participants with interepisode BD Type I ( n = 37) or participants with no lifetime mood disorders ( n = 39). The 24-hr activity pattern of each participant-day was characterized and within-person differences in activity patterns were examined across mood states. Results showed that among participants with BD, depressive days are distinguished from other mood states by an overall lower activity level and a pattern of later activity onset, a midday elevation of activity, and low evening activity. No distinct within-person activity patterns were found for hypomanic/manic days. Given that activity can be monitored noninvasively for extended time periods, activity pattern identification may be leveraged to detect mood states in BD, thereby providing more immediate delivery of care.

Extensive research supports the role of striatal dopamine in pursuing and responding to reward, and that eye-blink rate is a valid indicator of striatal dopamine. This study tested whether phasic changes in blink rate could provide an index of reward pursuit. This hypothesis was tested in people with bipolar I disorder (BD; a population with aberrations in reward responsivity) and in those without BD. A total of 31 adults with BD and 28 control participants completed a laboratory task involving effort toward monetary reward. Blink rate was recorded using eye tracking at baseline, reward anticipation, and postreward. Those in the BD group completed self-report measures relating to reward and ambition. Results showed that across all participants, blink rates increased from reward anticipation to postreward. In the BD group, reward-relevant measures were strongly correlated with variation in blink rate. These findings provide validation for phasic changes in blink rate as an index of reward response.

Bipolar disorder (BD) has been related to heightened creativity, yet core questions remain unaddressed about this association. We used qualitative methods to investigate how highly creative individuals with BD understand the role of symptoms and treatment in their creativity, and possible mechanisms underpinning this link. Twenty-two individuals self-identified as highly creative and living with BD took part in focus groups and completed quantitative measures of symptoms, quality of life (QoL), and creativity. Using thematic analysis, five themes emerged: the pros and cons of mania for creativity, benefits of altered thinking, the relationship between creativity and medication, creativity as central to one’s identity, and creativity’s importance in stigma reduction and treatment. Despite reliance on a small sample who self-identified as having BD, findings shed light on previously mixed results regarding the influence of mania and treatment and suggest new directions for the study of mechanisms driving the creative advantage in BD.

Affective disturbance is a central feature of bipolar disorder. Many investigators have hypothesized that euthymic people with bipolar disorder might display elevated emotional reactivity, but laboratory studies of emotional reactivity have had mixed results. Drawing on theories of bipolar disorder that emphasize dysregulation of goal pursuit, we hypothesized that people with bipolar disorder might be emotionally hyperreactive to frustration of goal pursuit. Forty-seven euthymic participants with bipolar disorder and 43 control participants played a computer game for a monetary reward. To induce frustration, we programmed the game to respond inconsistently to user input during two periods. The frustration induction was successful as measured by self-report, physiological responding, and facial behavior, but contrary to the hypothesis of emotional hyperreactivity in bipolar disorder, the bipolar and control groups were equally reactive to frustration. Future studies will benefit from more specific hypotheses about how emotion might be altered in bipolar disorder.

Researchers have noted strong parallels in the symptoms of mania—including grandiosity, hostility, goal-driven behavior, and overly sexualized behavior—and dominance. Drawing on these parallels, it has been hypothesized that bipolar disorder might be related to dysregulations of the dominance system, which includes dominance motivation, power, and dominance behavior. The goal of the current study was to consider whether manic tendencies related to the dominance system as measured in an ecologically valid experimental paradigm. Participants took part in small group interactions in which they negotiated merit pay for candidates seeking promotion. They completed ratings of their own and peers' dominance behaviors during the interaction. All participants also completed the Hypomanic Personality Scale to assess risk for mania, as well as scales to assess for current (hypo)mania and history of depression. Whereas history of depression was related to lower dominance motivation, mania risk was related to dominance behavior during the task, and peers rated this dominance behavior unfavorably. Findings provide a framework for understanding some of the social problems observed in bipolar disorder, with both depression history and mania risk contributing to dysregulations in the dominance system.

Several polymorphisms relevant to dopamine and serotonin have been identified as potential contributors to individual differences in impulsivity versus self-control. Because impulsivity is a multifaceted construct, a need remains to examine more closely how various genes relate to different aspects of impulsivity. We examined four dopamine-related polymorphisms and the serotonin transporter as predictors of three aspects of impulsivity, two bearing on impulsive reactions to emotions and one on difficulty in completing intended actions. Early adversity was also examined as a potentiator of genetic effects. Undergraduates completed measures of impulsivity and early adversity and were genotyped. COMT, BDNF, DRD4, and 5HTTLPR (the latter two in interaction with early adversity) made independent contributions to prediction of Pervasive Influence of Feelings. BDNF made a contribution to Lack of Follow-Through. ANKK1 and 5HTTLPR (both in interaction with early adversity) made independent contributions to Feelings Trigger Action. Thus, five polymorphisms contributed to predicting impulsivity, but different polymorphisms related to different aspects.

In this article, we consider similarities and differences in emotion research on older adults and individuals with bipolar disorder (BD). Recent research and theory within both areas has focused on the importance of positive emotion, but the case of older adults is generally considered a case of “adaptive” positivity whereas BD is usually considered maladaptive positivity. We explore the paradox of the same phenomenon being labeled as adaptive in one group and yet maladaptive in another, with attention to commonalities and distinctions between these two groups. We identify only limited areas of overlap, and suggest a refinement of models of positive emotionality in the two populations.

The tendency to generalize from a single failure to one's entire self-worth is an important correlate and predictor of depression. Despite conceptual overlap between cognitive biases in anxiety and depression, little research has examined whether negative generalization relates to anxiety symptoms. We examined associations of negative generalization with symptoms of several anxiety disorders, above and beyond its association with lifetime symptoms of depression, among 248 undergraduates. After controlling for lifetime symptoms of major depression, negative generalization was significantly correlated with symptoms of each anxiety disorder tested, most notably generalized anxiety and social phobia.

In an experience-sampling study, we tested the influence of goal progress on subsequent effort toward that goal among persons with bipolar disorder (BD) and among control subjects without BD. We hypothesized, overall, that unexpectedly low progress toward a goal would lead to an increase in subsequent effort toward that goal, and unexpectedly high progress would lead to a decrease in effort (permitting effort to be shifted to another goal). Drawing on literature relating BD to elevated goal-approach sensitivity, we hypothesized that persons with BD would be less responsive to unexpectedly high progress than would control subjects. Participants answered questions three times a day, for 21 days, about three goals. The results of the study confirmed our overall hypothesis. In addition, although the reactions of persons with BD did not differ from the reactions of control subjects after lower-than-expected goal progress, persons with BD decreased effort toward goals significantly less than did control subjects after better-than-expected goal progress.

We examined dynamical patterns in the course of bipolar depression. We interviewed 55 individuals with bipolar I disorder using Modified Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (MHRSD) for at least 20 months. Using a recently developed methodology, we categorized the level of instability and the nature of attractor patterns for each individual. Instability was related to the lifetime severity of depression as well as suicidality during the follow-up period. Individuals varied from 0 to 2 in the number of attractors. Relatively few individuals displayed only one attractor that fell within a depressive range; the most common patterns were instability and two attractors. Limitations and implications of these results are discussed.