James Shepperd
Department of Psychology
University of Florida
P.O. Box 112250
Gainesville, Florida 32611-2250
U.S.A.
Home Page
Phone: (352) 392-0601, ext. 248
Fax: (352) 392-7985
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My research examines broadly self-esteem and identity regulation. Specifically, I am interested in how people sustain desired self-views and cognitions, particularly in the face of inconsistent and threatening information. In the past I have explored this issue through research on self-handicapping, excuse making and the self-serving bias. Currently I am pursuing to two overlapping lines of research, both dealing with people?s predictions about the future. The first line explores how people evaluate risk. In this regard I am interested in the tendency for people to be optimistic about the future - to believe that bad things are unlikely to happen to them (or, are less likely to happen to them than to other people). I am investigating how people arrive at such beliefs and the consequences of these beliefs for behavior. The second line explores the predictions people make in anticipation of information that might challenge an optimistic outlook. In several studies I find that people will brace for bad news at the moment of truth. This second line has led me to investigate issues such as the motivation underlying bracing for bad news and how people help others brace for bad news.
 Journal Articles:
- Britt, T., & Shepperd, J. A. (1999). Trait strength and the underestimation of validity. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3, 108-122.
- Carroll, P. J., Sweeny, K., & Shepperd, J. A. (in press). Forsaking optimism. Journal of General Psychology.
- Helweg-Larsen, M., & Shepperd, J. A. (2001). The optimistic bias: Moderators and measurement concerns. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5, 74-95.
- Shepperd, J. A. (2001). The desire to help and behavior in social dilemmas: Exploring responses to catastrophes. Group Dynamics, 5, 304-314.
- Shepperd, J. A., Findley-Klein, C., Kwavnick, K. D., Walker, D., & Perez, S. (2000). Bracing for Loss. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 620-634.
- Shepperd, J. A., Grace, J., Cole, L., & Klein, C. T. F. (2005). Anxiety and outcome judgments. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 267-275
- Shepperd, J. A., Helweg-Larsen, M., & Ortega, L. (2003). Are comparative risk judgments consistent across time and events? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 1169-1180.
- Shepperd, J. A., & McNulty, J. (2002). The affective consequences of expected and unexpected outcomes. Psychological Sciences, 13, 84-87.
- Shepperd, J. A., Ouellette, J. A., & Fernandez, J. K. (1996). Abandoning unrealistic optimism: Performance estimates and the temporal proximity of self-relevant feedback. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 844-855.
- Shepperd, J. A., & Soucherman, R. (1997). On the manipulative behavior of low Machiavellians: Feigning incompetence to "sandbag" an opponent's effort. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 1448-1459.
- Shepperd, J. A., & Taylor, K. M. (1999). Ascribing advantages to comparison targets. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 21, 103-117.
- Shepperd, J. A., & Taylor, K. M. (1999). Social loafing and expectancy-value theory. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 215, 1147-1158.
- Taylor, K. M., & Shepperd, J. A. (1998). Bracing for the worst: Severity, testing and feedback as moderators of the optimistic bias. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 915-926.
Other Publications:
- Shepperd, J. A. (2001). Social loafing and expectancy value theory. In S. G. Harkins (Ed.), Multiple Perspectives on the Effects of Evaluation on Performance: Toward an Integration., pp. 133-154. Kluwer Publishers, New York, NY.
- Shepperd, J. A., & Kwavnick, K. (1999). Maladaptive image maintenance. In M. R. Kowalski & R. M. Leary (Eds.), The social psychology of behavioral and emotional problems (pp. 249-277). Washington, DC: APA Press.
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