Scott Liening
Social Psychology Research
Research
Interests:
My research focuses on how individual differences
interact with status differences to affect small groups’ ability to
cooperate effectively. I am primarily
interested in how biological factors, specifically hormones such as
testosterone and cortisol, influence behavior in cooperative situations that
feature status differences among group members. My research incorporates social
psychology, personality psychology, and social endocrinology.
Current
Projects:
I currently have three general lines of ongoing
research with my advisor, Dr. Robert Josephs.
The first is straight-forward social psychological
research, focusing on how individual differences in personality traits
(dominance, narcissism), hormone levels (testosterone, cortisol), and situation
forces (status) influence whether someone will exploit a situation for personal
benefit at the cost of their own group.
The second project is a combination of social
psychology and health psychology.
We are investigating how anxiety, testosterone, and cortisol influence
how an individual responds to threatening medical information, and are
primarily concerned with how these factors predict problematic reactions among
men.
The third project is also a combination of social and
health psychology, but also incorporates elements of neuroscience, cognitive
psychology, and biology. We are
examining individuals’ reaction (both psychological and physical) to
cancer treatments, with an eye towards quality of life issues and possible
interventions.
If you are interested in any of these projects, please
contact me at sliening@mail.utexas.edu
You can find more information about Dr. Josephs’
research here
and more information about my fellow graduate student Jacqueline Rivers’
research on stress and affiliation here.
Education:
I received my B.A. in Psychology from the
Publications:
Liening,
S.H., Mehta, P.H.,
& Josephs, R.A. (submitted). Competition. To appear in Encyclopedia of Human Behavior, 2nd edition, edited by Vilayanur S.
Ramachandran. Academic Press:
Schultheiss, O.C., Patalakh, M.,
Rawolle, M., Liening, S., &
MacInnes, J.J. (submitted).
Referential competence is associated with congruence between implicit and
explicit motivation.
Liening,
S.H. & Josephs,
R.A. (accepted). It’s not
just about testosterone: Physiological mediators and moderators
testosterone’s behavioral effects.
Social and Personality Psychology
Compass. [pdf]
Liening,
S.H.,
Schultheiss, O.
C., Liening, S., & Schad, D.
(2008). The reliability of a Picture Story Exercise measure of implicit
motives: Estimates of internal consistency, retest reliability, and ipsative
stability. Journal of Research in
Personality, 42, 1560-1571.
[pdf]
Manuscripts
In Preparation:
Liening,
S.H., Davis, T.,
Rivers, J., Josephs, R.A., Beevers, C., Loving, T., Thompson, I., Glazer, E.,
Leach, R., & Wassersug, R. (in prep). The Effects of Androgens on
Cognition: A Review of Cognition Changes while undergoing Androgen Deprivation
Therapy.
Liening,
S.H., Swann, W.,
& Josephs, R.A. (in prep). Dual processes regulate dominance-related
activities: Explicit dominance
predicts self-reported desire for status, implicit dominance predicts prosocial
dominance behaviors.
Stanton, S.J., Liening, S.H., & Schultheiss, O.C. (in prep). Testosterone is positively associated
with risk-taking in the Iowa Gambling Task.
Liening,
S.H., Ristvedt, S.,
& Josephs, R.A. (in prep). Threat of Disease as Threat to Dominance:
Testosterone, anxiety, and reactions to positive diagnoses among men.
Conference
Presentations
Liening,
S.H. & Josephs,
R.A. (2010) The Influence of Dominance,
Narcissism, and Testosterone on High Status Behavior. Poster presented at the annual meeting
of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Las, Vegas, NV. [pdf]
Liening,
S.H. & Josephs,
R.A. (2009) Abusing Power: Dominance and
Narcissism in Positions of High Status. Poster presented at the annual meeting
of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology,
Talks/Presentations/Guest
Lectures:
Liening, S.H., Swann, W., &
Josephs, R.A. (2010). Dominance and Prosocial Behavior. Talk
presented to Social and Personality Area Meeting,
Liening, S.H. (2009, 2007) Implicit Motive Scoring: Winter Integrated
Coding System. Talk presented to Dr. Samuel Gosling’s graduate
seminar “Fundamentals of Personality,” Psychology,
Liening, S.H. (2009) Stress and Aggression. Guest lecture
presented to Lisa Dawn Hamilton’s undergraduate course
“Biopsychology,”
Liening, S.H. (2008) Testosterone,
Dominance, and Aggression. Talk
presented to Dr. Yvon Delville’s graduate course “Behavioral
Neuroendocrinology,”
Liening, S.H. (2007) The Missing
Link: The Relationship between Dominance, Implicit Power Motivation, and
Testosterone. Talk presented to Dr. Samuel Gosling’s graduate seminar
“Fundamentals of Personality,”
Liening, S.H., Swann, W., &
Josephs, R.A. (2006) The Role of
Dominance in Status Seeking Behavior.
Talk presented to Social and Personality Area Meeting,
Contact
information:
Scott
Liening
University
of
Department
of Psychology, Social Area
1
University Station A8000
(512)
471-0691
(website
last updated 7/20/2010)