Bruce J. Ellis

Last updated
Bruce J. Ellis
NationalityAmerican
Education California Polytechnic State University
University of Michigan
Known for Child development
Psychological stress
Awards American Psychological Association's George A. Miller Award for an Outstanding Recent Article on General Psychology (2010)
Scientific career
Fields Developmental psychology
Evolutionary psychology
Institutions University of Arizona
University of Utah
Thesis Investment in dating relationships  (1995)
Doctoral advisor David Buss

Bruce Joel Ellis is an American evolutionary developmental psychologist and professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah. He is known for his research on the positive psychological effects of children's exposure to psychological stress. [1] [2] Of this research, he told the Atlantic in 2017 that "We’re not arguing that stress is good, or that it’s good for kids to grow up in poverty or under harsh conditions. What we’re arguing is that [the detrimental effects of stress] are real, and that’s half the story." [3] He has also researched how the timing of puberty among young girls can be influenced by the environment in which they are raised, [4] and by whether they are raised by single mothers. [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stress (biology)</span> Organisms response to a stressor such as an environmental condition or a stimulus

Stress, either physiological, biological or psychological, is an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition. Stress is the body's method of reacting to a condition such as a threat, challenge or physical and psychological barrier. There are two hormones that an individual produces during a stressful situation, these are well known as adrenaline and cortisol. There are two kinds of stress hormone levels. Resting (basal) cortisol levels are normal everyday quantities that are essential for standard functioning. Reactive cortisol levels are increases in cortisol in response to stressors. Stimuli that alter an organism's environment are responded to by multiple systems in the body. In humans and most mammals, the autonomic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis are the two major systems that respond to stress.

Stress management is a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a person's level of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of and for the motive of improving everyday functioning. Stress produces numerous physical and mental symptoms which vary according to each individual's situational factors. These can include a decline in physical health, such as headaches, chest pain, fatigue, and sleep problems, as well as depression. The process of stress management is named as one of the keys to a happy and successful life in modern society. Life often delivers numerous demands that can be difficult to handle, but stress management provides a number of ways to manage anxiety and maintain overall well-being.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breakup</span> Termination of an intimate relationship

A relationship breakup, breakup, or break-up is the termination of a relationship. The act is commonly termed "dumping [someone]" in slang when it is initiated by one partner. The term is less likely to be applied to a married couple, where a breakup is typically called a separation or divorce. When a couple engaged to be married breaks up, it is typically called a "broken engagement". People commonly think of breakups in a romantic aspect, however, there are also non-romantic and platonic breakups, and this type of relationship dissolution is usually caused by failure to maintain a friendship.

Psychological resilience is the ability to cope mentally or emotionally with a crisis or to return to pre-crisis status quickly. The term was coined in the 1970s by a psychologist named Emmy E. Werner as she conducted a forty year long study of a cohort of Hawaiian children who came from low, socioeconomical back grounds. Resilience exists when the person uses "mental processes and behaviors in promoting personal assets and protecting self from the potential negative effects of stressors". In simpler terms, psychological resilience exists in people who develop psychological and behavioral capabilities that allow them to remain calm during crises/chaos and to move on from the incident without long-term negative consequences. A lot of criticism of this topic comes from the fact that it is difficult to measure and test this psychological construct because resiliency can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Most psychological paradigms have their own perspective of what resilience looks like, where it comes from, and how it can be developed. Despite numerous definitions of psychological resilience, most of these definitions center around two concepts: adversity and positive adaptation. Many psychologists agree that positive emotions, social support, and hardiness can influence an individual to become more resilient.

Eustress means beneficial stress—either psychological, physical, or biochemical/radiological (hormesis).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT parenting</span> LGBT people raising one or more children

LGBT parenting refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people raising one or more children as parents or foster care parents. This includes: children raised by same-sex couples, children raised by single LGBT parents, and children raised by an opposite-sex couple where at least one partner is LGBT.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parenting styles</span> Psychological construct

A parenting style is a psychological construct representing standard strategies that parents use in their child rearing. The quality of parenting can be more essential than the quantity of time spent with the child. For instance, the parent may be engaging in a different activity and not demonstrating enough interest in the child. Parenting styles are the representation of how parents respond to and make demands on their children. Parenting practices are specific behaviors, while parenting styles represent broader patterns of parenting practices. There are various theories and opinions on the best ways to rear children, as well as differing levels of time and effort that parents are willing to invest.

Shelley Elizabeth Taylor is a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University, and was formerly on the faculty at Harvard University. A prolific author of books and scholarly journal articles, Taylor has long been a leading figure in two subfields related to her primary discipline of social psychology: social cognition and health psychology. Her books include The Tending Instinct and Social Cognition, the latter by Susan Fiske and Shelley Taylor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychological stress</span> Feeling of strain and pressure

In psychology, stress is a feeling of emotional strain and pressure. Stress is a type of psychological pain. Small amounts of stress may be beneficial, as it can improve athletic performance, motivation and reaction to the environment. Excessive amounts of stress, however, can increase the risk of strokes, heart attacks, ulcers, and mental illnesses such as depression and also aggravation of a pre-existing condition.

Early childhood is a critical period in a child's life that includes ages from conception to five years old. Psychological stress is an inevitable part of life. Human beings can experience stress from an early age. Although stress is a factor for the average human being, it can be a positive or negative molding aspect in a young child's life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subjective well-being</span> Self-reported measure of well-being

Subjective well-being (SWB) is a self-reported measure of well-being, typically obtained by questionnaire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sian Beilock</span> Cognitive scientist (born 1976)

Sian Leah Beilock is a cognitive scientist who is the eighth president of Barnard College and president-elect of Dartmouth College. Previous to serving at Barnard College, President Beilock spent 12 years at the University of Chicago, departing as the Stella M. Rowley Professor of Psychology and Executive Vice Provost. She holds doctorates of philosophy in both kinesiology and psychology from Michigan State University.

Perseverative cognition is a collective term in psychology for continuous thinking about negative events in the past or in the future.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Optimism</span> Mental attitude

Optimism is an attitude reflecting a belief or hope that the outcome of some specific endeavor, or outcomes in general, will be positive, favorable, and desirable. A common idiom used to illustrate optimism versus pessimism is a glass filled with water to the halfway point: an optimist is said to see the glass as half full, while a pessimist sees the glass as half empty.

Emotional approach coping is a psychological construct that involves the use of emotional processing and emotional expression in response to a stressful situation. As opposed to emotional avoidance, in which emotions are experienced as a negative, undesired reaction to a stressful situation, emotional approach coping involves the conscious use of emotional expression and processing to better deal with a stressful situation. The construct was developed to explain an inconsistency in the stress and coping literature: emotion-focused coping was associated with largely maladaptive outcomes while emotional processing and expression was demonstrated to be beneficial.

Father absence occurs when parents separate and the father no longer lives with his children. Parental separation has been proven to affect a child's development and behaviour. Early parental divorce has been associated with greater internalising and externalising behaviours in the child, while divorce later in childhood or adolescence may dampen academic performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Power posing</span> Controversial self-improvement technique

Power posing is a controversial self-improvement technique or "life hack" in which people stand in a posture that they mentally associate with being powerful, in the hope of feeling more confident and behaving more assertively. Though the underlying science is strongly disputed, its promoters continue to argue that people can foster positive life changes simply by assuming a "powerful" or "expansive" posture for a few minutes before an interaction in which confidence is needed. One popular image of the technique in practice is that of candidates "lock[ing] themselves in bathroom stalls before job interviews to make victory V's with their arms."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann Masten</span>

Ann S. Masten is a professor at the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota known for her research on the development of resilience and for advancing theory on the positive outcomes of children and families facing adversity. Masten received the American Psychological Association Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contributions to the Service of Science and Society in 2014. She has served as President of the Society for Research in Child Development and of Division 7 (Developmental) of the American Psychological Association.

Ecological grief, also known as climate grief, refers to the sense of loss that arises from experiencing or learning about environmental destruction or climate change. Environmental grief can be defined as "the grief reaction stemming from the environmental loss of ecosystems by natural and man-made events." Another definition is "the grief felt in relation to experienced or anticipated ecological losses, including the loss of species, ecosystems, and meaningful landscapes due to acute or chronic environmental change." For example, scientists witnessing the decline of Australia's Great Barrier Reef report experiences of anxiety, hopelessness, and despair.

Alia Joy Crum is an American psychologist who is the principal investigator of the Stanford Mind and Body Lab.

References

  1. Neumann, Erik (2017-07-20). "University of Utah Professor Asks Could Stressful Environments Have Positive Outcomes On Kids?". KUER. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  2. "Researchers: Ask 'what's right?' — not 'what's wrong?' — with kids from poor, stressful backgrounds". The Seattle Times. 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  3. Khazan, Olga (2017-04-11). "How a Difficult Childhood Can Make You Smarter". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  4. Weil, Elizabeth (2012-03-30). "Puberty Before Age 10: A New 'Normal'?". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  5. Wilcox, W. Bradford (2012-07-20). "The Kids Are Not Really Alright". Slate. ISSN   1091-2339 . Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  6. Barkhorn, Eleanor (2014-06-14). "The science of how dads change their kids' lives". Vox. Retrieved 2018-05-04.