Viewing violent policing videos contributes to trauma symptoms for Black Americans.

OBJECTIVE: This research investigates how watching videos of police violence and experiences with police contributes to health disparities in well-being that disproportionately negatively affect Black Americans. METHOD: A large-scale survey of Americans (n = 1,240; nBlack American = 286, nWhite American = 954) examined the impact of negative experiences with police and watching violent policing videos as distal (i.e., external) stressors that contribute to symptoms of trauma. The proximal (i.e., internal) stressor of worrying about being stereotyped as criminal by police was also examined. RESULTS: Those who identified as Black were more likely to report negative experiences with police, exposure to violent policing videos, and greater worry about being stereotyped as criminal by police than those who identified as White. The three stressors were, in turn, associated with experiencing trauma symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to violent policing videos is disproportionately associated with well-being for Black Americans, even when accounting for direct experiences with police. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering vicarious trauma in therapeutic settings and have implications for dissemination of these videos through media channels. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Harnessing technology to prevent sexual assault on college campuses.

The current global pandemic has presented an opportunity to rethink how universities implement sexual assault prevention programs. The advantages and capabilities presented by technology such as digital gaming have not been fully utilized in sexual assault prevention programming. A user-centered design approach gives developers the opportunity to truly engage students in a learning process; a critical thinking required to explore sexual assault and contributing factors in a meaningful way. Digital gaming presents an active learning experience that engages students in a method of learning they may be more familiar with, and may actually prefer. By using digital gaming, sexual assault prevention can remain effective and accessible no matter the social and environmental circumstances.

Free Smiles Are Worth a Lot for Social Media Influencers: The Mediating Roles of Warmth, Competence, and Admiration.

This research examines how visual representation of social media influencers affects perceptions and attitudes toward influencers and their persuasive messages. Using the theoretical frameworks of the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) and the Behaviors from Interpersonal Affect and Stereotypes (BIAS) Map, Study 1 demonstrated that influencers with broad smiles were perceived as warmer and more competent and evaluated more positively than those with closed smiles. Study 2 revealed that warmth and competence judgments led to admiration toward the smiling influencers, which in turn resulted in positive attitudinal and behavioral responses to their persuasive messages. By investigating the mediating effects of judgments and emotional responses toward influencers, this study reveals social cognitive mechanisms underlying psychological processing of influencer messaging.