Jennifer Beer

Interests

Social neuroscience, self, emotion, and social cognition

Biography

Dr. Beer is a Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. She is affiliated with the Psychology Department (Social & Personality Area, Cognitive Neuroscience Area), the Imaging Research Center, and the Institute for Neuroscience.

Research in our lab focuses on self-processes, emotion processes and social cognition. We're interested in how these processes contribute to appropriate social functioning. For example, how do self-perceptions and emotions influence decisions in social interactions? To address these questions, we use behavioral methods such as behavioral observation (e.g., FACS coding, reaction times, self and peer-report) in addition to neuroscience methods such as neuroimaging (fMRI) and studies of patient populations.

Courses

Self Regulation Lab

Undergraduate Students Interested in Research Assistant Positions:

We are currently interviewing for a number of research assistant positions (for course credit or volunteer) for a variety of studies. Please contact Dr. Beer with a note and your CV at beerutexas@gmail.com.

Postdoctoral Fellow:

The Self-Regulation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, directed by Jennifer Beer, is considering applications for a postdoctoral research fellow position starting in Fall 2016. The postdoctoral fellow will work on a federally-funded project focused on understanding the neural networks that support the socioemotional and cognitive mechanisms of social cognition. The postdoctoral fellow will also have the opportunity to develop their own projects. Current projects utilize computational modeling in combination with fMRI or ERP.

Successful applicants will have a PhD in psychology, neuroscience, or a related field and a strong publication record which reflects expertise with fMRI. Applicants with additional expertise in computational modeling and advanced analytic methods (e.g., MVPA, DTI, network analyses) are especially encouraged to apply.

Applicants should send a CV and a statement of research interests which includes plans for research to be conducted while a postdoctoral researcher to Dr. Beer at beerutexas@gmail.com. 2-3 Referees should also send letters to Dr. Beer at beerutexas@gmail.com. Rolling review until positions are filled.

Description

Our research focuses on:

• Self
• Emotion, Motivation
• Social Cognition, Person Perception, Impression Formation

In our lab at the University of Texas at Austin, we're interested in how these processes contribute to appropriate social functioning. For example, how do our motivations to see ourselves and other people in particular ways impact our decisions in social interactions? At the moment, the main areas of our current research are the neural basis of motivational influences on social construal and perceiving other people in light of new information. To address these questions, we use:

Behavioral methods

• Behavioral observation (e.g., FACS coding)
• Computational modeling
• Self and peer-report

Contact Information:

Beer Self-Regulation Lab
The University of Texas at Austin
Department of Psychology
108 E Dean Keeton Stop A8000
Austin, Texas 78712-0187

Current Lab Members

Graduate Students

Ana Rigney
ana.rigney@gmail.com

I am interested in self-evaluation and how to improve accuracy through social cognition. Specifically, I research how thinking about others can attenuate overly positive self perceptions. I am also interested in the underlying neural mechanisms of self perceptions and which regions are recruited to correct for unrealistic evaluations.

Postdoctoral Fellows

Michelle Harris

I am interested in the sources and consequences of positive self-esteem across the lifespan. While in the lab, I will be collaborating on projects aimed to experimentally test relations that have previously been understood through correlational data alone.

Publications

Beer, J.S. (in press). Three questions about the neural basis of self. In Harmon-Jones, E. & Inzlicht, M. (Eds). Social Neuroscience: Biological Approaches to Social Psychology. Psychology Press: Oxon, United Kingdom.

Open Science Collaboration (2015). Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science. Science. 349 (6251).

Beer, J.S. & Flagan, T. (2015). What do we know about positive appraisals?: Low cognitive cost, orbitofrontal-striatal connectivity, and only short term bolstering of resilience. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 38, 21-22.

Beer, J.S., & Flagan, T. (2015). More than the MPFC: New advances in our understanding of the neural foundation of self-insight. In Gendolla, G.H.E., Koole, S., & Tops, M. (Eds.) Handbook of Biobehavioral Foundations of Self-Regulation (p. 209-220). Springer Press: New York.

Beer, J.S. (2015). The value of cognitive neuroscience perspectives for understanding social and personality processes. In G. Bodenhausen & B. Gawronksi (Eds)., Theory and Explanation in Social Psychology (p. 183-204). Guilford Press: New York.

Beer, J.S. (2014). Exaggerated positivity in self-evaluation: A social neuroscience approach to reconciling the role of self-esteem protection and cognitive bias. Social and Personality Psychology Compass. 8, 583-594.

Flagan, T. & Beer, J.S. (2013). Three ways in which midline regions contribute to self-evaluation. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 7, 1-12.

Beer, J.S. & Bhanji, J. P. (2013). Dynamic social judgment: The role of the frontal lobes and beyond. In D. T. Stuss & R.T. Knight (Eds.), Principles of Frontal Lobe Function II (pp. 441-454). New York: Oxford University Press.

Bhanji, J.P. & Beer, J.S. (2013). Dissociable neural modulation underlying lasting first impressions, changing your mind for the better, and changing it for the worse. Journal of Neuroscience. 33, 9337-9344.

Beer, J.S., Chester, D., & Hughes, B. L. (2013). Social threat and cognitive load magnify self-enhancement and attenuate self-deprecation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 49, 706-711.

Hughes, B. L., & Beer, J.S. (2013). Protecting the self: The effect of social-evaluative threat on neural representations of self. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 25, 613-622.

Bhanji, J. P., & Beer, J. S. (2012). Taking a different perspective: Mindset influences neural regions that represent value and choice. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 7, 782-793. 

Beer, J.S. (2012). The self: A social neuroscience perspective. In M. Leary & J. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of Self and Identity (pp. 638-655). New York: Guilford Press.

Beer, J.S. (2012). An even bigger win: Understanding the neural systems underlying motivational influences on ambiguous social perception. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 6, 141. 

Beer, J.S. (2012). Self-evaluation and self-knowledge. In S. Fiske & C.N. Macrae (Eds.) Handbook of Social Cognition (pp. 330-349). New York: Sage. 

Hughes, B. L., & Beer, J.S. (2012).Orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex are modulated by motivated social cognition. Cerebral Cortex. 22, 1372-1381.

Hughes, B. L., & Beer, J. S. (2012). Medial orbitofrontal cortex is associated with shifting decision thresholds in self-serving cognition. NeuroImage. 61, 889-898.

Beer, J.S. (2012). This time with motivation: The implications of social neuroscience for research on motivated self- and other-perception (and vice versa). Motivation and Emotion, 36, 38-45.

Bhanji, J.P., & Beer, J.S. (2012). Unpacking the neural associations of emotion and judgment in emotion-congruent judgment. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 7, 348-356.

Beer, J. S., & Bhanji, J. P. (2011). The neural basis of emotional decision-making. In A. Todorov, S. Fiske, & D. Prentice, (Eds.), Social Neuroscience: Toward Understanding the Underpinnings of the Social Mind (pp. 160-172). New York: Oxford University Press.

Beer, J. S. (2011). Neural systems of intrapersonal and interpersonal self-esteem. In J. Cacioppo and J. Decety (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Social Neuroscience. New York: Oxford University Press.

Beer, J. S. (2010). Working hard or hardly working for those rose-colored glasses?: Behavioral and neural evidence for the automatic nature of unrealistically positive self-perceptions. In R. Hassin, K. N. Ochsner, & Y. Trope (Eds.), The New Science of Self Control: From Society to Brain. New York: Oxford University Press.

Beer, J. S., Bhanji, J. P., Hughes, B. L., Freedman, G., & Fetterolf, J. (2010). The neural architecture of trustworthiness judgments: Judging a book by its cover and contents. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 4, 1-2.

Freeman, H. D. & Beer, J. S. (2010). Frontal lobe activation mediates the relation between sensation-seeking and cortisol increases. Journal of Personality. 78, 1497-1528.

Beer, J. S., & Hughes, B. L. (2010). Self-enhancement: A social neuroscience perspective. In C. Sedikides & M. Alicke (Eds.), Handbook of Self-enhancement and Self-protection (pp. 49-68). New York: Guilford.

Beer, J. S., & Hughes, B. L. (2010). Neural systems of social comparison and the “above-average” effect. NeuroImage, 49, 2671-2679.

Bhanji, J. P., Beer, J. S, & Bunge, S. A. (2010). Taking a gamble or playing by the rules: Dissociable prefrontal systems implicated in probabilistic versus deterministic rule-based decisions. NeuroImage, 49, 1810-1819.

Srivastava, S., Guglielmo, S., & Beer, J. S. (2010). Perceiving others’ personalities: Examining the dimensionality, assumed similarity to the self, and stability of perceiver effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 520-534. 

Beer, J. S., Lombardo, M. V., & Bhanji, J. P. (2010). Roles of medial prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex in self-evaluation. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 22, 2108-2119.

Mehta, P., & Beer, J. S. (2010) Neural mechanisms of the testosterone-aggression relation: The role of orbitofrontal cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 22, 2357-2368.

Beer, J. S. (2009). The neural basis of emotion regulation: Making emotion work for you and not against you. In M. S. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The Cognitive Neurosciences IV (pp. 961-972)  Cambridge: MIT Press.

Harmon-Jones, E. & Beer, J. S. (Eds.). (2009). Methods in Social Neuroscience. New York: Guilford Press. 

Beer, J. S. (2009). Patient methodologies for the study of personality and social processes. In Harmon-Jones, E. & Beer, J. S. (Eds.), Methods in Social Neuroscience (pp. 148-169). New York: Guilford Press.

Harmon-Jones, C., Beer, J. S., & Harmon-Jones, E. (2009). Collaborations in social and personality neuroscience. In Harmon-Jones, E. & Beer, J. S. (Eds.), Methods in Social Neuroscience (pp. 10-16). New York: Guilford Press.

Markman, A. B., Beer, J. S., Grimm, L. R., Rein, J. R., & Maddox, W. T. (2009). The optimal level of fuzz:  Case studies in a methodology for psychological research.The Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence, 21, 197-215.

Beer, J. S. (2008). Chapter 14: Social Cognition. In M. S. Gazzaniga, R. B. Ivry, & G. R. Mangun. The Cognitive Neurosciences: The Biology of the Mind (pp. 599-633). New York: W.W. Norton Publishers Inc.

Beer, J. S., Stallen, M., Lombardo, M. V., Gonsalkorale, K., Cunningham, W. A., & Sherman, J. W. (2008). The Quadruple Process model approach to examining the neural underpinnings of prejudice.NeuroImage, 43, 775-783.

Monin, B., Pizarro, D. A., & Beer, J.S. (2007). Deciding versus reacting: Conceptions of moral judgment and the reason-affect debate. Review of General Psychology, 11, 99-111.

Beer, J. S. (2007). The default self: Feeling good or being right? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11, 187-189.

Beer, J. S. (2007). Neural systems for self-conscious emotions and their underlying appraisals. In J. L. Tracy, R. W. Robins, & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), The Self-conscious Emotions: Theory and Research (pp. 53-67). New York: Guilford Press.

Beer, J. S. (2007). The importance of emotion-social cognition interactions for social functioning: Insights from the orbitofrontal cortex. In E. Harmon-Jones & P. Winkielman (Eds.), Social Neuroscience: Integrating Biological and Psychological Explanations of Social Behavior (pp. 15-30). New York: Guilford Press.

Beer, J. S., & Lombardo, M. V. (2007). Patient and neuroimaging methodologies. In R. W. Robins, R. C. Fraley, & R. F. Krueger (Eds.), Handbook of Research Methods in Personality Psychology (pp. 360-369). New York: Guilford Press.

Beer, J. S. & Lombardo, M. V. (2007). Insights into emotion regulation from neuropsychology. In J. J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of Emotion Regulation (pp. 69-86). New York: Guilford Press.

Monin, B., Pizarro, D. A., & Beer, J. S. (2007). Reason and emotion in moral judgment: Different prototypes lead to different theories. In K. D. Vohs, R. F. Baumeister, & G. Lowenstein (Eds.), Do Emotions Hurt or Help Decision Making? A Hedgefoxian Perspective (pp. 219-244) New York: Russell Sage Foundation Publications.

Beer, J. S., John, O. P., Scabini, D., & Knight, R. T. (2006). Orbitofrontal cortex and social behavior: Integrating self-monitoring and emotion-cognition interactions. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18, 871-879.

Beer, J. S., Knight, R. T., & D’Esposito, M. (2006). Controlling the integration of emotion and cognition: The role of frontal cortex in distinguishing helpful from hurtful emotional information. Psychological Science, 17, 448-453.

Beer, J. S., Mitchell, J. P., & Ochsner, K. N. (2006). Special issue: Multiple perspectives on the psychological and neural bases of social cognition. Brain Research, 1079, 1-3. 

Beer, J. S., & Ochsner, K. N. (2006). Social cognition: A multi level analysis. Brain Research, 1079, 98-105. 

Anderson, C., Srivastava, S., Beer, J. S., Spataro, S. E., & Chatman, J. A. (2006). Knowing your place: Self-perceptions of status in face-to-face groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 1094-1110.

Quirk, G. J., & Beer, J. S. (2006). Prefrontal involvement in the regulation of emotion: Convergence of rat and human studies. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 16, 723-727. 

Srivastava, S., & Beer, J. S. (2005). How self-evaluations relate to being liked by others: Integrating sociometer and attachment perspectives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 966-977.

Beer, J. S. (2005). Orbitofrontal cortex and social regulation. In J. T. Cacioppo, P. S. Visser, & C. L. Pickett (Eds.) Social Neuroscience: People Thinking about Thinking People (pp. 153-165). Cambridge: MIT Press.

Keltner, D., & Beer, J. S. (2005). Self-conscious emotion and self-regulation. In A. Tesser, J. V. Wood, & D. A. Stapel, (Eds.) On Building, Defending and Regulating the Self: A Psychological Perspective (pp. 197-215). New York: Psychology Press.

Ochsner, K. N., Beer, J. S., Robertson, E. R., Cooper, J. C., Gabrieli, J. D. E., Kihlstrom, J. F., & D’Esposito, M. (2005). The neural correlates of direct and reflected self-knowledge. Neuroimage, 28, 797-814.

Beer, J. S., & Keltner, D. (2004). What is unique about self-conscious emotions? Comment on Tracy & Robins’ “Putting the self into self-conscious emotions: A Theoretical Model.” Psychological Inquiry, 15, 126-129.

Roberts, N. A., Beer, J. S., Werner, K. H., Scabini, D., Levens, S. M., Knight, R. T., & Levenson, R. W. (2004). The impact of orbital prefrontal cortex damage on emotional activation to unanticipated and anticipated acoustic startle stimuli. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, 4, 307-316.

Beer, J. S., Shimamura, A. P., & Knight, R. T. (2004). Frontal lobe contributions to executive control of cognitive and social behavior. In M. S. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The Cognitive Neurosciences III (pp. 1091-1104). Cambridge: MIT Press.

Beer, J. S., Heerey, E. A., Keltner, D., Scabini, D., & Knight, R. T. (2003). The regulatory function of self-conscious emotion: Insights from patients with orbitofrontal damage. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 594-604.

Beer, J. S. (2002). Implicit self-theories of shyness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1009-1024.

Robins, R. W., & Beer, J. S. (2001). Positive illusions about the self: Short-term benefits and long-term costs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 340-352.

Perry, R. J., Rosen, H. R., Kramer, J. H., Beer, J. S., Levenson, R. L., & Miller, B. L. (2001). Hemispheric dominance for emotions, empathy and social behaviour: Evidence from right and left handers with frontotemporal dementia. Neurocase, 7, 145-160.

Kihlstrom, J. F., Beer, J. S., & Klein, S. B. (2003). Self and identity as memory. In M. R. Leary & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of Self and Identity (pp. 68-90). New York: Guilford Press.

Keltner, D., Ekman, P., Gonzaga, G. C., & Beer, J. S. (2003). Facial expression of emotion. In R. J. Davidson, K. R. Scherer, & H. H. Goldsmith (Eds.), Handbook of Affective Sciences (pp. 415-432). New York: Oxford University Press.

(back to top)