Dr. Bartholow received his B.S. in Psychology from Minnesota State University at Mankato in 1992, received his master's degree in Experimental Psychology from Drake University in 1995, and received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Missouri in 2000. Dr. Bartholow also completed a brief period of NIH-supported post-doctoral training in the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Missouri. From January 2001 to June 2004 he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Currently, Dr. Bartholow is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri.

Dr. Bartholow's research focuses primarily on three areas: (1) person perception and interpersonal expectancy effects (e.g., stereotyping, impression formation); (2) environmental factors that predictor aggression (e.g., presence of aggressive cues; media violence) and (3) correlates and consequences of alcohol use and abuse. All of these areas are studied from a social-cognitive perspective, generally involving measurement of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to augment traditional behavioral measures. These tools are very useful for examining questions related to, for example, the effects of stereotypes on the interpretation of behavior, the influence of media violence on desensitization to aggression and violence, and the influence of alcohol intoxication on cognitive and affective processes and social behavior.

Dr. Bartholow's research has been funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and by several institutional awards. Bartholow received the 2007 award for a Distinguished Early Career Contribution to Psychophysiology, and was elected to the Society of Experimental Social Psychology in 2007.

Primary Interests:

Aggression, Conflict, Peace
Emotion, Mood, Affect
Intergroup Relations
Neuroscience, Psychophysiology
Person Perception
Prejudice and Stereotyping
Social Cognition

Aggression, Conflict, Peace
Emotion, Mood, Affect
Intergroup Relations
Neuroscience, Psychophysiology

Person Perception
Prejudice and Stereotyping
Social Cognition

Research Group or Laboratory:

Social Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory [Map]

Journal Articles:

Bartholow, B. D. (2010). On the role of conflict and control in social cognition: Event-related brain potential investigations. Psychophysiology, 47, 201-212.
Bartholow, B. D., Anderson, C. A., Carnagey, N. L., & Benjamin, A. J. Jr. (2005). Interactive effects of life experience and situational cues on aggression: The weapons priming effect in hunters and nonhunters. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 41, 48-60.
Bartholow, B. D., Bushman, B. J., & Sestir, M. A. (2006). Chronic violent video game exposure and desensitization: Behavioral and event-related brain potential data. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 532-539.
Bartholow, B. D., & Dickter, C. L. (2008). A response conflict account of the effects of stereotypes on racial categorization. Social Cognition, 26, 273-291.
Bartholow, B. D., Dickter, C. L., & Sestir, M. A. (2006). Stereotype activation and control of race bias: Cognitive control of inhibition and its impairment by alcohol. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 272-287.
Bartholow, B. D., Fabiani, M., Gratton, G., & Bettencourt, B. A. (2001). A psychophysiological analysis of cognitive processing of and affective responses to social expectancy violations. Psychological Science, 12, 197-204.
Bartholow, B. D., & Heinz, A. (2006). Alcohol and aggression without consumption: Alcohol cues, aggressive thoughts, and hostile perception bias. Psychological Science, 17, 30-37.
Bartholow, B. D., & Henry, E. A. (in press). Response conflict and affective responses in the control and expression of race bias. Social and Personality Psychology Compass.
Bartholow, B. D., Pearson, M. A., Gratton, G., & Fabiani, M. (2003). Effects of alcohol on person perception: A social cognitive neuroscience approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 627-638.
Bartholow, B. D., Sestir, M. A., & Davis, E. B. (2005). Correlates and consequences of exposure to video game violence: Hostile personality, empathy, and aggressive behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1573-1586.
Dickter, C. L., & Bartholow, B. D. (2007). Event-related brain potential evidence of ingroup and outgroup attention biases. Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience, 2, 189-198.
Ito, T. A., & Bartholow, B. D. (2009). The neural correlates of race. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13, 524-531.
Loersch, C., & Bartholow, B. D. (in press). The color of safety: Ingroup color cues make beer appear safer. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

Other Publications:

Bartholow, B. D., & Amodio, D. M. (2009). Using event-related brain potentials in social psychological research: A brief review and tutorial. In E. Harmon-Jones & J. S. Beer (Eds.), Methods in social neuroscience (pp. 198-232). New York: Guilford Press.
Bartholow, B. D., & Dickter, C. L. (2007). Social cognitive neuroscience of person perception: A selective review focused on the event-related brain potential. In E. Harmon-Jones & P. Winkielman (Eds.), Social neuroscience: Integrating biological and psychological explanations of social behavior (pp. 376-400). New York: Guilford Press.

Courses Taught:

Experimental Social Psychology
Stereotypes and Prejudice
Theories of Social Psychology

Experimental Social Psychology
Stereotypes and Prejudice

Theories of Social Psychology

Bruce D. Bartholow
Department of Psychological Sciences
210 McAlester Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211
United States

Phone: (573) 882-1805
Fax: (573) 882-7710