Dr. Nancy C. Higgins, PhD
- Media Contact
Nancy C. Higgins is currently Professor in the Department of Psychology at St. Thomas University, a secular liberal arts university in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. She completed a Ph.D. in social psychology and an M.A. in physiological psychology at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, and a B.A. at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. Dr. Higgins was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA, USA. Her research emphasis is in attribution theory and person perception, examining attribution processes in social, health, and achievement behavior. Current research interests: attributional feedback effects on performance; spontaneous trait inferences; experience effects in unrealistic optimism; reactions of observers to those in chronic pain.
Primary Interests:
- Causal Attribution
- Helping, Prosocial Behavior
- Person Perception
- Social Cognition
Research Group or Laboratory:
- Social Cognition Laboratory
Journal Articles:
- Higgins, N. C., Bailey, S.J., LaChapelle, D. L., Harman, K., & Hadjistavropoulos, T. (2014). Coping styles, pain expressiveness, and implicit theories of chronic pain. The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, 149(7), 737-750.
- Higgins, N. C., & Bhatt, G. (2001). Culture moderates the self-serving bias: Etic and emic features of causal attributions in India and in Canada. Social Behavior and Personality, 29(1), 49-62.
- Higgins, N. C., & Hay, J. A. (2003). Attributional style predicts causes of negative life events on the Attributional Style Questionnaire. Journal of Social Psychology, 143(2), 253-271.
- Higgins, N. C., & LaPointe, M. (2012). Academic attributional style predicts behavioral persistence under failure: Factor structure, reliability, and predictive validity of the Academic Attributional Style Questionnaire. Sage Open, 2(4), 1-15. DOI: 10.1177/2158244012470110
- Higgins, N. C., & Morrison, M. (1998). Construct validity of unsupportive attributional style: The impact of life outcome controllability. Social Indicators Research: An International Journal for Quality of Life Measurement. Special Issue on Validity of Quality of Life Measures, 45, 319-342.
- Higgins, N. C., & Shaw, J. K. (1999). Attributional style moderates the impact of causal controllability information on helping behaviour. Social Behavior and Personality, 27(3), 221-236.
- Higgins, N. C., St. Amand, M. D., & Poole, G. A. (1997). The controllability of negative life experiences mediates unrealistic optimism. Social Indicators Research: An International Journal for Quality of Life Measurement, 42, 299-323.
- Higgins, N. C., & Zumbo, B. D. (2019). An individual differences measure of attributions affecting helping behavior. North American Journal of Psychology, 21(1), 57-80.
- Higgins, N. C., Zumbo, B. D., & Hay, J. (1999). Construct validity of attributional style: Modeling context-dependent item sets in the Attributional Style Questionnaire. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 59, 804-820.
- LaChapelle, D. L., Lavoie, S., Higgins, N. C., & Hadjistavropoulos, T. (2014). Attractiveness, diagnostic ambiguity, and disability cues impact perceptions of women with pain. Rehabilitation Psychology, 59(2),162-170.
- Le Foll, D., Rascle, O., & Higgins, N. C. (2008). Attributional feedback-induced changes in functional and dysfunctional attributions, expectations of success, hopefulness, and short-term persistence in a novel sport. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 9, 77-101.
- Le Foll, D., Rascle, O., & Higgins, N. C. (2006). Persistence in a putting task during perceived failure: Influence of state-attributions and attributional style. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 55, 586-605.
- Lundquist, L. M., Higgins, N. C., & Prkachin, K. M. (2002). Accurate pain detection is not enough: Contextual and attributional style as biasing factors in patient evaluations and treatment choice. Journal of Applied Social Psychology: Biobehavioral Research, 7(2), 114-132.
- Rascle, O., Charrier, M., Higgins, N. C., Rees, T., Coffee, P., Le Foll, D., & Cabagno, G. (2019). Being one of us: Translating expertise into performance benefits following perceived failure. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 40, 65-71.
- Rascle, O., Le Foll, D., Charrier, M., Higgins, N. C., Rees, T., & Coffee, P. (2015). Durability and generalization of attribution-based feedback following failure: Effects on expectations and behavioral persistence. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 18, 68-74.
- Rascle, O., Le Foll, D., & Higgins, N. C. (2008). Attributional retraining alters novice golfers’ free practice behavior. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 20(2), 157-164.
- Summers, S. J., Higgins, N. C., Te, M., Byrne, A., & Chipchase, L. S. (2019). The effect of implicit theories of pain on pain and disability in people with chronic low back pain. Musculoskeletal Science and Practice, 40, 65-71.
- Wang, Y., Higgins, N. C., Uleman, J., Michaux, A., & Vipond, D. (2015). An interactive activation and competition model of person knowledge, suggested by proactive interference by traits spontaneously inferred from behaviours. British Journal of Social Psychology, 55(1), 126-143.
Other Publications:
- Davison, A. J., & Higgins, N. C. (1993). Observer bias in perceptions of responsibility [Commentary]. American Psychologist, 48, 585.
- LaChapelle, D. L., Gullickson, K. M., Higgins, N. C., & Hadjistavropoulos, T. (in review). How stereotypes impact perceptions of men with chronic pain: A brief report.
Courses Taught:
- Advanced Social Psychology
- Introduction to Research Methods
- Motivation and Emotion
- Seminar in Social Psychology
- Social Psychology
Dr. Nancy C. Higgins, PhD
Department of Psychology
St. Thomas University
Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5G3
Canada
- Phone: (506) 452-0415
- Fax: (506) 450-9615