Department of Psychology

Stephanie A. Shields
Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies

Ph. D., Pennsylvania State University, 1976

Research Interests

Gender and emotion are two central themes in Stephanie Shields’ research. She studies how emotional experience is represented in language and the meanings attached to bodily signs and symptoms of emotion. Her current work focuses on questions concerning when, why, and how emotion and emotionality are explicitly labeled in everyday situations. Her research on gender focuses on when, why, and how gender is a salient feature of social situations and of the individual’s sense of self. She also studies the social context of psychological research, especially the history of the psychology of women and gender, and women’s participation in American psychology. A new line of research is particularly concerned with women, work, and emotion, most especially the politics of emotion in the workplace, work-family emotional pressures on women, and emotion regulation.

Recent Publications

Shields, S. A. (Ed.). (in press). Gender: An intersectionality perspective. Special issue of Sex Roles.

Shields, S. A. & Warner, L. R. (2008). Gender and the emotion politics of emotional intelligence (pp. 167-183). In S. Fineman (Ed.), The Emotional Organization: Critical voices. London: Blackwell.

Shields, S. A. (2007). Passionate men, emotional women: Psychology constructs gender difference in the late 19th century. History of Psychology, 10, 92-110.

Warner, L. R. & Shields, S. A. (2007). The perception of crying in women and men: Angry tears, sad tears, and the “right way” to weep (pp. 92-118). In U. Hess & P. Phillipot (Eds.), Emotion Recognition Across Social Groups. Cambridge University Press.

Shields, Stephanie A. Shields, R. L. Schuberth, & Conrad, D. R. (2006). The Women’s Studies Ph.D. in North America: Archive II. NWSA Journal, 18, 190-206.

Shields, S. A. & Kappas, A. (Eds.). (2006) Magda Arnold’s contributions to emotions research. New York: Psychology Press. Special issue of Emotion & Cognition, 20 (6).

Shields, S. A. (2005). The politics of emotion in everyday life: “Appropriate” emotion and claims on identity. Review of General Psychology, 9, 3-15.

Shields, S. A. (2002). Speaking From the Heart: Gender and the Social Meaning of Emotion. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Winner of the Association for Women in Psychology 2003 Distinguished Publication Award.