'Baby brain' in pregnancy: A review of social psychological explanations and future research directions. Issue 7 (11th June 2022)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- 'Baby brain' in pregnancy: A review of social psychological explanations and future research directions. Issue 7 (11th June 2022)
- Main Title:
- 'Baby brain' in pregnancy: A review of social psychological explanations and future research directions
- Authors:
- Pownall, Madeleine
Conner, Mark
Hutter, Russell R. C. - Abstract:
- Abstract: The colloquial concept of 'baby brain' suggests that throughout pregnancy and into the immediate postpartum period, women have reduced cognitive abilities and are more distracted, forgetful, and incompetent. To date, a plethora of cognitive and neuropsychological research testing the cognitive functioning of pregnant women relative to other groups has yielded inconsistent and unclear findings. However, there is a notable lack of literature that adopts a social psychological perspective, critically assessing the contribution of social context to the 'baby brain' phenomenon. In this paper, we review the current 'baby brain' literature and outline two potential social perspectives that provide insights into this research area: stereotype threat theory and objectification theory. We argue that inconsistencies in the 'baby brain' cognitive literature may be impacted by under‐explored social phenomena, which may result from activation of stereotypes or objectifying cues throughout pregnancy and into early new motherhood. We end with suggestions for future social and personality psychological research directions in the area of 'baby brain'.
- Is Part Of:
- Social and personality psychology compass. Volume 16:Issue 7(2022)
- Journal:
- Social and personality psychology compass
- Issue:
- Volume 16:Issue 7(2022)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 16, Issue 7 (2022)
- Year:
- 2022
- Volume:
- 16
- Issue:
- 7
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2022-0016-0007-0000
- Page Start:
- n/a
- Page End:
- n/a
- Publication Date:
- 2022-06-11
- Subjects:
- Social psychology -- Periodicals
Personality -- Periodicals
302 - Journal URLs:
- http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ ↗
http://socialpsychology-compass.com/ ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1751-9004 ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1111/spc3.12696 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 1751-9004
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 8318.053605
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 22274.xml