Media releases

• Civil verdict against Trump not likely to impact presidential run, says Brock expert

  Thursday, May 11, 2023 | By Brock University

  EXPERT ADVISORY: May 11 2023 – R0038

  Nine jurors deliberated for three hours Tuesday before finding former U.S. president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump responsible for sexually abusing and battering E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s and for defaming her when she spoke publicly about her experience in recent years.

  Brock University Associate Professor of Political Science Stefan Dolgert says that both the verdict in the civil case and the ensuing reaction from Republican Trump supporters were predictable.

  “It is no surprise that the jury found Trump liable of being a sexual predator,” says Dolgert. “Nor will it be surprising when the GOP, with occasional exceptions, rallies around him as its candidate for the presidency.”

  Trump continues to maintain his innocence about the assault, which was detailed in Carroll’s testimony and supported by testimony from two journalists she spoke to at the time, as well as two other women who allege that Trump also sexually assaulted them.

  Dolgert notes this is likely a legal strategy for Trump, rather than a question of preserving or restoring his reputation.

  “To his followers, Trump’s misogyny, as heard in the Access Hollywood tape, is a feature rather than a bug,” says Dolgert. “They want someone who will violently enforce traditional gender roles, so further revelations that confirm his hatred for ‘feminist’ women only serve to strengthen his appeal.”

  Harassment by Trump’s supporters also featured in Carroll’s testimony at the trial, which began in late April and concluded yesterday when she was awarded almost $5 million in damages for defamation, sexual abuse and battery. The jury did not find Trump responsible for rape.

  Dolgert says there is “almost no chance” the trial’s revelations or its verdict, which Trump’s team say they plan to appeal, will have any effect on Trump’s support in next year’s U.S. presidential election.

  “The Republican party is now in the grip of an authoritarian cult of personality, where the leader-figure can do no wrong because his followers live in a fantasy world of his creation,” he says.

  Categories: Media releases

• Children’s shyness can be rooted in temperament or experienced as an emotion, says Brock researcher

  Wednesday, May 10, 2023 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: May 10 2023 – R0037

  Having to recite a speech in front of a crowd may send some people into a sweaty, trembling tizzy — and children are no exception.

  Curious about the cause, Kristie Poole has explored whether the butterflies experienced by children are due to a shy personality or just the reaction to a situation perceived to be stressful.

  In a recently published study, the Brock University Banting Postdoctoral Fellow found that a small subset of children experiencing fear and nervousness while giving a presentation are shy by nature.

  “This study provides support for the idea that shyness can be viewed as a temperamental trait or part of your disposition as well as an emotional state in certain social situations,” Poole says.

  For the study, titled “Latent profiles of children’s shyness: Behavioral, affective, and physiological components,” Poole and her research team recruited 152 Canadian children ages seven to eight and their primary caregivers.

  The children were asked to give a two-minute speech in front of a video camera and, in an attempt to induce the type of stress associated with shyness, were told other children would watch their video.

  As the children delivered their speeches, an electrocardiogram measured their autonomic nervous system activity and the researchers coded shy-related behaviours such as gaze aversion. The children also self-reported their feelings of nervousness in response to the speech task.

  Primary caregivers filled out questionnaires about their child’s temperament during the child’s visit to the laboratory and then repeated the questionnaire one year later and again two years later.

  The research team found that about 25 per cent of the children in the study reported feeling nervous while delivering their speeches, yet they didn’t exhibit behaviours related to shyness or have physiological indications of anxiety or stress.

  A further 10 per cent who reported feeling nervous also exhibited behaviours and physiological indicators related to shyness. These children were also rated by their caregivers as having shy personalities across time.

  “For the smaller subset of about 10 per cent of the children, their shyness can be perceived as being part of their temperament or personality that is relatively consistent across development, whereas for the other subset of about 25 percent, shyness can be experienced as an emotion or as a state during certain social situations,” says Poole.

  For children with a temperament characterized by shyness, it is likely they experienced shyness earlier in development beginning in toddlerhood, she says.

  Previous research has found people who are temperamentally shy as children are at risk of experiencing heightened anxiety, “so it’s something to keep an eye on if shyness is interfering greatly with a child’s psychosocial functioning,” says Poole.

  But she stresses that many children who act shy in social situations “do have a positive developmental trajectory and grow up to be adaptive adults without psychological problems,” she says.

  The study recommends that future research focus on how ‘temperamental shyness,’ or shyness as a personality trait, and situational shyness, or ‘state shyness,’ impacts children’s social, psychological and academic adjustment.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews: 

  * Doug Hunt, Communications and Media Relations Specialist, Brock University dhunt2@brocku.ca or 905-941-6209

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  Categories: Media releases