George D. Bishop, Ph.D.
Research Information
My current research is concerned with some of the various ways in which psychological factors are involved in physical health. Listed below are some of the specific research topics. Click on these to learn more about current projects as well as related publications and conference papers.
Stress, emotion and heart disease
Psychosocial aspects of HIV and AIDS
Illness cognition and behaviour
Stress, emotion, social support and heart disease
This work is concerned with the nature and effects of stress and emotion. A current major focus is on anger and social support and their roles in coronary heart disease.
A. Current and recent projects
Research grant from the National University of Singapore; Title: Understanding anger: Its nature, measurement and relationship to heart disease. January, 1995 to March, 1998.
Research grant from the National University of Singapore; Title: Psychosocial aspects of coronary heart disease in Singapore. August, 1997 to July, 2002.
Research grant from the National University of Singapore; Title: Anger, stress, and cardiovascular functioning. January, 1998 to September 2000.
Research grant from the National University of Singapore; Title: Anger, social support and cardiovascular responses. January, 2003 to September 2006.
Research grant from the National University of Singapore; Title: The relationship of genetic markers to personality and ambulatory cardiovascular responses. January, 2006 to December 2006.
Research grant from the National University of Singapore; Title: Psychosocial factors in coronary heart disease – The role of gene-environment interactions. October, 2006 to September 2008.
B. Publications and conference presentations
Dailey, P.A., Bishop, G.D., Russell, I.J. and Fletcher, E. (1990). Psychological stress and the fibrositis/fibromyalgia syndrome. Journal of Rheumatology, 17, 1380-1385.
Bishop, G.D. (1993). The sense of coherence as a resource in dealing with stress. Psychologia, 36, 259-265.
Khoo, S.A. & Bishop, G.D. (1997). Stress and optimism: Relationships to coping and well-being. Psychologia, 40,.29-40.
Bishop, G.D. & Quah, S.H. (1998). Reliability and validity of measures of anger/hostility in Singapore: Cook and Medley Ho Scale, STAXI, and Buss-Durkee Hostility Index. Personality and Individual Differences, 24, 867-878.
Bishop, G.D. (1998, August). Social support, work stress and CVD. Invited paper given at the 3rd International Heart Health Conference Singapore.
Bishop, G.D. & Robinson, G. (1998, October). Psychological and cardiovascular responses to harassment. Paper presented at the Second World Congress on Stress, Melbourne, Australia.
Diong, S.-M. & Bishop, G.D. (1999). Anger expression, coping styles, and well-being. Journal of Health Psychology, 4, 81-96.
Lok, C.-F. & Bishop, G.D. (1999). Emotion control, stress, and health. Psychology and Health, 14, 813-827.
Bishop, G.D. & Robinson, G. (2000). Anger, harassment and cardiovascular reactivity among Chinese and Indian men in Singapore. Psychosomatic Medicine, 62, 684-692.
Bishop, G.D., Hayano, J., & Fukunishi, I. (2000). Coronary prone behavior and anger/hostility as related to CHD: A cross-cultural perspective. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 7 (Suppl. 1), 4. (Abstract)
Bishop, G.D. & Robinson, G. (2000). Cross-cultural differences in the relationship of anger to cardiovascular reactivity: Data from Singapore. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 7 (Suppl. 1), 4-5. (Abstract)
Bishop, G.D., Tong, E.M.W., Diong, S.M., Enklemann, H.C., Why, Y.P, Khader, M. & Ang, J. (2001), The relationship between coping and personality among police officers in Singapore. Journal of Research in Personality, 35, 353-374.
Why, Y.P. & Bishop, G.D. (2001, September). Hemodynamic profile of cardiovascular reactivity as a function of ethnicity and interpersonal hostility. Poster presented at Health Psychology 2001, St. Andrews, UK.
Bishop, G.D. (2001). Emotions and health. In N.J. Smelser & P.B. Baltes (eds.), International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences, Vol. 7. (Pp. 4454-4459). New York: Pergamon.
Tong, E.M.W., Bishop, G.D., Diong, S.M., Enkelmann, H.C., Why, Y.P., Ang, J., Khader, M. (under review). Social support and personality among male police officers in Singapore. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Bishop, G.D., Tong, E.M.W., Diong, S.M., Why, Y.P., Enkelmann, H.C., Khader, M, Ang, J., Tan, V.L.M. & Koh, D.S.Q. (under review). Stress on patrol: Stress and coping among Singapore patrol officers. Invited book chapter being reviewed for publication.
Enkelmann, H.C., Bishop, G.D., Tong, E.M.W., Why, Y.P., Diong, S.M., Khader, M. & Ang, J. (2002). Hostility, negative affect and cardiovascular responses. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 24, S062.
Bishop, G.D. (2002, July). Anger, social support, and cardiovascular reactivity: Exploring the links in Asian populations. Symposium presentation at the XXVth International Congress of Applied Psychology, Singapore.
Bishop, G.D. (2002, July). Culture and health: Applying health psychology in cultural context. Keynote address for Division 8, Health Psychology, International Association of Applied Psychology, delivered at the XXVth International Congress on Applied Psychology, Singapore.
Bishop, G.D. (2002, July). Stress on patrol: Stress and coping among Singapore patrol officers. Paper presented at the XXVth International Congress on Applied Psychology, Singapore.
Kaur, D., Bishop, G.D., Tan, V.L.M., Mak, K.H., and Liew, S.M. (2002, July). Improving the lives of CABG patients in Singapore: Effects of a psycho-educational workshop. Paper presented at the XXVth International Congress on Applied Psychology, Singapore.
Bishop, G.D. Kaur, D., Tan, V.L.M., Chua, L.M., Liew, S.M. & Mak, K.H. (2002, November). Psychosocial Skills Training Reduces Stress Reactivity, Resting Heart Rate, and Psychosocial Risk in CABG Patients. Circulation, 106 (Suppl. II), II-699.
Bishop, G.D., Enkelmann, H.C., Tong, E.M.W., Why, Y.P., Diong, S.M., Ang, J. & Khader, M. (2003). Job demands, decisional control and cardiovascular responses. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 8, 146-156.
Why, Y.P., Bishop, G.D., Tong, E.M.W., Diong, S.M., Enkelmann, H.C., Khader, M. & Ang, J. (2003). Cardiovascular reactivity of Singaporean males as a function of task, ethnicity and interpersonal hostility. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 49, 99-110.
Tong, E.M.W., Bishop, G.D., Diong, S.M., Enkelmann, H.C., Why, Y.P., Ang, J., Khader, M. (2004). Social support and personality among male police officers in Singapore. Personality and Individual Differences, 36, 109-123.
Enkelmann, H.C., Bishop, G.D., Tong, E.M.W., Diong, S.M., Why, Y.P., Khader, M., & Ang, J. (2005). The roles of hostility, affect and ethnicity in cardiovascular responses: An ambulatory study in Singapore. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 56, 185-197.
Bishop, G.D., Pek, J., & Ngau, F. (2005). Ethnicity, sex, trait anger and nocturnal blood pressure decline among young adults in Singapore. Psychophysiology, 42, 290-297.
Bishop, G.D. Kaur, D., Tan, V.L.M., Chua, L.M., Liew, S.M. & Mak, K.H. (2005) Effects of a psychosocial skills training workshop on psychophysiological and psychosocial risk in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. American Heart Journal, 150, 602-609.
Diong, S.M., Bishop, G.D., Enkelmann, H.C., Tong, W.M.W.,Why, Y.P., Ang, J.C.H., & Khader, M. (2005). Anger, stress, coping, social support and health: Modelling the relationships. Psychology and Health, 20, 467-495.
Tong, E.M.W., Bishop, G.D., Enkelmann, H.C., Why, Y.P., Diong, S.M., Khader, M. & Ang, J. (2005). Emotion and appraisal: A study using ecological momentary assessment. Emotion, 5, 508-512.
Bishop, G.D., Pek, J., & Ngau, F. (2006). Blunted cardiovascular responses to daytime activities as related to reduced nocturnal blood pressure decline. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 31, 248-253.
Tong, E.M.W., Bishop, G.D., Enkelmann, H.C., Why, Y.P., Diong, S.M., Ang, J. & Khader, M. (2006). The role of the Big Five in appraisals. Personality and Individual Differences, 41, 513-523.
Ratnasingam, P. & Bishop, G.D. (2007). Social support schemas, trait anger, and cardiovascular responses. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 63, 308-316.
Tong, E.M.W., Bishop, G.D., Enkelmann, H.C., Why, Y.P., Diong, S.M., Khader, M. & Ang, J. (in press). The use of Ecological Momentary Assessment to test appraisal theories of emotions. Cognition & Emotion.
Jonassaint, C.R., Why, Y.P., Bishop, G.D., Tong, E.M.W., Diong, S.M., Enkelmann, H.E., Khader, M., Ang, J. (under review). The relationship of personality to cardiovascular reactivity during a mental and an emotional stress task. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Tong, E.M.W., Bishop, G.D., Enkelmann, H.C., Why, Y.P., Diong, S.M., Khader, M. & Ang, J. (under review). Emotion, appraisal, and cardiovascular correlates of the needs for Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Tong, E.M.W., Bishop, G.D., Enkelmann, H.C., Why, Y.P., Diong, S.M., Khader, M. & Ang, J. (under review). The S-shaped relationship between changes in appraisals and changes in emotions: Implications for affective systems. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Tong, E.M.W., Bishop, G.D., Enkelmann, H.C., Why, Y.P., Diong, S.M., Khader, M. & Ang, J. (under review). Appraisal underpinnings of the emotion adaptation process: The role of chronic coping styles. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Psychosocial aspects of HIV and AIDS
This work is concerned with several areas including attitudes and beliefs about HIV and AIDS and behavioural risk for HIV.
A. Current and recent projects
Research grant from the National University of Singapore; Title: Attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of Singapore health care professionals concerning HIV and AIDS. September 1996, to August, 1997.
Two projects on behavioural risk for HIV were recently completed with funding from Action for AIDS (Singapore).
Bishop, G.D., Alva, A., Cantu, L., & Rittiman, T. (1991). Responses to persons with AIDS: Fear of contagion or stigma? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21, 1877-1888.
Bishop, G.D. (1996). Singaporean beliefs about HIV and AIDS. Singapore Medical Journal, 37, 617-621.
Bishop, G.D., Kok, A.J., & Chan, R.K.W. (1998). Sexual practices among men attending an anonymous HIV testing site in Singapore. AIDS Care, 10 (Suppl. 2), S167-S178.
Van de Ven, P., Bishop, G.D., Chan, R., & Koe, S. (1998, July). A comparison of HIV risk between gay men in Singapore and Sydney. Poster presented at the 12th World AIDS Congress, Geneva.
Bishop, G.D. (1999, October). Responses to HIV/AIDS: The problem isn't what people don't know. It's what they 'know' that isn't so. Poster presented at the 5th International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, Kuala Lumpur.
Bishop, G.D., Oh, H., & Swee, H.Y. (2000). Attitudes and beliefs of Singapore health care professionals concerning HIV/AIDS. Singapore Medical Journal, 41, 55-63.
Bishop, G.D. (2000, November). Public attitudes: Overcoming fear and stigma. Paper presented at the 2nd Singapore AIDS Conference, November 2000.
Bishop, G.D. & Wong, M.L. (2001). Developing sustainable health promotion: STD and HIV prevention in Singapore. In M. MacLachlan (ed.), Cultivating health: Cultural perspectives on promoting health. (Pp. 199-226). Chichester, UK: Wiley.
Bishop, G.D. (2005, August). Best practices in the prevention of HIV/AIDS: What can be done to stem the tide of new infections? Paper accepted for presentation at the NUS Centennial Conference on "Asian Horizons: Cities, States and Societies,” Singapore.
Illness cognition and behaviour
My work in this area has been concerned with how lay people understand physical illness and the implications for how they respond to illness in themselves and others.
A. Recent projects
Research grant from the National University of Singapore; Title: Lay concepts of physical and mental illness: A cross-cultural inquiry. October, 1992 to July, 1994.
Research grant from the National Medical Research Council, Singapore; Title: Public understanding and responses to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS): A cross-national comparative study. November, 2003 to October, 2004.
B. Publications and conference presentations
Bishop, G.D. (1978, January). Illness behavior and the health of female soldiers. Paper presented at the U.S. Army Short Course in Preventive Psychiatry, San Francisco, CA.
Bishop, G.D. (1982, April). The use of health diaries in the study of illness behavior. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Fort Worth, Texas.
Bishop, G.D. (1984). Gender, role and illness behavior in a military population. Health Psychology, 3, 519-534.
Bishop, G.D., Sikes, L. Schroeder, D., McGregor, U.K. and Holub, D. (1985, August). Behavior in response to physical symptoms. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association Convention, Los Angeles, CA.
Bishop, G.D. and Converse, S.A. (1986). Illness representations: A prototype approach. Health Psychology, 5, 95-114.
Bishop, G.D. (1987). Disease prototypes and self-diagnosis. Canadian Psychology, 28(2), 41. (Abstract)
Bishop, G.D. (1987). Lay conceptions of physical symptoms. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 17, 127-146.
Bishop, G.D., Briede, C., Cavazos, L., Grotzinger, R., and McMahon, S. (1987). Processing illness information: The role of disease prototypes. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 8, 21-43.
Bishop, G.D. (1988, January). Lay conceptions of physical disease. Paper presented at the 1988 Texas Conference on Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX.
Bishop, G.D. (1988, August). Cognitive representation of physical diseases. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association Convention, Atlanta, GA. (ERIC document No. ED302750)
Bishop, G.D. (1988, August). Illness cognition and responses to AIDS. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association Convention, Atlanta, GA. (ERIC document No. ED302749)
Bishop, G.D., Barrera, M., Harris, S., Nava, F. and Tudyk, D. (1989, August). The effects of experience on optimism about future health events. Paper presented at the 1989 American Psychological Association Convention. New Orleans, LA.
Bishop, G.D. (1991). Understanding the understanding of illness: Lay disease representations. In J.A. Skelton and R.T. Croyle (eds.), Mental representation in health and illness. New York: Springer-Verlag. Pp. 32-59.
Bishop, G.D., Hoffer, J., Crosby, L., Dodge, S., & Lopez, L. (1992). Cognitive organization of disease information. International Journal of Psychology, 27, 637. (Abstract)
Bishop, G.D., Madey, S., Salinas, J., Massey, J., & Tudyk, D. (1992). The role of the availability heuristic in disease perception. International Journal of Psychology, 27, 637. (Abstract)
Bishop, G.D., & Teng, C.B. (1992, October). Cognitive organization of disease information in young Chinese Singaporeans. Paper presented at the First Asian Conference in Psychology, Singapore.
Bishop, G.D. (1994, August). Health beliefs and the use "modern" medicine vs. "traditional" medicine. Paper presented at the Third Afro-Asian Congress '94, on Indiginization of Psychology in the Afro-Asian Region, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Lek, Y.Y. & Bishop, G.D. (1995). Perceived vulnerability to illness threats: The role of disease type, risk factor perception and attributions. Psychology and Health, 10, 205-217.
Quah, S.H. & Bishop, G.D. (1996). Seeking help for illness: The roles of cultural orientation and disease representation. Journal of Health Psychology, 1, 209-222.
Tan, P.E.H. & Bishop, G.D. (1996). Illness representations and illness behaviours among Chinese Singaporeans. Psychology and Health, 11, 671-683.
Bishop, G.D. (1996). Representaciones cognitivas de la enfermedad y el SIDA (Cognitive disease representations and AIDS). In N. Basabe, D. Paez, R. Usieto, H. Parcheler & J.C. Deschamps (eds.), El desafio del SIDA. Madrid: Fundamentos (in Spanish). Pp. 163-173.
Bishop, G.D. (1996). Prototipi della malattia: natura e funzioni. (Disease prototypes: Their nature and function) In G. Petrillo (ed.), Psicologia sociale della salute: Salute e malattia come construzioni sociali. Naples: Liguori (in Italian). Pp. 91-112.
Bishop, G.D. (1998). Cognitive organization of disease concepts in Singapore. Psychology and Health, 13, 121-133.
Bishop, G.D. (1998). East meets west: Illness cognition and behaviour in Singapore. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 47, 519-534.
Lim, A.S.H. & Bishop, G.D. (1999). The role of attitudes and beliefs in differential health care utilisation among Chinese in Singapore. Psychology and Health, 14, 965-978.
Bishop, G.D. (1999, November). Lay illness conceptions and their implications for health behaviour and health promotion. Paper presented at the International Conference on Socio-Cultural and Policy Dimensions of Health Care, Singapore.
Bishop, G.D. (2001). Mental representations of health and illness in different cultures. In N.J. Smelser & P.B. Baltes (eds.), International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences, Vol. 10. (Pp. 6489-6491). New York: Pergamon.
Lee, B.O. & Bishop, G.D. (2001). Chinese clients' belief systems about psychological problems in Singapore. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 14, 219-240.
Greenglass, E.R., DeLongis, A., Lee-Baggley, D., Bishop, G.D. & The SARS Psychosocial Research Consortium (2003, August). Stressful effects of SARS: Coping with the threat of infection. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association Convention, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Bishop, G.D. (2004, March). SARS: Lay understandings of a new contagious and deadly disease. Paper presented at the 2004 Society of Behavioral Medicine Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions, Baltimore, MD.
Bishop, G.D. (2004, August). Public understanding of SARS. Paper presented at the 28th International Congress of Psychology, Beijing, China.
Brug, J., Aro, A.R., Oenema, A, de Zwart, O, Richardus, J.H., & Bishop, G.D. (2004). SARS risk perception, knowledge, precautions, and information sources, the Netherlands. Emerging Infections Diseases, 10, 1486-1489.
Bishop, G.D. and the SARS Psychosocial Research Consortium (July, 2006). Responses to new infectious diseases: The role of worry. Invited symposium presentation for the 26th International Congress of Applied Psychology, Athens, Greece.
Bishop, G.D. (2006, December). Illness cognition and responses to SARS, avian flu, and other infectious diseases. Paper presented the 9th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine, Bangkok, Thailand.
De Zwart, O., Veldhuijzen, I.K., Elam, G., Aro, A.R., Abraham, T., Bishop, G.D., Richardus, J.H., & Brug, J. (2007). Avian flu risk perception: Europe and Asia. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 13, 290-293.
Bishop, G.D. and the SARS Psychosocial Research Consortium. (under review). Responses to emerging infectious diseases: The role of worry. Invited manuscript submitted for publication.
A. Effects of group discussion
Myers, D.G. and Bishop, G.D. (1970). Discussion effects on racial attitudes. Science, 169, 778-779.
Myers, D.G. and Bishop, G.D. (1971). Enhancement of dominant attitudes in group discussion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 20, 386-391.
Bishop, G.D. and Myers, D.G. (1974). Informational influence in group discussion. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 12, 92-104.
B. Racial prejudice
Hamilton, D.L. and Bishop, G.D. (1976). Attitudinal and behavioral effects of initial integration of white suburban neighborhoods. Journal of Social Issues, 32 (2), 47-67.
Bishop, G.D. (1979). Perceived similarity in interracial attitudes and behaviors: The effects of belief and dialect style. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 9, 446-465.
Hamilton, D.L., Carpenter, S. and Bishop, G.D. (1984). Desegregation of suburban neighborhoods. In N. Miller and M.B. Brewer (eds.), Groups in contact: The psychology of desegregation. New York: Academic Press. Pp. 97-121.
C. Miscellaneous social psychology
Bishop, G.D., Hamilton, D.L. and McConahay, J.B. (1980). Attitudes and non-attitudes in the belief systems of mass publics. Journal of Social Psychology, 110, 53-64.
Bishop, G.D. (1993, March). Common sense, prototypes, and social cognition. Invited paper presented at the workshop "Recent advances in social psychology", Madrid, Spain.
Carr, S.C., Munro, D., & Bishop, G.D. (1996). Attitude assessment in non-western countries: Critical modifications to Likert scaling. Psychologia, 39, 55-59
Munro, D., MacLachlan, M., Carr, S., Ng, A.K., & Bishop, G. (1997). A brief history of T.I.M.E.: The Inventory for Measuring Efficiency. In, K. Leung (Ed.), Progress in Asian social psychology. Vol. 1. Chichester, UK: Wiley. Pp. 254-263.
Tong, E.M.W., Bishop, G.D., Enkelmann, H.C., Why, Y.P., Diong, S.M., Khader, M. & Ang, J. (under review). Emotion and appraisal: A study using ecological momentary assessment. Manuscript submitted for publication.
D. Miscellaneous health psychology
Extrum, T.D., Brietzke, S.A., Bishop, G.D., Fischer, J.R., Russell, I.J., Hendricson, W.D., and Jacobson, J.M. (1987). Diabetes effects assessment and recording scale (DEARS): A health status measure for the study of diabetes. Diabetes, 37(Supplement 1), 175A. (Abstract)
Banhart, D.J., Comarda, S.L., Miller, M.L., and Bishop, G.D. (1988, May). Parental perception of impact of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Paper presented at the Arthritis Health Professions Association Convention, Houston, TX.
Hendricson, W.D., Russell, I.J., Prihoda, T.J., Jacobson, J.M., Rogan, A., and Bishop, G. (1989). An approach to developing a valid Spanish language translation of a health status questionnaire. Medical Care, 27, 959-966.
Hendricson, W.D., Russell, I.J., Rogan, A., Prihoda, T.J., Jacobson, J.M., Castillo, R., Bishop, G.D., and Cavazos, E. (1989). Development and initial validation of a dual language English-Spanish format for the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scale. Arthritis and Rheumatism, 32, 1153-1159.
Bishop, G.D., Russell, I.J., Fletcher, E.M., Caro, X., & Wolfe, F. (1991, March). Health locus of control and clinical outcome with fibrositis. Paper presented at the 1991 meeting of the Society for Behavioral Medicine, Washington, DC.
Tay, S. & Bishop, G.D. (1995). Sense of coherence and its relationship to fear of personal death among Singaporeans. Asian Journal of Psychology, 1, 5-10.
Bishop, G.D. (2001). Health psychology in Singapore: Current status and future prospects. In Tan, A. G. & Goh, M. (Eds.). Psychology in Singapore: Development, status, and directions. (Pp. 47-59) Singapore: McGraw-Hill.
E. Health psychology text
Bishop, G.D. (1994). Health psychology: Integrating mind and body. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
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