Marie Helweg-Larsen
My research areas are in cross-cultural psychology, health psychology, and social psychology. My main area of research investigates the causes, consequences, and correlates of the optimistic bias (people thinking they are less at risk than their peers) -- that is, why people do risky things that they know they should not. In addition, I have research interests in health communication, gender, and public health. Currently, I'm conducting NIH-funded research in the U.S. and Denmark on moralization of smoking.
Primary Interests:
- Culture and Ethnicity
- Ethics and Morality
- Gender Psychology
- Health Psychology
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Persuasion, Social Influence
- Sexuality, Sexual Orientation
- Social Cognition
Note from the Network: The holder of this profile has certified having all necessary rights, licenses, and authorization to post the files listed below. Visitors are welcome to copy or use any files for noncommercial or journalistic purposes provided they credit the profile holder and cite this page as the source.
Video Gallery
Australian Shepherd Helps Children Develop Reading Skills
Select video to watch
-
2:24 Australian Shepherd Helps Children Develop Reading Skills
Length: 2:24
-
2:20 Smoking Stigmatization
Length: 2:20
-
1:51 Explanation of Smoking Stigmatization Research
Length: 1:51
-
1:35 Mask Wearing - When and How to Speak Up
Length: 1:35
-
1:08:14 Why Are We Optimistically Biased About Our Own Risks?: Applications to the Coronavirus Pandemic
Length: 1:08:14
-
50:23 Why We Are Not Good at Risk Assessment
Length: 50:23
-
22:56 Pyt
Length: 22:56
Journal Articles:
- DiMuccio, S. H., Yost, M. R., & Helweg-Larsen, M. (2016). A qualitative analysis of perceptions of precarious manhood in U.S. and Danish men. Psychology of Men & Masculinity.
- Gibbons, F. X., Helweg-Larsen, M., & Gerrard, M. (1995). Prevalence estimates and adolescent risk behavior: Cross-cultural differences in social influence. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80, 107-121.
- Gurmankin, A. D., Helweg-Larsen, M., Armstrong, K., Kimmel, S. E., & Volpp, K. G. M. (2005). Comparing the standard rating scale and the magnifier scale for assessing risk perceptions. Medical Decision Making, 25, 560-570.
- Harding, H. H., & Helweg-Larsen, M. (2009). Perceived risk for future intimate partner violence among women in a domestic violence shelter. Journal of Family Violence, 2, 75-85.
- Helweg-Larsen, M. (1999). (The lack of) optimistic biases in response to the 1994 Northridge earthquake: The role of personal experience. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 21, 119-129.
- Helweg-Larsen, M., & Collins, B. E. (1997). A social psychological perspective on the role of knowledge about AIDS in AIDS prevention. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 6, 23-26. [Reprinted in M. E. Davis (Ed.), Annual Editions: Social Psychology 1999/2000, 2000/2001, 2001/2002 and in E. J. Coats & R. S. Feldman (Eds.), Classic and Contemporary Readings in Social Psychology 3/e, 2001].
- Helweg-Larsen, M., & Collins, B. E. (1994). The UCLA multidimensional condom attitudes scale: Documenting the complex determinants of condom use in college students. Health Psychology, 13, 224-237.
- Helweg-Larsen, M., Harding, H. G., & Kleinman, K. E. (2008). Risk perceptions of dating violence among college women: The role of experience and depressive symptoms. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 27, 551-571.
- Helweg-Larsen, M., Kjøller, M., & Thoning, H. (2003). Do age and social relations moderate the relationship between self-rated health and mortality among adult Danes? Social Science and Medicine, 57, 1237-1247.
- Helweg-Larsen, M., & Nielsen, G. A. (2009). Smoking cross-culturally: Risk perceptions among young adults in Denmark and the United States. Psychology & Health, 24, 81-93.
- Helweg-Larsen, M., Sadeghian, P., & Webb, M. S. (2002). The stigma of being pessimistically biased. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 21, 92-107.
- Helweg-Larsen, M., & Shepperd, J. A. (2001). Do moderators of the optimistic bias affect personal or target risk estimates? A review of the literature. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5, 74-95.
- Helweg-Larsen, M., & Stancioff, L. M. (2008). Acculturation matters: Risk perceptions of smoking among Bosnian refugees living in the United States. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 10, 423-428.
- Helweg-Larsen, M., Tobias, M. R., & Cerban, B. M. (2010). Risk perception and moralization among smokers in the USA and Denmark: A qualitative approach. British Journal of Health Psychology, 15, 871-886.
- Kjøller, M., & Helweg-Larsen, M. (2000). Suicidal ideation and suicide attempts among adult Danes. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 78, 54-61.
- Klein, C. T. F., & Helweg-Larsen, M. (2002). Perceived control and the optimistic bias: A meta-analytic review. Psychology & Health, 17, 437-446.
- Shepperd, J. A., Helweg-Larsen, M., & Ortega, L. (2003). Are comparative risk judgments consistent across time and events? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 1169-1180.
Other Publications:
Courses Taught:
- Human Sexuality
- Psychology of Women
- Research Methods
- Research Methods in Social Psychology
- Senior Seminar: Risk and Society
- Social Psychology
- Social Psychology in Film
- The Social Psychology of Stigmatization
- Why Do People Believe Weird Things?
Marie Helweg-Larsen
Department of Psychology
Dickinson College
Carlisle, Pennsylvania 17013
United States of America
- Phone: (717) 245-1562
- Fax: (717) 245-1971