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Neuromodulation of the immune system has been described to be influenced by hemispheric lateralisation (HL), the stable tendency to relatively utilise one hemisphere or its functions over another. To date there has not been a systematic review of research in this phenomenon conducted, and only one study has examined the effects of HL on the progression of a disease – Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). That research was conducted on a small sample with little control for confounders. The present work sought to compile a systematic review of literature concerning HL and immunity in humans, using effect size analysis. Further, the present work also describes an empirical advancement of this earlier HIV study with stricter control over confounds in a larger sample. The findings corroborated the theory of asymmetrical immune influence by HL via the systematic review showing clear, relatively consistent and strong relationships between left-HL and immunopotentiation. The empirical prospective study extended current knowledge of this relationship in HIV to identify a moderator – HAART treatment. Specifically, left-HL predicted better immunity in HIV-1 patients independent of confounders, with further findings of the same pattern in untreated patients, but not in HAART-treated patients. Further observations were made between HL and HIV-relevant behaviours, again adding to current knowledge. The finding of left-HL being associated with fewer sexual partners in Europeans presents new information of relevance to public health. The combined findings of the present work suggest that left-HL has predictive value in illness (HIV-1) and in general immunity. The present work adds to the existing knowledge new information concerning a moderating factor of the HLimmunity relationship in HIV, and behavioural implications of HL which impact upon HIV disease. Potential explanations for moderation, proposals for neurobiological mechanisms and direction towards future, more rigourous study in the field, both in HIV and immunity, are discussed.

There is an abundance of research on purpose in life, much of which focuses on one's overall level of or commitment to a purpose. In the three studies presented here, I focus on two facets of purpose that are less well-understood: exploration and content. Previous research on identity has linked ongoing exploration to adaptive functioning and internalizing symptoms, so in the first study, structural equation modeling was used to investigate the relationships between both ongoing and past exploration in the domain of purpose with these outcomes. Results indicated that ongoing purpose exploration was negatively related to adaptive functioning and positively related to internalizing symptoms, but past purpose exploration was not significantly related to either outcome. In an effort to extend existing work on purpose, much of which utilized college student samples, the second study compared adults who graduated from college to adults with no or some college experience on a number of dimensions related to purpose development, including the strategies of exploration, overall level of purpose, and the content of one's purpose. The relationship between purpose and psychological assets such as agency and subjective wellbeing was also compared across groups. Results demonstrated that there were no differences by education level with regard to overall level of purpose or one's purpose exploration, but education interacted with purpose to shape purpose content and purpose's relationships with agency and negative affect. Another individual characteristic, gender, was investigated in the third study, which examined perceived and actual gender differences in purpose content. In Study 3.1, participants exhibited gendered perceptions of purpose content, believing that women were more likely to pursue prosocial and creative purposes while men were more likely to pursue financial and personal recognition purposes. These perceptions were partially reflected by gender differences in self-reported purpose content. In Study 3.2, the relationship between purpose content and the degree to which participants had explored and committed to a purpose was different for males and females. Overall, findings indicated that purpose exploration and content can be influenced by timing, education, and gender. The discussion focuses on implications for the study of purpose development.

Women have long been underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Factors including gender, marital and parental status, and gendered adjectives used in letters of recommendation have been linked to women's success in STEM fields. Many graduate students studying in STEM fields are preparing for academic careers, and it is unclear if their preferences when making a tenure-track hiring decision would match those of faculty. In the study described here, graduate students in STEM fields were asked to rate and rank three hypothetical candidates applying for a tenure-track position in their department. The candidates' gender, marital and parental status, gendered adjectives and persona, and history of parental leave were varied across participants. Overall, participants preferred the candidate described with female adjectives and persona, and participants in math-intensive fields were less likely to prefer a female candidate. Candidate's history of parental leave did not affect participants' preferences.