Jim Wirth, PhD, began his path to becoming an associate professor of social psychology at The Ohio State University at Newark during a childhood impacted by mental illness. Now, he’s using his wisdom to help mentor students on campus and educate the public nationally.
His mother lived with depression and bipolar disorder. His brother had ADHD. Wirth was thrust into a significant support role to maintain positive relationships at home. Rather than let it overpower him, he found power in that role. “I didn't want to walk away from it,” he said. Instead, “I wanted to understand those experiences more.”
So he explored their experiences. He researched how their brains worked, learned how their illnesses influenced their behavior and analyzed how others responded to their behavior. It was a consuming yet instructive cycle for young Wirth.
“I realized that, in doing that over and over, I was actually just doing what a psychologist does,” he said, “so my academic journey really started with my own experiences.”
That commitment to curiosity guided him along his journey. In high school, Wirth was part of an internship at the National Cancer Institute. He eventually went on to study stigma — especially as it related to mental illness — and the ostracism (being excluded and ignored) that can come with it.
He still specializes in ostracism today, and his students benefit from his expertise. He has overseen studies they developed about how groups of people react when someone leaves. They invented a virtual game called Cyberball that researchers around the world “use to manipulate ostracism.” He helps them prepare for and present at research forums, including a three-day conference hosted by the Midwestern Psychological Association, of which he’s an executive officer.
Wirth’s students have learned so much from him that he earned Ohio State Newark’s Faculty Award for Mentoring of Undergraduate Research in 2024 and Best New Undergraduate Research Mentor Award in 2018. Now, readers of The New York Times have learned from him too.
In April, The Times interviewed him for a story about the silent treatment, an all-too-common method for ostracizing someone. “It was nice to be acknowledged as an expert on the topic,” Wirth said. “It was fun to get our research out to a large audience. That's not an opportunity we get all the time.”
The opportunity allowed him to celebrate and showcase years of work behind the scenes. It allowed him to have “a really great conversation” about a subject he’s studied his entire life.
It also allowed him to praise the place he’s served for more than a dozen years.
“The biggest thing was seeing ‘Ohio State Newark’ after my name” he said. “That's actually what made me the happiest because it represents the collective work that we do here. We're all leaders in what we're doing. We're all experts.”
It’s clear Wirth works with faculty as familiar with their focus as he is with stigma and ostracism. Even so, his close connection to this topic makes him a unique person, shaped by a unique past.
The work he’s doing has been brought out by this unique place. “Ohio State Newark is the type of environment that just produces all kinds of really cool things,” he said.
Chief among them, extraordinary research, students ready for fulfilling careers and instructors interesting enough to be featured on the national stage.