The Psychology Department has a large group of staff and post-graduates working in the area of applied social psychology. There are four main research themes: Addiction and Substance Misuse; Health and Social Interaction; Human Factors; and Forensic Psychology.
Current work includes:
- Addiction, substance misuse, therapies, recovery/relapse prevention.
- Examining the effect of peer interaction on learning in an on-line context, the study of information literacy in adult access students, and social factors in the operation of so-called cognitive heuristics and biases.
- Examining social psychological and discursive practices in NHS weight management treatment groups and the negotiation of responsibilities and identities of both patients and practitioners.
- Applying social cognition and behaviour change models to road user behaviour.
- Developing systems for the collection and analysis of accident/near-miss data for the NHSS regional boards, and a specific system for logging incidents in operating theatres.
Group Members
| Tony Anderson | Dialogue and interaction; peer interaction and learning; the effect of social factors on thinking; Human factors. |
| James Baxter | Suggestibility; interrogative pressure; interacting influences on interrogative suggestibility; managing interrogative pressure in interviews. |
| John Davies | Human factors; risk management; alcohol and smoking; illicit drug use; public health. |
| Mark Elliott | Attitude and behaviour change; social cognition models; past behaviour and habits; motivational and volitional processes underpinning action initiation and maintenance in relation to driver behaviour. |
| Allan McGroarty | Interviewee responding in simulated forensic interviews. |
| Hazel McMurtrie | PhD student. Memory functioning and ageing effects on eyewitness testimony and police interviewing techniques. |
| Jack Melson | PhD student. Alcohol misuse, binge drinking and the misperception of drinking norms. |
| Rosemary Newham | PhD student. Drop-out from alcohol treatment centres. |
| Christopher Russell |
PhD student. Ironic processing, smoking behaviours. |
| Sally Wiggins | Food, eating and weight issues, including family mealtime interaction and weight management treatments; identity management in everyday interaction. |