Our research groups play an important role in the Department of Psychology. The groups meet regularly throughout the academic year and provide opportunities for members to discuss their current research, ideas for new research projects, or simply to discuss an interesting journal article or conference presentation they've seen. They also provide an important support structure for junior researchers, including MPhil and PhD students.
Animal Behaviour and Evolution
Comparative and evolutionary psychology have been a research strength within the Department of Psychology for many years and much of this work is done in collaboration with colleagues in the Department of Biological Sciences and at Chester Zoo. Current projects include the management of conflict and trauma in spider monkeys; aspects of personality in chimpanzees; mirror self-recognition in primates; and, the function of communication technologies (e.g. facebook) on individual social network sites.
Cognition and Emotion
Researchers within this group are interested in a range of theoretical and applied research in the areas of cognition and emotion. Current projects include research on the recognition of emotion in faces and voices; bilingualism; memory; and, meta-cognition in learning.
Health and Well-Being
This group draws together researchers with an interest in applied areas of health, clinical and counselling psychology. We are particularly interested in how patients and their families adjust to and deal with the consequences of illness; how our lifesyle and work affect our well-being; and, in the area of reproductive health psychology.
Psychosocial Oncology
We have a thriving research group in the area of psychosocial oncology: the study of the behavioural, psychological and social aspects of cancer. Our work is broad and focusses not only on the patient experience, but also research with informal caregivers, healthcare professionals and research into cancer service delivery and evaluation.
Social and Developmental
A number of our staff work within this area of research, which links closely with our MSc in Family and Child Psychology. We have particular expertise in studying the causes and implications and bullying in schools, and research into alternative schooling systems (e.g. Steiner and Montessori). Staff within this group also have interests in the development of self-awareness in infants; language and developmental disorders in children; and, the psychology of parenting.
