Research and Impact
The Department of Psychology promotes a strong research culture and has shown very significant growth in the last years, its size having nearly doubled since 2001. Research in Psychology is organized around University Centres, which support advanced study for undergraduates, postgraduates, post-doctoral fellows and academic staff.
Centre for Culture and Evolutionary Psychology (CCEP)
While debates over “nature vs. nurture” date back to the beginning of social science, recent developments in cross-cultural and evolutionary psychology have led to new theoretical perspectives and methodological tools that allow for the empirical examination of many lingering questions. CCEP brings together the necessary expertise to provide the primary research grouping in Culture and Evolution in the UK. By considering human behaviour at a range of levels (individual biology and personality, group and social processes, broader culture), CCEP provides a powerful means to tackle the difficult issues associated with evolution and culture. CCEP’s research is published in leading journals such as Biological Psychology, Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology,and Nature.
Centre for Cognition and Neuroimaging (CCNI)
In 2003 the Centre for Cognition and Neuroimaging (CCNI) was established with the acquisition of a jointly owned 3-Tesla fMRI scanner dedicated to research, as part of the "Foursites" collaboration with Royal Holloway, Reading and Surrey universities. CCNI’s expertise encompasses not only the latest advances in cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and visual psychophysics, but also neuroimaging techniques including VEP, MEG and fMRI. CCNI’s research has been published in leading outlets such as Brain, Cognition, Current Biology, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Nature Neuroscience, and Psychological Science.
Centre for Research in Infant Behaviour (CRIB)
CRIB, which is closely allied with CCNI, carries out innovative research into the field of infant and child development. The research falls into two main categories: developmental disorders and typical child development. CRIB is mainly concerned with studying the properties of visual development and how this impacts on cognition and behaviour. CRIB’s research examines the behavioural and physiological aspects of visual development and the underlying structural and functional changes in the brain. It has been published in leading journals such as Biology Letters, NeuroReport, and Perception.
Centre for the Study of Expertise (CSE)
CSE studies expertise from a range of perspectives and disciplines, including Business, Education, Law, Neuroscience, Psychology, and Sociology, and addresses itself to providing a unified set of research data. It aims to answer the questions as to how people become experts and what are the general principles underlying the acquisition of expertise regardless of the specific domain. CSE uses scientific approaches on a number of levels ranging from the neural level to the social and cultural level. Furthermore, CSE aims to understand the role of expertise within a legal framework. CSE is the only Centre worldwide that engages debate about expertise from such a wide spectrum of approaches and disciplines. CSE’s research has been published in leading journals such as Cognitive Science, Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology, and Intelligence.
Centre for the Study of Health and Well-being (CSHW)
The Centre was established in 1989 and aims to promote research into health, well-being and illness. It is an interdisciplinary group drawing on: health psychology and other psychology disciplines which focus on emotions and well-being; sociology and anthropology. CSHW contributes to debates relevant to health care practitioners, patients and health policy makers. CSHW has a strong record in sponsoring doctoral research in the fields of health and illness. CSHW’s research has been published in a wide range of journals including: Alcohol and Alcoholism, Behavioral Medicine, BMC- Infectious Diseases, British Journal of Health Psychology, British Medical Journal, Journal of Cystic Fibrosis, Health Policy, Psycho-oncology, Psychology and Health, Social Science and Medicine.
