Psychology
The Department of Psychology is committed to conducting, publishing and disseminating high quality empirical research, both quantitative and qualitative. In RAE 2008 more than 70% of our research outputs were rated to be of international quality.
The source of our reputation lies in:
- Relevance: achievement and impact in both theoretical and applied research, benefiting the discipline and wider society
- Connectedness: the inter-relationship of research, enterprise, knowledge transfer and teaching activity
- Collaboration: openness, inclusiveness and interdisciplinarity
- Quality: the strength and breadth of our research profile
Research activity within the department falls into six main areas, some with subgroups. Members of the department may be affiliated to more than one research group.
The department is also home to the internationally active Psychophysiology and Stress Research Group and the Business Psychology Centre.
Research areas
Business Psychology
Research within the Business Psychology Group is closely linked to the Business Psychology Centre (BPC), which works in partnership with organisations in applying business psychology to the workplace and linking personal competence to organisational competence.
The Business Psychology Centre is an agent of knowledge transfer based on a blend of disciplines such as human factors, informatics and business psychology. The centre holds the focus on “people matters” within diverse professions by introducing them to the Bpsy model through conferences and knowledge sharing workshops.
The centre partnered the Engineering Forum for Project Management (EFPM) to deliver the BEHAVE YOURSELF Conferences in 2005 and 2006 as well as iBEHAVE workshops and learning courses while working with the UK Facilitators Network to deliver the Behavioural Technology, also in 2006. The focus was showing how research grounded psychology plays a central role in deconstructing behavioural blocks to workplace performance and personal development.
More recently the BPC hosted the first Postgraduate Business Psychology Conference, held in February 2008.
Current projects include
- Knowledge Transfer Partnership
- EU 7th Framework Programme on Research, Technological Development and demonstration PERFORM
- London Development Agency
- Knowledge Transfer Partnership
- New Dynamics of Ageing
- Westminster Exchange Award
- Assisted Living
Download a fuller discussion of these projects.
Group members
- Professor Steve Benton (Director)
- Boris Altemeyer
- Chantal Gautier
- John Golding
- Ayleen Wisudha
Cognitive Neuroscience
Set up in March 2008, the Cognitive Neuroscience Group at the University of Westminster represents a cross-departmental group of researchers who bring together their different areas of expertise to explore a range of theoretical and clinical questions from an integrated cognitive neuroscience perspective.
The group studies many aspects of cognition but has particular interests in:
- multisensory integration
- spatial processing
- pre-attentive processing
- memory
- executive function
- music processing
- spatial disorientation
- cognitive performance
Our aim is to use a wide range of techniques to establish the precise nature and biological basis of these aspects of cognition in typical and clinical populations. We also have a particular interest in developmental cognitive neuroscience with projects that focus on adolescence and middle to old age.
We employ a range of techniques to establish the brain basis of these cognitive processes including ERPs, fMRI, EEG, neuropsychology and pharmacological interventions. We also work closely with our colleagues in computer science to ensure awareness and integration of evidence from connectionist modelling.
Current projects include
- use of external and body-centric spatial frameworks by the congenitally blind and sighted
- multisensory integration
- spatial disorientation and cognitive performance
- retrieval-induced forgetting and unwanted thought intrusions
- retrieval-induced forgetting in schizophrenia and depression
- using Sensecam to enhance consolidation and retrieval of memory in an encephalitis patient with severe retrograde amnesia
- the neuropsychological features of hyrocephalus and spina bifida
- identifying brain regions involved in music perception
- neuropsychology of adolescent anorexia nervosa
- development of a music therapy assessment measure for use in neuro-rehabilitation
- the neuroanatomical basis of self-appraisal
- the cognitive profile of treatment compliance
- structural brain asymmetry in psychosis
- temporal lobe volume and memory function
Download a fuller discussion of these projects.
Group members
- Laura Boubert
- Alison Eardley
- Trudi Edginton
- Gillian Forrester
- Mark Gardner
- John Golding
- Catherine Loveday
- Kevin Morgan
- Rosalind Potts
- Tony Towell
Health Psychology
Research within the department, in the area of health psychology, is focused on several key areas:
- suicide
- self-harm
- experiences of illness and treatment
- well-being in men
- well-being across the lifespan and pathways into abnormal eating behaviours
Current projects include
- a 'near miss' study of individual and system factors associated with attempted suicide
- review of suicides by foreign national prisoners
- self-harm, coping style, rumination and alexithymia
- self-harm, religion, and ethnicity
- self-management in COPD patients attending pulmonary rehabilitation
- lived experiences of growing up with thalassemia
- adolescents' experiences of juvenile idiopathic arthritis
- masculinity and identifying strategies for establishing positive mental wellbeing in later life.
- men, mindfulness and wellbeing
- the Mums and Daughters project
Download a fuller discussion of these projects, or read more information on the Mums and Daughters Project.
Group members
- Jo Borrill
- Tina Cartwright
- Tony Towell
Psychobiology and Psychophysiology
The Psychobiology and Psychophysiology Group (PPG) has a focus on human health and strives to explore the biological underpinnings of some psychological conditions (such as psychosis and eating disorders) and psychobiological changes across the lifespan (such as adolescence and old age). In addition, the impact upon physiology and health of changes in psychological state (such as stress or well-being) is investigated. The Group has excellent collaborative links with a wide range of external institutions including the Institute of Psychiatry, the WestFocus Network of Universities and Bangor University.
The PPG has access to excellent laboratory facilities in the School of Life Science and laboratory facilities within the Department of Psychology of the University of Westminster. The PPG was singled out for special mention in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. The sub-panel noted particularly “strong work in the area of psychobiology”.
Current projects include
- wellbeing, cognitive function and ageing; correlates with patterns of cortisol secretion
- the cortisol awakening response
- measurement of wellbeing in the Well London Project
- neurohormones in adolesence in relation to psychosocial functioning
- a structural MRI investigation into the diagnostic status of psychosis patients from different ethnicities
- patterns of cortisol secretion in relation to season and seasonality
- a study of caffeine's cardiovascular effects
Download a fuller discussion of these projects.
Group members
- Angela Clow
- Phil Evans
- Frank Hucklebridge
- Lisa Thorn
- Catherine Loveday
- Kevin Morgan
- Tony Towell
A sub-group of the PPG is the Psychophysiology and Stress Research Group (PSRG).
Psychology in Higher Education
Research carried out in this area centres on learning and teaching in higher education and involves the following themes:
- student retention
- progression
- learning styles
- expectations
- social integration and tutoring
- electronic teaching
- learning support
- widening participation
- student diversity and statistics anxiety
Psychology in Higher Education within the cluster is made up of four main groupings; some members are in more than one group. For more information on each group and its current projects:
- Learning and Teaching Research Group (LTRG)
- Statistics Anxiety Project (SAP) Group
- Westminster Diversity in Education Group (WiDER)
- Widening Participation Survey Group
Research support
Within the Department of Psychology there are several people who are working to provide research support for staff and students. General support for research within the department is provided by a research technician. In addition there is one full-time and one part-time psychology technician to provide support for staff and students with resources within the Department. There are also three research associates in the Department, one working within the Business Psychology Centre on a knowledge transfer project. Two others, whose work is supported by externally generated income, (the Nuffield Trust and Higher Education Innovation Fund: HEIF).
Research support staff
- Maria Flynn (Research Technician)
- Lejla Mandzukic-Kanlic (Senior Psychology Technician)
- Rebecca Atkinson (Psychology Technician)
- Haulah Zacharia (Psychology Technician)
- Boris Altemeyer (Knowledge Transfer Partnership Associate, Business Psychology Centre)
- Jane Derges (Nuffield Trust)
- Sarah Edmunds (HEIF)
Research participation scheme
The research participation scheme will be of particular interest to first year students. In order to pass 1PSY408 (Research Methods in Psychology), level 4 students are required to spend some of their time taking part in current research projects conducted by staff and research students from the Department of Psychology. The research participation scheme is the mechanism by which students are credited with this time spent taking part in research.
The objectives of the research participation scheme are:
- to facilitate the recruitment of participants for our research
- to increase the degree to which our research is visible to undergraduate students
- to provide students with valuable practical experience of current psychological research
In any given year, the research participation scheme provides an opportunity for students to take part in a wide range of projects that employ diverse methodologies. Topics under investigation have ranged from "individual differences in the diurnal neuroendocrine cycle" to "race and cultural issues in counselling and psychotherapy". The variety of research techniques that students have had a chance to experience in a single year has included:
- interviews
- Q-methodology
- questionnaires
- internet mediated research
- reaction times indicators of cognition
- salivary measures of neuroendocrine function
Explore the research facilities within the Department of Psychology.
Courses
We offer an exciting breadth of activity across the Social Sciences, Psychology and the Arts and Humanities.
Research
We offer a vibrant, multi-disciplinary research environment, at the centre of which are several innovative, high-quality research groups and programmes.
Social Psychology within the department incorporates a variety of research topics including:
Current projects include
Download a fuller discussion of these projects.
Group members
Visit the Qualitative Research Laboratory.