21
Jan
2015
| Social Psychology
Mass gatherings (e.g., pilgrimage events, sporting events) are often causes for concern. Participants run the risk of crushing and the close proximity of others can facilitate the transmission of disease. However, being with others can also contribute to one’s well-being. Recent Social psychological research conducted by
Nick Hopkins and his colleagues shows that to the degree that those attending a mass gathering identify with other attendees, participation in mass gathering can contribute to one’s health and well-being. Their research – published in Group Processes and Intergroup Relations – investigated the experiences of pilgrims attending a month-long pilgrimage in north India. In a longitudinal design they found that health was better at the event than before, and although it reduced on returning home, it remained higher than before the event. Of particular interest, they found that this trajectory was predicted by data concerning pilgrims’ perceptions of a shared identity with other pilgrims at the event. The team also found evidence that a shared identity amongst pilgrims was important for health because it resulted in closer and more supportive relations with one’s fellow pilgrims.
The paper is available online: http://gpi.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/12/15/1368430214556703.full.pdf+html
Nick Hopkins is one of our lecturers who is in involved in teaching our undergraduate course Psychology MA (Hons) and Psychology BSc (Hons) and our Taught Postgraduate courses.
This research – and other aspects of this project - features in Nick’s undergraduate Social Psychology lectures.
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16
Jan
2015
|
Dr. Juliet Wakefield and
Prof. Fabio Sani in the School of Psychology have been investigating the relationship between subjective social status (one's perceived status in relation to others in society) and pain. The work is part of the
Health In Groups project, a large cross-cultural and longitudinal study investigating the effects of group life on people's physical and mental health. The research involved measuring subjective social status (SSS) by presenting participants with a diagram of a 10-rung ladder, and asking them to indicate the rung which best represents their position in UK society. The researchers also accessed the participants' medical records in order to determine if they had been prescribed analgesic (painkilling) drugs in the last six months. The researchers found that higher levels of SSS significantly predicted lower odds of participants having been prescribed at least one analgesic drug in the previous six months. This result was obtained even after controlling for measures of objective social status (level of education, occupational status, and the status of the area in which each participant lives) and demographic variables (age and gender). This results suggests that subjective socioeconomic status has important effects on pain that go beyond the influence of objective measures of social status. Discussing potential explanations for this finding, the researchers suggest that perceiving oneself as possessing low relative status can be a chronically stressful experience, and prolonged stress response activation can promote body tissue breakdown, increasing the likelihood of chronic pain. This research has been accepted for publication in Psychology, Health & Medicine. For more information about the research, or about the Health in Groups project in general, please visit www.healthingroups.org. The project also has pages on
Facebook and
Twitter.
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19
Dec
2014
|
The School of Psychology, jointly with the Division of Neuroscience, received very high ratings in the recent REF. The Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience panel considered that 89% of the submitted publications were internationally excellent or world leading. The impact of our research on society and quality of life was also judged to be of world-leading standard (80% at 4*). Staff in the school are proud of this excellent result, which ranks us 13th in the UK in terms of impact and in the top 25 on the basis of publications.
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9
Dec
2014
|
On Friday 5th December,
Professor Fabio Sani gave a presentation entitled 'Group Identification Protects from Mental Illness: Evidence from two Scottish studies' at the British Psychological Society’s Clinical Conference in Glasgow. This research was conducted by Prof. Sani,
Dr Juliet Wakefield, and one of our PhD students,
Kirsty Miller. The talk reported findings from Sani’s ESRC-funded Health in Groups project, along with data from a large-scale study of secondary school children led by Miller. Both studies found that greater number of group identifications is associated with lower odds of mental illness. The research findings gained media attention, and were featured on BBC Breakfast News on the morning of the presentation. Please see
http://www.healthingroups.org/media-appearances/ for a link to both the news report and the press release.
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2
Dec
2014
|
We associate selfies (photographs taken by and of the same person) with digital cameras but the first selfies were taken at the dawning of photography. In 1839, shortly after Daguerre published his account of how metal-plated positives could be produced, Robert Cornelius (an American amateur chemist) made one of himself. In the next year, a scientist of note took a daguerreotype of his reflection in a mirror; it is shown here. Charles Wheatstone (1801-1875) is best known in visual science for his invention of the stereoscope and the experiments he conducted with it.
Wheatstone's daguerreotype is a reflection in a mirror taken with the camera on his lap. He was involved in photography from its beginnings; he was a friend of William Henry Fox Talbot (who invented the negative/positive process) and had instructed him to take the first photographs for the stereoscope. Wheatstone also experimented with stereoscopic photography as well as with combining sequences of stereoscopic photographs that could be seen in apparent motion. The details of what was possibly the first scientific selfie as well as the first stereo selfie are described in an Open Access article by Prof. Nick Wade: http://www.perceptionweb.com/openaccess/p4311ed.pdf
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