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Interacting with the World

Relationships, sex, and attraction

A green wooden board with a heart cut out of it, another green board behind it.

Should you talk to strangers?

Relationships are a core part of our lives. From the familial relationships that exist from birth, to the sexual orientation that we develop as we grow, and the impact that friends and strangers have through their interactions with us.

Can interactions between parents and children shape experiences within our bodies?
Do others change how we see ourselves?
How does sexual orientation develop?
How do our emotions and personalities influence our interactions with others?
Why do some marriages last, while others crumble?

Our internationally recognised researchers explore these questions and others in their attempts to understand the role that all relationships play in shaping how we think about, feel and understand ourselves and the world around us.

Using diverse experimental methods that include self reporting, questionnaires, behavioural coding and observations, psychophysiology, and more, we try to understand our place in the world through our interactions with others. We also carry out research in related areas, including meaning in life, trust, and interdependence, emotion, and well-being.

Selected papers

2023

Chen, Shilei and Van Tilburg, Wijnand and Leman, Patrick J (2023) Women’s self-objectification and strategic self-presentation on social media. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 47 (2). pp. 266-282.
Kungl, Melanie and Vrticka, Pascal and Heinisch, Christine and Beckmann, Matthias W and Fasching, Peter A and Ziegler, Clara and Spangler, Gottfried (2023) Deactivating attachment strategies associate with early processing of facial emotion and familiarity in middle childhood: An ERP study. Attachment and Human Development, 25 (1). pp. 199-217.
Laughlin, Ellen and Pettitt, Molly and Lamarche, Veronica M and James-Hawkins, Laurie (2023) Just one shot? The contextual effects of matched and unmatched intoxication on perceptions of consent in ambiguous alcohol-fueled sexual encounters. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 38 (21-22). pp. 11445-11474.
Murray, Sandra L and McNulty, James K and Xia, Ji and Lamarche, Veronica M and Seery, Mark D and Ward, Deborah E and Griffin, Dale W and Hicks, Lindsey L and Jung, Han Young (2023) Pursuing Safety in Social Connection Regulates the Risk-Regulation, Social-Safety and Behavioral-Immune Systems. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 125 (3). pp. 519-547.
Murray, Sandra L and Xia, Ji and Lamarche, Veronica M and Seery, Mark D and McNulty, James K and Griffin, Dale W and Ward, Deborah E and Han, Jung and Hicks, Lindsey L and Dubois, David (2023) A Moth to a Flame? Fulfilling Connectedness Needs Through Romantic Relationships Protects Conspiracy Theorists Against COVID-19 Misinformation. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 4.

2022

Lamarche, Veronica M and Seery, Mark D and Murray, Sandra L and Kondrak, Cheryl L and Saltsman, Thomas L and Streamer, Lindsey (2022) Lovers in a dangerous time: Ecologically motivated relationship safety regulation. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 3. p. 100061.
Landsiedel, Julia and Daughters, Katie and Downing, Paul E and Koldewyn, Kami (2022) The role of motion in the neural representation of social interactions in the posterior temporal cortex. NeuroImage, 262. p. 119533.
Lotun, Shaaba and Lamarche, Veronica and Samothrakis, Spyridon and Sandstrom, Gillian and Matran-Fernandez, Ana (2022) Parasocial relationships on YouTube reduce prejudice towards mental health issues. Scientific Reports, 12 (1). 16565-.
Van Tilburg, Wijnand and Igou, Eric and Panjwani, Mehr (2022) Boring people: Stereotype characteristics, interpersonal attributions, and social reactions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 49 (9). pp. 1329-1343.

2021

Alexopoulos, Cassandra and Timmermans, Elisabeth and Sharabi, Liesel L and Roaché, David J and Croft, Alyssa and Dorrance Hall, Elizabeth and James-Hawkins, Laurie and Lamarche, Veronica and Uhlich, Maximiliane (2021) 'Settling down without settling: Perceived changes in partner preferences in response to COVID-19 concern.' Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 38 (6). pp. 1901-1919. ISSN 0265-4075 (In Press)
Chen, Shilei and Van Tilburg, Wijnand and Leman, Patrick (2021) 'Self-objectification in women predicts approval motivation in online self-presentation.' British Journal of Social Psychology. ISSN 0144-6665
Lamarche, Veronica M (2021) 'Interdependent Transformations: Integrating Insights from Relationship Science to Advance Post-Traumatic Growth and Personality Change Research.' European Journal of Personality. 089020702110221-089020702110221. ISSN 0890-2070
Lamarche, Veronica M and Atkinson, Ciara and Croft, Alyssa (2021) 'A Cognitive Uncoupling: Masculinity Threats and the Rejection of Relationship Interdependence.' Social Psychological and Personality Science, Online (6). p. 194855062096126. ISSN 1948-5506
Moynihan, Andrew B and Igou, Eric R and van Tilburg, Wijnand AP (2021) 'Bored stiff: The relationship between meaninglessness, sexual sensation seeking, and promiscuous attitudes via boredom susceptibility.' Personality and Individual Differences, 168. p. 110295. ISSN 0191-8869
Murray, Sandra and Lamarche, Veronica M and Seery, Mark and Jung, Han Young and Griffin, Dale and Brinkman, Craig (2021) 'The Social-Safety System: Fortifying Relationships in the Face of the Unforeseeable.' Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 120 (1). pp. 99-130. ISSN 0022-3514
Murray, Sandra L and Seery, Mark D and Lamarche, Veronica M and Jung, Han Young and Saltsman, Thomas L and Griffin, Dale W and Dubois, David and Xia, Ji and Ward, Deborah E and McNulty, James (2021) 'Looking for Safety in all the Right Places: When Threatening Political Reality Strengthens Family Relationship Bonds.' Social Psychological and Personality Science, 12 (7). pp. 1193-1202. ISSN 1948-5506 (In Press)
Nguyen, Trinh and Schleihauf, Hanna and Kungl, Melanie and Kayhan, Ezgi and Hoehl, Stephanie and Vrticka, Pascal (2021) 'Interpersonal neurobehavioral synchrony during father-child problem solving: An fNIRS hyperscanning study.' Child Development, 92 (4). e565-e580. ISSN 0009-3920
Puhlmann, Lara and Derome, Melodie and Morosan, Larisa and Kilicel, Deniz and Vrticka, Pascal and Debbane, Martin (2021) 'Association between self-reported attachment and neurostructural development throughout adolescence.' Attachment and Human Development. pp. 1-19. ISSN 1461-6734
Raines, Jamie and Holmes, Luke and Watts-Overall, Tuesday and Slettevold, Erlend and Gruia, Dragos and Orbell, Sheina and Rieger, Gerulf (2021) 'Patterns of Genital Sexual Arousal in Transgender Men.' Psychological Science, 32 (4). pp. 485-495. ISSN 0956-7976
Tsegaye, Afework and Guo, Cuiling and Cserjési, Renáta and Kenemans, Leon and Stoet, Gijsbert and Kökönyei, Gyöngyi and Logemann, Alexander (2021) 'Inhibitory Performance in Smokers Relative to Nonsmokers When Exposed to Neutral, Smoking- and Money-Related Pictures.' Behavioral Sciences, 11 (10). p. 128. ISSN 2076-328X

2020

Croft, Alyssa and Atkinson, Ciara and Sandstrom, Gillian and Aknin, Lara and Orbell, Sheina (2020) 'Loosening the GRIP (Gender Roles Inhibiting Prosociality) to Promote Gender Equality.' Personality and Social Psychology Review. ISSN 1088-8683 (In Press)
Mahadevan, Nikhila and Gregg, Aiden P and Sedikides, Constantine (2020) 'The Ups and Downs of Social Life: Within-Person Variations in Daily Status and Inclusion Differentially Predict Self-Regard and Interpersonal Behavior.' Journal of Personality. ISSN 0022-3506
Murray, Sandra and Lamarche, Veronica M and Seery, Mark and Jung, Han Young and Griffin, Dale and Brinkman, Craig (2020) 'The Social-Safety System: Fortifying Relationships in the Face of the Unforeseeable.' Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. ISSN 0022-3514 (In Press)
Nguyen, Trinh and Schleihauf, Hanna and Kayhan, Ezgi and Mathes, Daniel and Vrticka, Pascal and Hoehl, Stefanie (2020) 'Neural synchrony in mother-child conversation: Exploring the role of communicative features.' Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. ISSN 1749-5016

2019

Burra, Nicolas and Massait, Solene and Vrticka, Pascal (2019) 'Differential impact of trait, social, and attachment anxiety on the stare-in-the-crowd effect.' Scientific Reports, 9 (1). ISSN 2045-2322
Lamarche, Veronica M and Seery, Mark D (2019) 'Come on, give it to me baby: Self-esteem, narcissism, and endorsing sexual coercion following social rejection.' Personality and Individual Differences, 149. 315 - 325. ISSN 0191-8869
Le, PQ and Saltsman, TL and Seery, MD and Ward, DE and Kondrak, CL and Lamarche, VM (2019) 'When a small self means manageable obstacles: Spontaneous self-distancing predicts divergent effects of awe during a subsequent performance stressor.' Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 80. 59 - 66. ISSN 0022-1031
Mahadevan, Nikhila and Gregg, Aiden P and Sedikides, Constantine (2019) 'Is self-regard a sociometer or a hierometer? Self-esteem tracks status and inclusion, narcissism tracks status.' Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 116 (3). 444 - 466. ISSN 0022-3514
Murray, Sandra L and Seery, Mark D and Lamarche, Veronica M and Kondrak, Cheryl L and Gomillion, Sarah (2019) 'Implicitly imprinting the past on the present: Automatic partner attitudes and the transition to parenthood.' Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 116 (1). 69 - 100. ISSN 0022-3514

Our academics

Dr Katie Daughters

Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Health behaviour; emotion; well-being.

Dr Megan Klabunde

Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Emotion; development; interoception.

Dr Veronica Lamarche

Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Risk, judgement and decision making; meaning in life, trust, and interdependence.

Dr Nikhila Mahadevan

Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Emotion; well-being; justice, fairness and equality.

Professor Sheina Orbell

Professor

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Health behaviour.

Dr Wijnand Van Tilburg

Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Risk, judgement and decision making; emotion; meaning in life, trust and interdependence.

Dr Pascal Vrticka

Senior Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Meaning in life, trust, and interdependence.

Dr Motonori Yamaguchi

Senior Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Risk, judgement and decision making; memory; motivation; emotion; justice, fairness and equality; vision.

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