Emotion - Research in the Department of Psychology

Emotions play a role in all aspects of our life.

They influence our memory, can impact on how we learn, what decisions we make, can affect our interactions with others, and even determine our behaviour.

Accordingly, we try to answer a range of questions from how we communicate emotions through voices, faces, or language, to how we cope with stress.

Other questions that we address as part of our endeavour to advance understanding around emotions include:

What are the mechanisms underlying test anxiety?
How do emotions impact on learning?
How do emotions affect our internal body perception?
Is mind-wandering beneficial to us?
What are the neural dynamics underpinning embodiment of emotion?
What happens in our brain when we experience pain?
How do we cope with boredom?

Our internationally renowned staff use a number of techniques including behavioural studies, electrophysiological studies, brain-lesion studies, and physiological measurements to address these question. We also research related areas including relationships, sex, and attraction, risk, judgement and decision making, and well-being.

Recent papers

2021

Brosowsky, Nick and Van Tilburg, Wijnand and Scholer, Abigail and Boylan, James and Seli, Paul and Danckert, James (2021) 'Boredom proneness, political orientation and adherence to social- distancing in the pandemic.' Motivation and Emotion, 45 (5). pp. 631-640. ISSN 0146-7239
Daughters, Katie and Manstead, Antony SR and van der Schalk, Job (2021) 'Oxytocin and emotion recognition: Investigating the possible roles of facial synchrony and eye gaze.' Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 2. p. 100019. ISSN 2666-6227
Daughters, Katie and Rees, Aled and Hunnikin, Laura and Wells, Amy and Hall, Jeremy and van Goozen, Stephanie (2021) 'Oxytocin administration versus emotion training in healthy males: Considerations for future research.' Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. ISSN 0962-8436 (In Press)
Grave, Joana and Madeira, Nuno and Martins, Maria João and Silva, Samuel and Korb, Sebastian and Soares, Sandra Cristina (2021) 'Slower access to visual awareness but otherwise intact implicit perception of emotional faces in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.' Consciousness and Cognition, 93. p. 103165. ISSN 1053-8100
Klabunde, Megan and Piccirilli, Aaron and Bruno, Jennifer and Gendron, Maria and Reiss, Allan L (2021) 'Empathic accuracy in adolescent girls with Turner Syndrome.' Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. ISSN 0162-3257
Korb, Sebastian and Deniz, Tugba Ceren and Ünal, Bengi and Clarke, Alasdair and Silani, Giorgia (2021) 'Emotion perception bias associated with the hijab in Austrian and Turkish participants.' Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. p. 174702182110483. ISSN 1747-0218
Massaccesi, Claudia and Chiappini, Emilio and Paracampo, Riccardo and Korb, Sebastian (2021) 'Large Gatherings? No, Thank You. Devaluation of Crowded Social Scenes During the COVID-19 Pandemic.' Frontiers in Psychology, 12. 689162-. ISSN 1664-1078
Moynihan, Andrew and Igou, Eric and Van Tilburg, Wijnand (2021) 'Existential Escape of the Bored: A Review of Meaning-Regulation Processes Under Boredom.' European Review of Social Psychology, 32 (1). pp. 161-200. ISSN 1046-3283
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
Pekrun, Reinhard (2021) 'Emotions in Reading and Learning from Texts: Progress and Open Problems.' Discourse Processes. pp. 1-10. ISSN 0163-853X
Schwartze, Manuel M and Frenzel, Anne C and Goetz, Thomas and Pekrun, Reinhard and Reck, Corinna and Marx, Anton KG and Fiedler, Daniel (2021) 'Boredom Makes Me Sick: Adolescents' Boredom Trajectories and Their Health-Related Quality of Life.' International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18 (12). p. 6308. ISSN 1660-4601
Tam, Katy and Van Tilburg, Wijnand and Chan, Christian and Igou, Eric and Lau, Hakwan (2021) 'Attention Drifting in and out: The Boredom Feedback Model.' Personality and Social Psychology Review, 25 (3). pp. 251-272. ISSN 1088-8683 (In Press)
Tam, Katy YY and Van Tilburg, Wijnand and Chan, Christian S (2021) 'What is Boredom Proneness? A Comparison of Three Characterizations.' Journal of Personality, 89 (4). pp. 831-846. ISSN 0022-3506 (In Press)
Van Tilburg, Wijnand and Saadi, Amina and Mahadevan, Nikhila (2021) 'Citizen Vain? Exposure to the UK Citizenship Test Predicts Milder Demands from Immigrants Across the Political Spectrum.' British Journal of Social Psychology, 60 (3). pp. 888-901. ISSN 0144-6665

2020

Maher, Paul J and Igou, Eric R and van Tilburg, Wijnand AP (2020) 'Disillusionment: A prototype analysis.' Cognition and Emotion, 34 (5). 947 - 959. ISSN 0269-9931
Sel, Alejandra and Calvo-Merino, Beatriz and Tsakiris, Manos and Forster, Bettina (2020) 'The somatotopy of observed emotions.' Cortex, 129. 11 - 22. ISSN 0010-9452

2019

Furnes, Desire and Berg, Hege and Mitchell, Rachel M and Paulmann, Silke (2019) 'Exploring the Effects of Personality Traits on the Perception of Emotions From Prosody.' Frontiers in Psychology, 10. ISSN 1664-1078
Pekrun, Reinhard and Murayama, Kou and Marsh, Herbert W and Goetz, Thomas and Frenzel, Anne C (2019) 'Happy fish in little ponds: Testing a reference group model of achievement and emotion.' Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 117 (1). 166 - 185. ISSN 0022-3514

Academics

Dr Katie Daughters

Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Health behaviour; well-being; relationships, sex and attraction.

Dr Helge Gillmeister

Senior Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Health behaviours; motivation; interoception.

Dr Megan Klabunde

Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Development; interoception.

Dr Sebastian Korb

Senior Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Interoception; action understanding.

Dr Nikhila Mahadevan

Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Well-being; relationships, sex and attraction; justice, fairness and equality.

Professor Silke Paulmann

Professor

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Communication and language; motivation; neuro-cognitive disorders; cross-cultural studies; well-being.

Professor Reinhard Pekrun

Professor

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Educational psychology.

Dr Tracy Robinson

Senior Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Dr Alex Sel

Senior Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Action understanding; interoception.

Dr Elia Valentini

Senior Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Interoception; health behaviour.

Dr Wijnand Van Tilburg

Lecturer

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Also interested in: Risk, judgement and decision making; relationships, sex and attraction; 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; relationships, sex and attraction; justice, fairness and equality; vision.