Psychology and history: CuSP viewpoints

In recent meetings, the Culture and Social Psychology group have been revisiting some of the ‘big debates’ within the psychology discipline. In December 2020, at the invitation of Sebastian Bartos, members discussed the relevance of history to psychology.  Psychology and history have an awkward relationship. Most students will be taught about the history of the…

Nonverbal coordination increases with lie difficulty

The Times and the New Scientist have recently published articles about a research paper entitled 'A liar and a copycat', co-authored by Professor John Dixon of the Open University School of Psychology and Counselling. In this paper, the authors demonstrate in two experiments that lying affects the interactional dynamics and non-verbal behaviour between two people.…

Compassion is for self, not just for others

At a dark point in the year, Dr Kerry Hughes from the School reminds us to attend to self-care, and self-compassion. In this dark time of the year, when Spring is as yet unsprung, as night claims the hours when work has ceased but we are not yet done, remember self-compassion.    When repeated requests for…

Prenatal mental health during COVID-19; the importance of social support, thinking style, and countering loneliness

Dr Gini Harrison discusses her new research on how COVID-19 impacts on pregnant women, and the steps they can take to counter some of the negative effects. There is no doubt that COVID-19 has placed a significant strain on people’s mental health. And this may be amplified for pregnant women (who are classed as a…

Announcing the School’s new research centre!

In these dark days of the year, it's good to have something to look forward to. Here in the School of Psychology and Counselling at the Open University, a big focus for 2021 is the launch of our new School research centre on TUESDAY 6th JULY.  The directors of the research centre are Professor Paul…