Chatbot vs. person: Research on human-machine interaction

Dr Jenny Lynden, a Staff Tutor in the School, has been researching human-machine interaction. In a recent article in the journal Discourse, Context & Media, Jenny, together with a colleague from the University of Surrey and designers from a chatbot company, AMO, published findings from their research. They used a microlevel sociolinguistic analysis to understand how…

Your next Psychology and Counselling module?

This week we begin a new series in which Associate Lecturers introduce modules they tutor. Look for DE300 on Tuesday 6th August, followed by DD317 and DD310, then Level 2 modules. To see these posts and other news about the School of Psychology and Counselling at the Open University, check the blog regularly or become…

The psychology of stories

Dr Zoe Walkington from the School of Psychology and Counselling fronts a new BBC film which investigates the psychology of stories and reading. You may be surprised by the findings it reports. You can see the film here: https://www.bbc.com/ideas/videos/what-actually-happens-inside-us-when-we-read/p07h9t70?playlist=made-in-partnership-with-the-open-university  

Experiences of child language brokers – a CuSP discussion

On 29 November, the Culture and Social Psychology (CuSP) Research Collaboration had a very lively meeting where we discussed our colleague Dr Sarah Crafter's recent draft paper (co-authored with Humera Iqbal of UCL) "Managing conflict during linguistic and cultural encounters: the role of children who language broker". The paper focuses on children born into immigrant…

Psychosocial perspectives on criminality and violence

Following a launch event last June, what used to be the Social Psychology Research Group (SPRG) has recently transformed into the ambitious Culture and Social Psychology (CuSP) collaboration – offering what promises to be an exciting programme of cutting edge external seminars for 2019, to be held at the OU’s Camden Town location, as well…