Skip to main content
Psychology
Banner cropped

Department News

White Western women under greater pressure to look thin

New research by our Psychology department has found that White Western women are less positive about their bodies and feel greater media pressure to be thin than Black Nigerian and Chinese women.
Diverse group of women in underwear in a line showing torso and upper legs only

How our bodies react when we use social media – and when we stop

Dr Niklas Ihssen, from our Department of Psychology, explores what happens to our bodies when we social media - and what happens when we stop.
Several hands holding mobile phones

Durham psychologist discovers goosebumps happen far more often than we think

A study by a Durham Psychology researcher has found that goosebumps happen far more frequently than you think - and you may not even know you have them.
Goosebumps on an arm

Children’s perception of normal body shape is affected by who they see around them – new research

Professor Lynda Boothroyd, from our Department of Psychology, discusses the flexibility of body weight perceptions in children and young adults, as part of a first-of-its-kind study.
Silhouettes of a child growing through to an adult

Why there’s no such thing as normal in child development

Associate Professor in Psychology Samuel Forbes challenges our current benchmarks for child development, which he argues are variable based on cultural context and individual personalities.
A child in a red shirt stacks colorful blocks in a tower

Why a social media detox may not be as good for you as you think

Associate Professor Niklas Ihssen and PhD student Michael Wadsley from our Department of Psychology explain how cutting your social media use dramatically or even avoiding it completely can reduce the positive effects of social media just as much as the negative ones.
Person looking at a smartphone

Prestigious Leverhulme Fellowship awarded to social psychology pioneer

Professor Richard Crisp from our top-rated Psychology department has been honoured with the prestigious Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship to develop a groundbreaking theory in social psychology.
Professor Richard Crisp

Graphic warning labels could reduce people’s meat consumption

A new study from our Department of Psychology has found that cigarette style graphic warning labels could reduce people’s meat consumption.
Someone handing a plate of food including a burger and salad to a customer

Reimagining the imagination at the world’s largest literary festival

Researchers from our Institute for Medical Humanities have taken our innovative ReaderBank project to the Jaipur Literature Festival in Rajasthan, India.
Four people standing smiling at the camera

Inside the sex lives of chimpanzees: it’s about much more than just reproduction

Dr Jake Brooker and Professor Zanna Clay of our Department of Psychology share their new research on the social role sex plays in bonobo and chimpanzee groups.
Four chimpanzees walk in a line in the forest

Dr Sheina Lew-Levy awarded prestigious ERC Grant for pioneering cultural research

Dr Sheina Lew-Levy from our top-rated Psychology department has been awarded a highly competitive European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant.
Sheina Lew-Levy

Defining what makes the best virtual first impression

A new study by psychologists at Durham has found the answers to creating the best first impression in a virtual meeting, such as Teams or Zoom, is a visual background of house plants and books.
Image contains three people pictured against three backgrounds, including a man with a background of books, a woman with a background of house plants and a man with a background of a walrus
This is the image alt text