Staff profile

Sarah Walker is an Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology, and Fellow of the Wolfson Research Institute at Durham. 

Sarah joined Durham University, School of Education in 2024 from the University of Sydney, Australia where she completed her undergraduate and postgraduate studies, and worked as an academic member of staff.

Her research focuses on individual differences in self-informant agreement in psychological assessments, particularly examining response biases, self-knowledge, and perceptions of others. Specifically, Sarah's expertise lies in emotion regulation (both self- and other-directed), exploring how, and why individuals influence the emotions of others and its effect on intra- and interpersonal outcomes.

Sarah is interested in talking to prospective PhD students interested in the dynamic experience of emotion, with a particular emphasis on emotion regulation (intrinsic and extrinsic). Intrinsic regulation referring to how we regulate our own emotions, and extrinsic emotion regulation—how we influence the emotional experiences of others.

In particular, Sarah is interested in how these concepts play out within educational contexts from how self- and other-regulation impacts learning outcomes, influences motivation, and relationships with others.

Journal Article

• Walker, S. (online). The Need for a Unified Language Framework in Extrinsic Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Research. Emotion, https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001463
• Walker, S. A., Pinkus, R., Double, K. S., Xiao, H., & MacCann, C. (online). It’s What I Think You Do That Matters: Comparing Self, Partner, and Shared Perspectives of What a Romantic Partner Does to Regulate Your Emotions. European Journal of Personality, https://doi.org/10.1177/08902070241272162
• Walker, S. A., MacCann, C., & Jonason, P. K. (online). The Dark Informant-Rated Triad (DIRT): A Concise Informant-Rated Measure of the Dark Triad. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000796
• Walker, S., & MacCann, C. (2024). Faking good and bad on self‐reports versus informant‐reports of Dark Triad personality. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 32(3), 329-342. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsa.12465
• Walker, S. A., & MacCann, C. (2024). Faking Good on Self-Reports Versus Informant-Reports of Emotional Intelligence. Assessment, 31(5), 1011-1019. https://doi.org/10.1177/10731911231203960
• Walker, S. A., Pinkus, R. T., Olderbak, S., & MacCann, C. (2024). People with higher relationship satisfaction use more humor, valuing, and receptive listening to regulate their partners’ emotions. Current Psychology, 43(3), 2348-2356. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04432-4
• Xiao, H., Double, K. S., Walker, S. A., Kunst, H., & MacCann, C. (2022). Emotionally Intelligent People Use More High-Engagement and Less Low-Engagement Processes to Regulate Others’ Emotions. Journal of Intelligence, 10(4), Article 76. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence10040076
• Webb, S. L., Birney, D. P., Loh, V., Walker, S., Lampit, A., & Bahar-Fuchs, A. (2022). Cognition-oriented treatments for older adults: A systematic review of the influence of depression and self-efficacy individual differences factors. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 32(6), 1193-1229. https://doi.org/10.1080/09602011.2020.1869567
• Walker, S. A., Double, K. S., Birney, D. P., & MacCann, C. (2022). How much can people fake on the dark triad? A meta-analysis and systematic review of instructed faking. Personality and Individual Differences, 193, Article 111622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2022.111622
• Walker, S. A., Olderbak, S., Gorodezki, J., Zhang, M., Ho, C., & MacCann, C. (2022). Primary and secondary psychopathy relate to lower cognitive reappraisal: A meta-analysis of the Dark Triad and emotion regulation processes. Personality and Individual Differences, 187, Article 111394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111394
• Walker, S. A., Double, K. S., Kunst, H., Zhang, M., & MacCann, C. (2022). Emotional intelligence and attachment in adulthood: A meta-analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 184, Article 111174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111174
• Dilevski, N., Paterson, H. M., Walker, S. A., & van Golde, C. (2021). Adult memory for specific instances of a repeated event: a preliminary review. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 28(5), 711-732. https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2020.1837031
• Walker, S. A., Double, K. S., & Birney, D. P. (2021). The Complicated Relationship Between the Dark Triad and Emotional Intelligence: A Systematic Review. Emotion Review, 13(3), 257-274. https://doi.org/10.1177/17540739211014585
• Double, K. S., Birney, D. P., & Walker, S. A. (2018). A meta-analysis and systematic review of reactivity to judgements of learning. Memory, 26(6), 741-750. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2017.1404111

Other (Print)

• MacCann, C., Double, K. S., Olderbak, S., Austin, E. J., Pinkus, R., Walker, S. A., Kunst, H., & Niven, K. What do we do to help others feel better? Eight extrinsic emotion regulation processes linked to affective and interpersonal outcomes