Social Identity, Norms and Approaches to Learning: Presentation at Exeter Psychology

Ken visited Exeter Psychology to present our work on Social Identity in Educational contexts, and to meet with colleagues and postgraduate students.  The talk focused on our research on discipline-based social identity (for example, as a psychology student), peer norms, and instructor norms about approach to learning. We now have a substantial line of work … Read more

Research, Knowledge Exchange and the Military Sector

Ken had the opportunity to present and be part of a panel discussion in a fascinating inter-disciplinary workshop on research, knowledge exchange and the military sector held in the Byre theatre. The workshop was an initiative of the visualising war research group and aimed at exploring the practical challenges, opportunities and ethical dilemmas that arise … Read more

Presentation at BERA HE event on transitions and challenges

Ken had the opportunity to present our recent work on the experience of identity incompatibility that some students might feel between their home identities and university identity. The analysis showed that    experienced of incompatibility can undermine positive learning behaviours and increase the likelihood of learning-undermining behaviours like procrastination and self-handicapping. The BERA special event was … Read more

Ken presents at BERA2018 on identity and norms effects on approach to learning

Ken had the opportunity to present two studies on discipline social identity, deep learning approaches, peer and instructor norms, and the implications for academic grades. The British Educational Research Association conference is a large and diverse educational conference hosted around the UK each year. Ken presented two research studies, both of which have now been … Read more

Social Identification and Academic Performance: Integrating Two Existing Models of Tertiary Student Learning

We have now had this paper accepted at Educational Psychology. This was a collaboration between Ken and colleagues at the Australian National University. Abstract: Recent research has mapped the ways social identification and normative influence affect students’ self-reported learning approaches and course experience, and also, the ways in which social identification and learning approach impact … Read more

When student and educator learning norms collide:

This paper is a collaboration between Ken and colleagues at the Australian National University. It is the first paper where we try to explicitly account for both peer and educator norms, and explore the latter using norm manipulation. Smyth L, Chandra V, Mavor K.I. Social identification and normative conflict: When student and educator learning norms … Read more

Grant to study Christian IDP’s in Iraq

We were excited to be collaborating with an American-based NGO, Love for the least: Middle East to cary out a research study on internally displaced Christian’s in Iraq.  There have been two waves of displacement in Iraq; from the Iraq war and then from ISIS. Many people are displaced from southern Iraq, and more recently … Read more

Self & Social Identity in Educational Contexts

We are delighted that this edited book is now out and available!  It has been a labour of love for several years but we are very excited to see it come out and to touch upon a number of very important issues in education. See below for the contents and more detail about the book … Read more

Self and Identity Processes, Stress, and Resilience: Invited Talk

Symposium on Burnout and Resiliency in Medical Education Participants from across Scotland and further afield gathered in the Gateway building at St Andrews to discuss recent work on building resilience in medical education. The importance of improving the well-being of medical students and professionals has been a growing priority in recent years. As part of … Read more

Levelling the playing field: Invited talk in Stirling

Person and group categories in memory, impression formation, and face processing Ken had the privilege of being invited to speak in the seminar program in the School of Psychology at Stirling. Given the shared interest in issues of social face processing, the talk emphasised the work we have done on perceiving person and group information … Read more