Social Psychology
Professor Charles Antaki, BSc, PhD, Professor of Language and Social Psychology
Charles Antaki did his undergraduate degree at Newcastle University followed by his doctorate at Sheffield. He was a lecturer and then senior lecturer at Lancaster up until his move to Loughborough in 1996. His PhD work was concerned with 'attribution theory'; that is, the way people explain what goes on in their social environment. His current research interests include the way interaction is organized in conversation, how people construct their identities, and how people with learning difficulties interact with others. He also does research on the practices of psychotherapy. He has published widely including the integrative textbook Arguing and Explaining (Sage, 1994) and the edited books Analysing Everyday Explanation (Sage, 1988) and Identities in Talk (with Sue Widdicombe; Sage 1998). His most recent book, edited with British and Finnish colleagues, is Conversation Analysis and Psychotherapy (Cambridge University Press, 2008). He is also Associate Editor of the international journal Research on Language and Social Interaction.
Professor Michael Billig, BA, PhD, Professor of Social Sciences
Michael Billig was a student at Bristol University where he took a joint
honours degree in philosophy and psychology and later gained his doctorate in the area of intergroup relations. He moved to Birmingham University as a lecturer in Psychology. He has been Professor of Social Sciences at Loughborough since 1985. His research interests include ideology and political extremism; social psychology of rhetoric and arguments; intergroup relations and prejudice; nationalism; psycho-analytic theory; humour; history of psychology. His books include Fascists (Harcourt Brace, 1978), Ideology and Social Psychology (Blackwell, 1982), Arguing and Thinking (Cambridge, 1987), Ideology and Opinions (Sage, 1991), Talking About the Royal Family (Routledge, 1992), Banal Nationalism (Sage, 1995), Freudian Repression (Cambridge, 1999), Rock 'n Roll Jews (Five Leaves Press, 2000), and Laughter and Ridicule (Sage, 2005). He also joined with other Loughborough staff to write Ideological Dilemmas (Sage, 1988). His latest book is The Hidden Roots of Critical Psychology (Sage, 2008).
Dr Carly Butler, BA(Hons), PhD, Lecturer in Social Psychology
Carly Butler studied psychology at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand where she completed her doctoral research on children's interactions in the school playground. Since then she has held research posts at Queensland University of Technology and the University of Queensland in Australia. Her main research interests include children's play and interaction, health and counselling helplines, media interviews, family interaction, and ethnomethodological methodologies. She is author of Talk and Social Interaction in the Playground (Ashgate, 2008), has co-edited a special issue on ethnomethodological approaches to communication in the Australian Journal of Communication (2009, with Richard Fitzgerald and Rod Gardner) and has published articles in Research on Language and Social Interaction, Sociology of Health and Illness, Journal of Health Psychology and other academic journals.
Professor Duncan Cramer, BSc, PhD, ABPsS, Chartered Psychologist, Professor of Psychological Health
Duncan Cramer studied Psychology at University College, London and went on to the Institute of Psychiatry in London where he completed his doctoral thesis on Eysenck's theory of personality. He lectured in psychology at Queen's University, Belfast before moving to Loughborough. His main research interests include understanding personal relationships, psychological distress and effective psychological treatments. His books include Personality and Psychotherapy (OUP, 1992), Close Relationships (Arnold, 1998), Quantitative Data Analysis with SPSS 14, 15 and 16 (Routledge, 2008 with Alan Bryman) and An Introduction to Statistics in Psychology (Prentice Hall, 2008 with Dennis Howitt). He has been Joint Editor of the British Journal of Medical Psychology and is currently an Associate Editor of Psychology and Psychotherapy and the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.
Professor Derek Edwards, BA, DPhil, Professor of Psychology
Derek Edwards was an undergraduate and postgraduate at Sussex University, where he did his PhD on early child language. After that he joined the Social Psychology group at Loughborough. His research interests are in language and social interaction across a range of everyday settings including ordinary conversation, relationship counselling, school classrooms, dispute mediation, and police interrogations. He is one of the founders of 'discursive psychology', and author of various books including Common Knowledge: The Development of Understanding in the Classroom (Routledge, 1987), Discursive Psychology (Sage, 1992 with Jonathan Potter) and Discourse and Cognition (Sage, 1997). He is currently studying the ways in which common sense concepts of mental and emotional states are used in everyday talk, in various kinds of dispute mediation, and forensically in police interrogations of suspects.
Dr Alexa Hepburn, MA, PhD, Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology
Alexa Hepburn studied Psychology and Philosophy at Dundee University. Her doctoral work at Glasgow Caledonian University examined constructions of authority, control and bullying in school situations. She lectured at several other Universities before joining the Department in 2002. Her interest in young people and their rights and competences has continued in her current research into the NSPCC Helpline. Her research has also developed a critical perspective on more traditional forms of psychology, reflected in her books An Introduction to Critical Social Psychology, and (co-edited) Discursive Research in Practice: New approaches to Psychology and Interaction. She has published scholarly articles in British Journal of Social Psychology, Discourse and Society, Research on Language and Social Interaction, and a range of other journals, as well as contributing book chapters to a number of edited collections. Her publications reflect the dual focus on methodological innovation in psychology, and a call for greater theoretical sophistication. Her most recent work has focused on emotion in interaction, and in particular crying and its reception.
Professor Jonathan Potter, BA, MA, DPhil, Professor of Discourse Analysis
Jonathan Potter is Professor of Discourse Analysis and Head of School. He has written on a wide range of topics in psychology and the social sciences and is a specialist in discourse analysis, discursive psychology and constructionism as well as qualitative methods more generally. His early book Discourse and Social Psychology continues to have a huge impact on how psychology should be understood, and Discursive Psychology (written with Derek Edwards) is the foundational work of that perspective. Recent books include: Representing Reality: Discourse, rhetoric and social construction, Focus Group Practice, and Cognition and Conversation (which was awarded a prize by the American Sociological Association in 2007). He has also edited a three-volume collection Discourse and Psychology for Sage publications. His recent research has focused on various features of interaction in a child protection helpline. He is supervising PhD projects on interaction and disability, and interaction on a mental health helpline. His recent work has focused on family eating and he is supervising doctoral projects on this topic.
Professor Alan Radley, BTech, PhD, Professor of Social Psychology
Alan Radley studied psychology at Brunel University and went on to study for his PhD at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, University of London. He is one of the founders of the social psychology degree at Loughborough. His main research interests are in the social psychology of health, focusing upon the experience of serious illness. He is founding editor of the journal Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine. His recent research interests have included the use of photography and other visual methods to study the lives of ill and homeless people. Included in his publications are: In Social Psychology: An Introduction to the Social Psychology of Membership and Intimacy (Open University Press, 1991), The Body and Social Psychology (Springer-Verlag, 1991), an edited book, Worlds of Illness (Routledge, 1993) and Making Sense of Illness (Sage, 1994).
Professor Elizabeth Stokoe, BSc, PhD, Chartered Psychologist, Professor of Social Interaction.
Liz Stokoe obtained her psychology degree from the University of Central Lancashire. She then went to University College Northampton and completed her doctoral thesis on the relationship between gender, academic identity, and interaction in university tutorials. She lectured at the University of Derby and the University of Worcester before moving to Loughborough as a lecturer in 2002. She has written extensively on gender, identity and interaction, editing a special issue of Discourse and Society (2002) on the topic. She has recently edited a book entitled Conversation and Gender (Cambridge University Press, with Susan Speer) and writing another entitled Talking Relationships, Cambridge University Press) She wrote Discourse and Identity (2006, Edinburgh University Press, with Bethan Benwell). In recent years, she has worked on a funded research study of neighbour dispute interaction and is currently studying speed-dating.
Dr Cristian Tileagă, BSc, MSc, PhD, Lecturer in Social Psychology
Cristian Tileagă obtained his psychology degree from the University of Iaşi, Romania. He completed his doctoral thesis on nationalism and prejudice in talk about ethnic minorities in the Department of Social Sciences at Loughborough University. He lectured at the University of East London before moving to Loughborough as a lecturer in 2008. Cristian's main research interests are in the critical social psychology of racism, political discourse analysis, social representations of history and collective memory. His current research explores how the (Romanian) communist/post-communist past is constructed in talk and text. He has published scholarly articles in British Journal of Social Psychology, Discourse and Society, Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology and other academic journals.
Professor Sue Wilkinson, BSc, PhD, Chartered Psychologist, FBPsS, Professor of Feminist and Health Studies
Sue Wilkinson did her undergraduate degree at Leicester University, was a postgraduate at Surrey University, and held lecturing posts at the Universities of Liverpool, Coventry and Hull before coming to Loughborough. Her research interests are in feminism, lesbian & gay issues, women and health, and conversation analysis. She is the founding editor of Feminism and Psychology: An International Journal and co-founder of the campaigning organization Equal Marriage Rights (www.equalmarriagerights.org). She has edited a number of collections of research related to gender, sexuality and feminism, including Heterosexuality (Sage, 1993), Women and Health (Taylor and Francis, 1994) Feminism and Discourse (Sage, 1995), Representing the Other (Sage, 1996) and Feminist Social Psychologies (OUP, 1996). Her current research interests involve working with telephone helplines and support groups for breast cancer, fibromyalgia, and dyspraxia.