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Social Psychology and Psychological Disorders

Our research within this theme covers: inter-group beliefs, prejudice and behaviour; reducing inter-group conflict; individual-group communication, emotional control and regulation; developing, evaluating and disseminating psychological therapies for emotional disorders.

Social Psychology and Psychological Disorders

This area of research has generated treatments currently recommended as first-line interventions in four NICE clinical guides. We have developed new psychological treatments for four anxiety disorders: panic, social anxiety, health anxiety and PSTD. We have also identified new ways to reduce inter-group conflict and prejudice and with working with economists, we have helped increase public access to effective psychological therapies in the NHS.



Groups within this theme

Cognition and Health Research Group (Prof. Maryanne Martin)
We study processes of associative learning in human and animal models with the goal of understanding how the brain and mental processes produce behaviour and as applied to human learning in the developing field of Computational Psychopathology
Computational Psychopathology Laboratory (Prof. Robin A. Murphy)
The Emotion and Social Relation Research Group is led by Dr Brian Parkinson. The group consists of postgraduate students, visiting students and researchers who all have at least one topic in common: EMOTION. Our research group investigates emotions in relational contexts (including both interpersonal and group settings), as processes that are co-ordinated with other people’s emotions and behaviour.
Emotion and Social Relations Research Group (Dr. Brian Parkinson)
Oxford Risk ANd resilience Genes and Environment research. We study the interplay between biology and social context in child and adolescent development. The overall aim of our research is to inform intervention strategies and policies designed to promote resilience among children at risk for emotional, behavioural or academic difficulties.
oRANGE Lab
We work to improve the understanding and treatment of anxiety disorders. We currently focus on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia).
Oxford Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma
Oxford Centre for Emotions and Affective Neuroscience (Prof. Elaine Fox)
The Oxford Centre for the Study of Intergroup Conflict is based in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford. Our research focuses on the social-psychological study of intergroup conflict, with a particular focus on intergroup contact. Below are some of the questions we are interested in. Our research covers many parts of the world, and we use experimental, cross sectional and longitudinal data.
Oxford Centre for the Study of Intergroup Conflict (Prof. Miles Hewstone)
We study typical and atypical development of emotional and social behaviour across childhood and adolescence. We focus on why some young people experience more difficulties during this period than others, and what strategies could be used to overcome these difficulties
Researching Emotional Disorders and Development
Managing risk and improving safety in healthcare and other industries.
Risk and Safety Research Group (Prof. Charles Vincent)
We explore the evolution of human sociality and the mechanisms of large-scale community bonding. Our multi-disciplinary approach comprises comparative analyses, experimentation, genetics, neuroendocrinology, neuroimaging and agent based modelling.
Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience Research Group (SENRG)
Social Cognition & Cultural Neuroscience Lab (Dr. Jie Sui)