Research output per year
Research output per year
Organisation profile
Organisation profile
The Social and Affective Processes (SAP) Research Group focuses on social cognition with a focus on perception, inference, belief, and coalitional processes. Across the group, members test and develop explanations for social cognition across the lifespan, in psychiatric and neurological disorder, and in synthetic systems such as Large Language Models. Neuroimaging, computational, behavioural, and experimental methods are used to test core theories, and work is frequently applied to clinical treatment development pipelines and government policy.
UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Our work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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SDG 1 No Poverty -
SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being -
SDG 4 Quality Education -
SDG 5 Gender Equality -
SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth -
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities -
SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities -
SDG 13 Climate Action -
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
Profiles
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A motley of attitudes: Belief, insincerity, and non-doxastic commitment in magical practice
Levy, N., Ross, R. & McKay, R., Sept 2026, In: Evolution and Human Behavior. 47, 5, 106945.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Caricature Effects in Forensic Contexts: Impact of Altered Face Distinctiveness on Accuracy of Eyewitness Identifications
Giampietro, G., 2026, (Unpublished) 262 p.Research output: Thesis › Doctoral Thesis
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Estimating the causal effects of cognitive effort and policy information on party cue influence
Tappin, B. & McKay, R., 4 Feb 2026, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Political Psychology. 47, 2, e70116.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access
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Neurocomputational principles of social inferences in lonely individuals
Bellucci, G. (PI)
1/10/25 → 30/06/27
Project: Research
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EBSNA: Social Science Impact Accelerator: Evaluating the Emotionally-Based School Non-Attendance framework
Kingston, J. (PI), Watling, D. (CoI), Lanza, G. (Student) & Courten, E. (Researcher)
14/07/25 → 25/01/27
Project: Other
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In search of experienced time: the heart as a subjective pacemaker
Arslanova, I. (Fellow)
1/03/24 → 28/02/27
Project: Research
Activities
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Willing but wary_ THE IP-PAD UK ADOLESCENT REPORT
Tsakiris, M. (Contributor), Smets, K. (Contributor), Borghi, O. (Contributor) & Arahal Moreno, I. (Contributor)
14 Apr 2026Activity: Other › Public engagement, outreach and knowledge exchange - Public Lecture/debate/seminar
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ESRC Festival of Social Science
Watling, D. (Organiser), Whelan, J. (Organiser) & Petty, K. J. (Organiser)
3 Nov 2025 → 4 Nov 2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Workshop, seminar, course or webinar.
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(Re)constructing Credibility in Refugee Status Determination
Memon, A. (Speaker), Given-Wilson, Z. (Speaker), Scrifvars, J. (Participant) & Gammeltoft-Hansen, T. (Chair)
22 Oct 2025 → 25 Oct 2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Workshop, seminar, course or webinar.
Prizes
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Above and Beyond Community Recognition Award
Giampietro, G. (Recipient), 2024
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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American Psychological Association’s William C. Bier Award.
McKay, R. (Recipient), 2024
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Award for Outstanding Doctoral Research Contributions to Psychology
Murphy, J. (Recipient), 2021
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Datasets
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Animated caricatures fMRI study
Furl, N. (Creator), Royal Holloway, University of London, 2020
https://openneuro.org/datasets/ds002509
Dataset