PhD studentship: The impact of self-biases on cognition and emotion (Aberdeen University)

Closing Date

20 Dec 2019

Salary

Funded (UK/European students only)

Address

Aberdeen

Duration

3 years

Self biases are pervasive in our decision making and even in the way we see the world. Evaluating the properties of these biases provides a critical way of trying to understand what we mean by the self – a longstanding quest to numerous disciplines (e.g., psychology, psychiatry, philosophy). This project proposes a new hypothesis of self-biases – self acts an ‘integrative hub’, providing a form of glue that enhances the binding of external input to internal state representations. The project will assess this new account in social contexts (e.g., emotion, personality, behaviour).

We wish to recruit a highly motivated phd candidate to join a team funded by the Leverhulme Trust. This 3-year PhD studentship will deliver student centre training including programming skills and advances statistical and machine learning analyses, with an explicit emphasis on interdisciplinary research (experimental psychology, neuroscience, computational science).

Essential background and Knowledge:

Experience in studying the self in perception and cognition, e.g., how self-relevance influence information processing.

Experience in quantitative methodology in assessing cognitive processes (e.g., perception, memory) and self-report questionnaires (e.g., personality, self-esteem).

To apply, please click here. 

To send an email to make an enquiry, please click here. 

References

Sui, J., & Gu, X. (2017). Self as object: Emerging trends in self research. Trends in Neuroscience, 40, 643-653.

Sui, J., Rotshtein, P., & Humphreys, G. W. (2013). Coupling social attention to the self forms a network for personal significance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110, 7607-7612.

Sui, J., He, X., & Humphreys, G. W. (2012). Perceptual effects of social salience: Evidence from self-prioritization effects on perceptual matching. Journal of Experimental Psychology, Human Perception and Performance, 38, 1105-1117.

Further Information

This project is funded by the Leverhulme Trust and is available to UK/EU nationals who meet the Leverhulme Trust eligibility criteria.
The studentship provides funding for tuition fees, stipend and a research training and support grant, subject to eligibility.

Candidates should have (or expect to achieve) a minimum of a 2.1 Honours degree in psychology.