Research Seminar: Dr Nicholas LeBoutillier (Middlesex University)

*** Everyone Welcome! No need to book in advance *** 

Date: Thursday 20th October 
Time: 16:00-17:00 

Room: Town Hall Committee Room 1

Dr Nicholas LeBoutillier (Middlesex University)

Cognitive and Personality Factors that Predict Performance on Creativity Tasks 

This presentation reviews the literature on creative cognition and presents the findings from a series of studies presented and published by the author of the talk. The structure of the presentation consists of three parts. The first asks, what is creative cognition and how do we operationalise the processes indicative of creative talent? The second presents the speaker’s empirical research on identifying the indicators and predictors of creativity. These include empirical measures of, mental imagery, personality measures of sub-clinical psychopathology and other assessments of self. The final part assesses measures of creative cognition and puts forward the author’s recent research on new measures creative thinking. These aim to encourage creative cognition in both problem finding and problem solving conditions,

About Nick:

Nicholas LeBoutillier is an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at Middlesex University, UK. He is the Programme Leader for the BSc Psychology with Criminology at Middlesex University. His key research interests are the Psychology of Drug and Alcohol Misuse and the Psychology of Imagery, Mental Health and Creativity. He has published in international peer-reviewed psychology journals. He is an empirical researcher who recognizes the limitations of this approach in the field of creativity. 

World Mental Health Day

Yesterday was World Mental Health Day - an occasion to pause and reflect upon the importance of mental health in our lives!

Here is a leaflet with tools suggested by ActionForHappiness. For more information, contact Ruxandra Anghel (R.Anghel@mdx.ac.uk)

New Associate Lecturers

We are very pleased to welcome our two new associate lecturers to the department - Lucy Irving and Deborah Rodriguez. Both are located in TG66 so feel free to pop by and say hello. 

Here they introduce themselves:

Lucy - I studied BSc Psychology as an undergraduate here at Middlesex (2004–2007), and completed my PhD here last year.  My areas of interest include the links between creativity, mental imagery control and schizotypy, as well as research in dance and improving well-being.  In my break from Middlesex, I worked at various institutions across London (including Birkbeck, Imperial College, and UEL), and I’m very happy to have been appointed as Associate Lecturer in Psychology in 2016 having previously held part-time lecturing roles here.  This year I’m teaching on the Foundation in Psychology programme, as well as on various research methods modules across UG and PG programmes. 

Deborah - I started my part-time doctoral studies within the Psychology Department at Middlesex University in October 2012 having studied a BSc Psychology with Counselling Skills here. My current research longitudinally explores the dynamics and changes in attachment behaviours in couple relationships when they become parents for the second time. I am currently in the process of finishing the PhD – the end is in sight! Having worked as a part time lecturer here over the past four years, I am very excited to have recently been appointed as Associate Lecturer in Psychology for a year, which also involves working on the CATS CLEAR project.

 

Research Seminar: Dr Minna Lyons (University of Liverpool)

*** Everyone Welcome! No need to book in advance *** 

Date: Thursday 13th October

Time: 16:00-17:00  

Room: Town Hall Committee Room 3  
 

Dr Minna Lyons (University of Liverpool) 

The Dark Triad: evolutionary bases for individual differences

Minna’s main research interests are, broadly speaking, individual differences from evolutionary perspective. She is using the Life History theory as a framework in investigating individual differences in altruism, social intelligence, morality, attachment, and the Dark Triad of personality (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy).

Abstract: Animals (including humans) show consistent individual differences in behaviour. Rather than being the result of random genetic noise, these differences can be adaptive. Life History Theory (LHT) presents one of the most convincing explanations for individual differences. According to the LHT framework, when faced with risky environments, it may be adaptive to start reproduction early, and invest in a quantity rather than quality of offspring. Risky, impulsive, and manipulative behaviours may be part of a tool-kit that facilitates a fast life history strategy. It has been suggested that fast life history strategies are typical of individuals who are high in the Dark Triad (i.e., psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism) of personality. In this talk, I present our recent findings supporting the idea that some aspects of manipulative personality traits relate to fast life history strategies.

Married at First Sight

Married at First Sight returns for a second season!  

Once again a group of experts including our own Dr Mark Coulson take a group of volunteer singletons and using a variety of psychometric, behavioural and genetic data identify couples who they believe have the potential to fall in love.  The couples then meet on their wedding day, marry and go on honeymoon, and then have five weeks of life together before deciding whether to stay married.  

Will successful matches be found?  Will they make it to the aisle and walk down it?  Will the marriages survive?

Watch Channel 4 on Tuesday nights from October 18 to find out!