Centre for Interaction, Development and Diversity

The Centre has at its core a commitment to studying psychological phenomena in relation to the contexts and situations in which they emerge. Our work covers a multitude of methods – such as naturalistic observations, experiments, conversation analysis, cross-cultural studies, longitudinal studies and so on.

Our focus on situation and context takes the body and the social and material world in which we live as fundamental to all Psychology. Many of our studies focus on the processes through which animate beings are not only influenced by, but actually shape their immediate worlds. In this vein, ‘things’ in the world – often seen as physical objects – are often deeply social as well. Many of us study the implicit and often non-verbal ways in which we engage with other sentient beings, and the way in which these processes influence social understanding, identity, and culture itself.

Our members work in and across a number of scientific domains, such as:

Developmental Psychology

Research programmes: Attentional and intentional engagements in infants (Reddy, Nomikou, Gustafsson, Rossmanith; phonemic and semantic skills (Devonshire); Against the theory of the theory of mind (Costall, Leudar).

Human Movement

Research programmes: Gaze and Steering (Kadar), Gaze and non-verbal information during interpersonal interactions (Dicks), Faking Injuries in Football (Morris), Sniffing robots (Kadar), The kinematics of giving (Reddy, Morris, Becchio; Bialek); Falls in older life (Udell).

Autism

Research programmes: Sensory processing and perceiving intentions in AS and typical adults (Lopez, Ambrosini, Reddy); Employment issues in autism (López, Rubin); Interactional competences in autism (Fasulo). See also links to the Autism Research Network and Autism Centre for Research in Employment below.

Disability and Empowerment

Research Programmes: Critical interrogations of services for and systemic practice in working with people with intellectual disability (Haydon-Laurelut); constructions of challenging behaviour in services (Nunkoosing);  analysing talk: choice, control and power relations (Jingree).

Communication and Identity

Research Programmes: Community and identity in health care (Fasulo); Language development and socialisation (Fasulo & Nomikou); Identity and memory (Koppel); Constructions of identities within learning disability services (Jingree).

Autism Research Network

The Centre also houses the Autism Research Network (ARN), set up in response to informal discussions with parents and practitioners in the Hampshire area. The primary aim of this Network is to create a forum to promote a genuine communication channel amongst researchers, practitioners, carers, parents and individuals on the Autism Spectrum. These collaborations have resulted in the creation of the Autism Centre for Research on Employment (ACRE), which specialises on conducting research to increase employment outcomes for people in the spectrum.