profile

Dr Miriam Koschate-Reis
Senior Lecturer in Social and Organisational Psychology
2418
Washington Singer 113
Washington Singer Laboratories, University of Exeter, Perry Road, Prince of Wales Road, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK
Office hours: Mondays, 3.20-3.30pm Fridays, 12.15 - 1.15pm
Overview
My research interests centre on intra- and intergroup processes in social and organisational contexts.
1) Social identity markers: Working with computer scientists at the Univeristy of Exeter, UCL and Imperial, I examine how the way we communicate - our linguistic style - provides clues to our identities in online texts.
2) Intergroup Contact: My work examines social interactions between members of different groups (e.g. work groups, disciplines, human-robot interactions) and effects on cooperation and helping behaviour.
3) Social influence: I have also examined the transmission of behavioural change in social groups by studying the effects of group salience on the perseverance of a newly acquired behaviour.
Qualifications
Dr. phil. (PhD), University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau, Germany (2008)
Career
Senior Lecturer Social and Organiational Psychology, University of Exeter (2018 - )
Lecturer Social and Organiational Psychology, University of Exeter (2013-2018)
Associate Research Fellow, University of Exeter (2012 – 2013)
Research Fellow, University of St Andrews (2008 – 2012)
Teaching and Research Fellow, University of Koblenz-Landau (2005-2008)
Research group links
Research
Research interests
I am currently an EPSRC Innovation Fellow (2018-2021). I am also a Co-Investigator on the cross-disciplinary EPSRC-funded platform grant SAUSE: Secure, Adaptive, Usable Software Engineering (2018-2023).
Psychological Identity in a Digital World:
Boundaries between digital technologies and ourselves become blurred as technology is integrated into our work, home, even our bodies. Interdisciplinary research is needed to understand how our sense of self - our psychological identity - affects and is affected by technology use. I will extend current research on privacy by considering how our different psychological identities shape what we find acceptable to reveal in different situations. I will also continue to develop the capacity to detect psychological identities from naturally occurring digital data (e.g., forum posts, blogs, e-mails). This research will allow us to understand which psychological identity (e.g., parent, addict, criminal network identity) is relevant while a person is communicating. Building on the identity detection work, I will examine how individuals develop new psychological identities (e.g., transitioning into parenthood) and leave identities behind (e.g., addict), and the consequences of such transitions for mental health (e.g., post-natal depression, addiction recovery) and security (e.g., drugs trade). This work will be underpinned by a programme of collaboration with industry partners in the fields of security and healthcare to explore applications in data analytics, diagnostic and monitoring support, and software engineering.
NPIF-EPSRC Studentship (2017-2021): Ms Alicia Cork (Industry partner: National Crime Agency)
EPSRC Studentship (2018-2021): Ms Anna Zinn
Additional research interests:
1) Social influence: I have also done work on the dynamics of synchronisation. Synchronisation often happens spontaneously, both in the animal kingdom and among humans. Synchrony has also been proposed (and shown) to lead to social cohesion and prosocial interactions. Our research looks at the conditions under which changes in bodily rhythm are maintained over longer periods of time using both social psychological theory and a cultural transmission framework.
2) Intergroup Contact: Most of my work examines social interactions between members of different groups (e.g. work groups, disciplines, inter-generational) and effects on cooperation and helping behaviour. In particular, I have looked at the conditions under which intergroup contact predicts cooperation and positive attitudes (Koschate & van Dick, 2011) as well as different types of contact and their relationship with intergroup helping behaviour (Koschate, Oethinger, Kuchenbrandt, & van Dick, 2012). I am currently investigating which types of intergroup contact predict positive intergroup relations by using GPS tracking of real intergroup contact events (with Tina Keil, EPSRC doctoral student).
3) Human-Robot-Interaction: As part of a recent EPSRC grant, I conducted studies on human-robot interaction, specifically the 'uncanny valley'. We have found that the sense of eeriness or uncanniness stemming from highly humanlike robots can be successfully reduced by introducing emotional expressions (e.g. facial displays) (Koschate, Potter, Bremner, & Levine, 2016). As part of this work, we have collaborated with the @Bristol Science Museum to engage with the public (e.g., Mini Maker Fair).
Research projects
2018-2022: EPSRC Innovation Fellowship - Psychological Identity in a Digital World: Detecting and Understanding Digital Traces of our Psychological Self (£667,224)
2018-2023: EPSRC Platform Grant - SAUSE: Secure, Adaptive, Usable Software Engineering (as Co-I); PI: Bashar Nuseibeh (Open University) (£1,330,879)
2013-2016: EPSRC Digital Personhood Research Grant - Being There: Humans and Robots in Public Spaces (as Co-I); PI: Mark Levine (University of Exeter) (£2,044,337)
Research networks
Research collaborations
University of Exeter:
Dr Jon Cinnamon - CLES, Human Geography
Prof Richard Everson - CEMPS, Computer Science
Prof Mark Levine - CLES, Psychology, SEORG
Dr Heather O'Mahen - CLES, Psychology, Clinical Psychology
Dr Avelie Stuart - CLES, Psychology, SEORG
National:
Dr Paul Bremner - UWE, Robotics
Dr Luke Dickens - UCL, Computer Science
Dr Hatice Gunes - Cambridge, Engineering and Computer Science
Prof Alessandra Russo - Imperial College, Computer Science
Dr Laurissa Tokarchuk - QMUL, Computer Science
Dr Zena Wood - University of Greenwich
International:
Dr Tegan Cruwys - University of Queensland, Australia
Prof Rolf van Dick - Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe Universitaet, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Dr Anja Eller - UNAM, Mexico
Prof Catherine Haslam - University of Queensland, Australia
Publications
Key publications | Publications by category | Publications by year
Publications by category
Books
Journal articles
Conferences
Reports
Publications by year
In Press
2021
2020
2017
2016
2014
2012
2011
2008
2003
Miriam_Koschate-Reis Details from cache as at 2021-04-13 11:49:04
Teaching
Current courses (2018/19):
Undergradute
- PSY1126 - Classic Studies in Psychology (PSY1126)
- Research Project Supervision (PSY3401)
- Contemporary Issues in Psychology (PSY3403)
- Personal tutor
Postgraduate
- Research Apprenticeship Supervision (PSYM210)
Previous courses
- 2013-15: Advanced Statistics (PSYM201)
Modules
2020/21
Supervision / Group
Postdoctoral researchers
- Huseyin Cakal (EPSRC HARPS)
- Elahe Naserianhanzaei
Postgraduate researchers
- Alicia Cork
- Tina Keil
- Kim Van Den Eeckhout
- Anna Zinn
Alumni
- Richard Philpot