Extensive research in face recognition has demonstrated that we are better at remembering individuals belonging to our own social groups than those who do not. There is a tendency to remember better faces which belong to our own race (Own Race Bias, Meissner and Brigham, 2001), our own age (Own Age Bias, Anastasi & Rhodes, 2012) and even our own gender (Own Gender Bias, Herlitz & Loven, 2013). The present thesis aimed to examine possible underlying mechanisms concerning Own Gender Bias. While research on this topic is fairly limited, in general female observers compared to male observers demonstrate an advantage in face recognition. Further, this advantage is more prominent for female faces than for male faces. This tendency to better recognise same gender faces is only consistent for female observers (Herlitz & Loven, 2013). Recent studies on Own Gender Bias emphasise the role of attention; however two studies (Loven, Herlitz, & Rehnman, 2011; Palmer, Brewer, & Horry, 2013) which have directly investigated its role provide inconsistent results. The role of attention has been further highlighted by Hugenberg and colleagues (Hugenberg, Wilson, See, & Young, 2013), in their recent extension of Categorisation-Individuation Model (CIM), where they aim to apply the model to all Own Group Biases. Hugenberg and colleagues also emphasised the role of motivation, especially for Own Gender Bias, since the perceptual models might be less applicable to Own Gender Bias considering that at their core lays the amount of experience that one has with a category of faces. By drawing on the plethora of research on Own Race Bias and the recent findings from Own Gender Bias literature, the main aim of this thesis was to examine specific attentional and motivational processes which may underlie Own Gender Bias in face recognition. Studies 1a and 1b investigated the ability of same gender faces in capturing attention when they were task irrelevant. The results did not reveal any gender differences however an initial preferential allocation of attention to the male face was demonstrated (in manual reaction times as well as eye movement analysis), a finding which was interpreted in terms of male faces being perceived as more threatening. It was argued that participant gender might be more important in later stages of attention rather than in the pre-attentional stages of attention. Hence, 12 in study 2a and 2b sustained attention was examined in a go/no-go task, where the face was also task irrelevant. Based on previous findings (Bindemann, Burton, Hooge, Jenkins, & De Haan, 2005), it was assumed that faces would sustain attention compared to other objects, however this finding as well as any indication of gender differences or a possibility of same gender faces holding attention were not found. Therefore, Study 3 used eye tracking technology to examine the role of attention during encoding and recognition stages while participants performed a simple yes/no recognition task. Study 3 aimed to control for perceptual expertise by utilising androgynous faces (gender ambiguous faces) in a between groups design, where for each group, the gender social category of the androgynous faces was activated. Results suggested that female observers outperformed male performers, with no indication of Own Gender Bias being present. The eye movement analysis seemed to suggest that male and female observers differed from each other in the amount of attention that they paid to the eyebrow and the nose regions of the face. It was only the amount of attention paid to the eyebrow region which was found to result in low accuracy scores; no other pattern for the other internal features was found. Considering the absence of the Own Gender Bias, and findings that participants' sexual orientation seems to modulate the male Own Gender Bias (Steffens et al., 2013), Study 4 used a simple yes/no recognition task without manipulating the face stimuli to examine the basic effect of Own Gender Bias. Furthermore, Study 4 took a social cognitive perspective with an evolutionary viewpoint, where partner guarding and mating purposes variables were hypothesized to act as motivation. It was argued that if Own Gender Bias is subsumed by motivation (as suggested by CIM) then females who routinely inspect other females for mate guarding purposes would display a stronger female Own Gender Bias. However an opposite sex Gender Bias was expected for those who were sexually unrestricted and were always searching for new short-term partners. The results revealed no Own Gender Bias, even on groups who scored high on mate guarding and searching. It was speculated that since females' behaviour especially in relation to mate guarding and mate preferences changes throughout the menstrual cycle, it might be a variable that might need to be taken into consideration in future studies on Own Gender Bias. It was concluded that further studies are needed to establish the consistency of Own Gender Bias, furthermore the results were discussed in terms of the different theories of own group bias.

Although anecdotally sex differences and the impact they may have on cognition is a hot topic in the media, and indeed in research, very little consensus has been found for hormone-related changes in behaviour. Previous work in this area tends to use a two-time repeated measures method to investigate the impact of hormones across the menstrual cycle. However this method has been shown to be relatively ineffective. The female menstrual cycle is roughly 28 days long with very a dynamic, and rapidly changing, mixture of hormone concentrations across the cycle. To capture this fully we suggest it is necessary to collect data at a significantly greater number of time points with more rigorous methods and suitably sensitive analysis. Four studies are presented in this thesis which focus on capturing more accurately the effect of hormones on cognition across the menstrual cycle. Studies One – Three present data from 13 participants using the standard two-time repeated measure method to investigate categorisation behaviour. This is a completely novel area of research in terms of cognition and hormones. Previous research has focused on various aspects of cognition, yet despite categorisation behaviour being a clearly distinct area of cognition, research into the impact of hormone changes has neglected to look for differences here. The focus on categorisation behaviour provides us with a more holistic picture of the impact of hormones on performances and cognition. Study Four provided a novel approach to the way in which studies are conducted in the area. Here we present a multiple repeated measures study with data from 22 participants using a figural comparison task with measurements at twelve time points across their cycles. A previous study by Hausmann et al,. (2002) using a figural comparison task showed clear impact of the menstrual cycle on cognitive performance using 15 time-point measurements in a sample of 12 participants. In addition to an increase in measurement sensitivity using more time points, we also developed a novel mathematical approach to model the performance change over the menstrual cycle. From Studies One to Three we determined that categorisation performance does not appear to be influenced by changes in cyclical hormone changes. However we did find an influence of hormonal changes on performance in a 1-dimensional categorisation task which demonstrates that hormones may have an impact upon Rule-based categorisation. From Study 4 we were unable to replicate Hausmann and colleagues findings. However we were able to successfully develop a novel modelling method that could accurately predict participant performance on a figural comparison task across the menstrual cycle. Overall this thesis presents a comprehensive investigation into hormone related changes in cognition across the menstrual cycle. We looked into a novel area of behavioural categorisation to determine the impact of hormone related changes in performance on such a task. Through which we demonstrated that in this one area there is little impact despite most other areas of cognition being influenced by cyclical hormonal changes. We then investigated the methodology used in the field in an attempt to improve and develop more accurate and sensitive measures. We were unable to replicate a previous study using multiple time points, however the success of developing a model to predict performance on the figural comparison task provides a useful tool for researchers in the area in the future. The thesis clearly demonstrates that this is an area in the field of psychology and neurobiology that is still in need of further investigation and that we still have much to understand in terms of the ways in which our hormones can impact our behaviour.

This thesis examined whether bird sounds are perceived and experienced as restorative following stress and cognitive fatigue, and reasons for such perceptions. Study 1 (N = 20) qualitatively explored restorative perceptions of bird sounds. These arose based on cognitive and affective appraisals of the sounds, and on relationships with nature. Restorative perceptions of bird sounds varied between species as a result of their acoustic, aesthetic, and associative properties. Study 2A (N = 174) quantitatively demonstrated that smoothness, intensity, complexity, pattern, and familiarity were significant predictors of restorative perceptions of bird sounds. Study 2B (N = 116) complemented these results by qualitatively examining associations with the sounds, which were summarised by four master themes: environment, animals, time and season, and environmental activities. Birds perceived as differently restorative in Study 2A were dissociable on the basis of different associations within these master themes. Study 3 (N = 102) experimentally examined the effects of associations on restorative perceptions of bird sounds. Bird sounds associated with positive scenarios were perceived as more restorative than those associated with negative scenarios. Scenarios describing the presence versus absence of threat, and associations with natural versus urban environments, were found to be particularly influential. Study 4 (N = 36) experimentally examined restorative outcomes in response to bird sounds. Listening to birdsong significantly reduced self-reported negative affect in comparison to traffic sounds, but no significant differences were found between sounds in terms of change in positive affect, arousal, or cognition. Qualitative data indicated that listening to the two types of sound generated different imagery of wider natural and urban environments. These four studies reveal the importance of bird sounds in perceptions and experiences of restoration, and the contributions of their acoustic, aesthetic and semantic properties to such perceptions – including associations with wider, multi-sensory environments.

This thesis proposes to make a significant contribution to the conceptual change literature. I investigate, from a developmental perspective, the manner in which students’ knowledge about evolution is constructed. Research in theories of conceptual change has taken two general directions: the coherent theory view (e.g., framework theory) or the fragmented knowledge view (e.g., “knowledge in pieces”). Much research on how people construct knowledge about evolution has taken a coherent theory perspective (Evans, 2000, 2001, 2008, et al., 2010; 2013; Gelman & Legare, 2011; Shtulman & Calabi, 2013). More recently however, Nehm and colleagues have argued that the nature of people’s emerging understanding about evolution is more fragmented than research has first suggested (Nehm & Ha, 2011; Ha & Nehm, 2014). Over a series of four studies, evidence suggests that people’s emerging understanding about evolution is developmentally staggered and that knowledge exists as fragmented knowledge rather than as coherent theories. The first study examined parent-child conversations from 52 families (with children aged 2- to 12-years) in a natural history museum. This study found that family museum visitors do not spontaneously discuss evolutionary concepts while visiting the natural history museum. For this reason, evolutionary exhibits that primarily use static displays need to make the topic of evolution much more apparent for parents and children to learn the intended contents. They would also benefit by including suggestions of wh- questions that parents could use to direct children’s attention to salient aspects of the museum displays. In the second study, I have adapted an existing coding scheme such that it would be more suitable to be used with novice learners, i.e., secondary school students (ages 12, 14 and 16, N = 106) when coding for their understanding about evolution. This study found that learning about evolution is context dependent where students are more likely to apply their knowledge about evolution to microevolutionary events than macroevolutionary events. These findings suggest that in teaching evolution, teachers and educators need to make the meanings of evolutionary terms (e.g., evolve, adapt, fittest) more explicit and use more different examples to support students in learning about evolution. In the third study, I report the findings of a teaching intervention that was aimed at helping students improve their understanding of evolutionary processes. One-hundred-fifty-nine students (ages 16 to 19) participated in this study. Comparing peer and individual learning strategies, this study found that peer learning was superior to individual leaning, but only when low level cognitive processes were involved. For cognitively more complex tasks, all students would benefit from receiving timely feedback from teachers or a more knowledgeable peer. Finally, the fourth study investigated whether or not understanding evolution was related to other aspects of everyday life (e.g., pro-environmental worldviews, affect about nature). There were a total of 148 adults who were included in this study. A positive relationship was found between people’s understandings about evolution and pro-ecological attitudes. This finding has potential implications on teaching for science literacy. Understanding how evolution works may be a gateway to people endorsing more environmentally friendly attitudes and behaviours. Evidence from the four studies suggests that there is a clear developmental trend throughout early childhood and mid- to late-adolescence in the way people reason about evolution. Whereas some concepts such as variation and selection are understood first, other concepts such as selection and time are less well understood. This is true even for young people 16 years and older. Potential implications on pedagogy are discussed.

An estimated 60.25% of offenders have a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI). There is currently no established valid or reliable screening tool for identifying female prisoners with a TBI and associated cognitive impairment available in the UK. Using a cross-sectional design, this study aimed to investigate the retest reliability and construct validity of the Brain Injury Screening Index (BISI). Convergent validity was explored using self-report measures of mood and neurodisability, as well as a battery of neuropsychological assessments of cognitive functioning. Of a planned sample of 73 participants, preliminary data from 23 participants has been analysed. 69.56% of participants were identified as having a history of TBI, with a mean of 2.09 TBIs. Intraclass correlation coefficients reached statistical significance for six of 10 identified key clinical indicators on the BISI. The BISI variables did not reach statistically significant convergence with most of the test battery. Two of the four BISI summary variables demonstrated correlations in the hypothesised directions across the full assessment battery, however only one BISI variable reached statistical significance with one subscale in the battery. Analyses provide support for further investigation into the construct validity and retest reliability of the BISI with a larger sample. The implications of these findings, particularly in refining the BISI, and future research and practice are considered.

This thesis aims to assess the extent to which inequality theories based on two prevalent conceptual themes can explain inequality in domains of UK academic psychology that are well represented by – and typical of –women and Black scholars. The two themes explored are, 1) the assumption that privilege and group disadvantage have the same origin that can logically be described either in terms of processes that lead to privilege or processes that lead to disadvantage, and 2) the attribution of inequality to automatic or passive processes. This thesis presents a series of studies that offer critical tests for equality theories connected by these themes. These theories include Tokenism (Kanter, 1977), norm theory (Kahneman & Miller, 1986), feminist critiques of science (e.g. Harding, 1986), and critiques of academic organisational structures (e.g. Deem, 1998). The studies begin by assessing gender inequality in psychology at the level of the academic organisation (Chapters 2 – 3) and shift to an analysis of gender and racial inequality at the social-cognitive level of research evaluation (Chapters 4 – 5). I argue that the theories of inequality for which the studies provide critical tests are connected by ideologies that impose ways of thinking that may divert attention from processes that underlie privilege and disadvantage; namely, that privilege can exert independent effects on inequality that are driven by ideology about privileged and disadvantaged social groups.

Objective: Inferential confusion is a reasoning process that has been theoretically and empirically linked to obsessive-compulsiveness in the literature. Little is known about the mechanisms by which some people become more or less inferentially confused and in what contexts. Dissociation has been postulated as a process related to inferential confusion, yet findings to date are limited and have been inconclusive. There is preliminary evidence to support the notion that inferential confusion may also be relevant in other belief disorders such as delusional disorder but this has not received much empirical attention. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between inferential confusion, obsessive-compulsiveness, dissociation and schizotypy in a non-clinical sample. Design: Participants (n=107) from the general population took part in a within-participants experimental study, designed to assess the propensity to experience inferential confusion in obsessive-compulsive and delusion-relevant situations and in a threat-neutral situation. Participants also completed self-report measures of inferential confusion, obsessive-compulsiveness, dissociation and schizotypy. Results: As expected, inferential confusion, obsessive-compulsiveness, dissociation and schizotypy were all significantly positively correlated with each other. Propensity to experience inferential confusion was only related to measures of inferential confusion, obsessive-compulsiveness, schizotypy, and dissociation in the context of the delusion-relevant scenario. Conclusions: There is little evidence linking measures of obsessive-compulsiveness, dissociation and schizotypy with experimental measures of inferential confusion. However, there is evidence that these measures relate to self-report measures of inferential confusion. The implications of this are discussed in terms of understanding inferential confusion as a process. However, an alternative explanation for the findings lies in the critique of the methodology of the experimental task. Inferential confusion still requires experimental investigation that can be replicated.

Successful transition from school to post-school is considered vital for each individual and to wider society yet there are still an estimated 31,000 young people in Scotland who leave school without a positive destination (i.e. engaged in education, employment or training) to go to (Scottish Government, 2011). Much of the research with adolescents during transition has been around developing skills for employment yet very little research has been carried out on the young peoples' autonomy and their own goals for the future. To address this gap in the research, a new goal-setting intervention programme: Grasping Opportunities After Leaving School (GOALS) was developed, piloted and trialled. The programme was designed to teach young people goal-setting skills and to create future goals prior to transition from school to post-school. The programme was based on the Going for the Goal Programme (Danish, 2002) and adopted a brief therapy approach. It was hypothesised that the implementation of GOALS would increase pupil goal-setting knowledge and in turn increase pupil engagement in post-school activities. A pilot study evaluated and refined the GOALS materials and the main study evaluated the programme's effectiveness. 328 S3 and S4 pupils from two secondary schools in a local education authority in central Scotland took part in the main study, with classes randomly allocated to intervention or comparison groups. The intervention comprised of four lessons delivered over four weeks. Participants completed self-report questionnaires for goal knowledge and school engagement. All measures were completed at pre- and post-intervention time-points. A critical incident questionnaire was also completed post-intervention together with focus group interviews. Analysis of variance found significant intervention effects in the predicted direction for goal knowledge and engagement. The findings have implications for working with disengaged young people during transition. Strengths and limitations of the study are discussed as well as next steps and future research.

Recent accounts of creative-cognition propose that creativity requires the use of different modes of thought. One mode supports the generation of ideas while a second mode of thought is conducive to evaluating ideas (Gabora & Ranjan, 2013; Howard-Jones, 2002; Kaufman, 2011). It has been suggested that creative individuals may be characterized by being good at shifting between different modes of thinking (Howard-Jones, 2002; Kaufman, 2011; Vartanian, 2009). Modern definitions of creativity emphasize that for a product to be deemed ‘creative’, it must exhibit both novelty and utility (Cropley & Kaufman’s, 2011; Plucker, Beghetto & Dow, 2004). Shifting could be an integral facet of creative-cognition that enables one to produce a creative product possessing these attributes (Gabora & Ranjan, 2013). Prior research has suggested a link between shifting and creativity. However, it has framed shifting in a rather narrow way and examined the link using paradigms that are far removed from the theorized role of shifting in the creative process (Gabora & Ranjan, 2013). The present thesis used an experimental paradigm, a novel self-report measure of shifting and a ‘think-aloud’ protocol to examine multiple facets of shifting and the relationship of these facets to measures of creativity. It revealed that the relationship between shifting and creativity is more complex than previous research suggests, differing across contexts and different creative domains. Different facets of shifting appear to be related to different types of creativity, with metacognitive awareness of shifting distinct from competence shifting and affective processes appearing to play an important role in shifting in the domain of garden design. Based on these findings, it is proposed that future research should take into account the multifaceted nature of shifting. Doing so could significantly aid progress in understanding the nature of the relationship between creativity and shifting between different modes of thought.

The present thesis comprises a three part qualitative project that queries a specific facet of popular management rhetoric: namely, that the contemporary economic agent operates as an empowered self-governing agent. It critically engages with the much debated demise of ‘old capitalism’ and ‘new capitalism’s’ claims of workplace democratisation. The thesis begins with a critical (re)contextualisation of what had become colloquially know as ‘360 degree feedback’. An in-depth genealogical analysis is presented that traces the genesis of three prominent multi-rater/source feedback mechanisms between 1940 and 2011: the T-Group, the therapeutic community and contemporary 360 degree feedback. It is argued that each of these has emerged out of historical attempts to combine disciplinary technologies/techniques with psychological knowledge(s) and expertise in a bid to empower individuals to modify their own behaviour in line with a moral and ethical code of ‘self’ development and ‘self’ mastery. The thesis then examines ‘how’ the contemporary multi-rater/source feedback mechanism of 360 degree feedback is constructed in and through expert discourse(s), and considers to what extent these constructions might represent it as heterotopic. Twelve key informant interviews are subjected to discourse analysis. It is argued that those human technologies/techniques in which individuals are enfolded, objectified, rationalised and normalised are themselves heterotopic and, as such, constitute alternative spatial locations in which individuals are subjected to the effects of power and knowledge. The final study provides a contextualising step inside 360 feedback practices and processes and considers how individuals inhabit and make sense of the alternative space it provides. A form of discourse analysis that synthesises macro and micro discursive approaches is applied. This particular section explores how discursive agents actively negotiate this enacted space and formulate a sense of self within it. In keeping with the critical nature of the thesis, emergent discourses and interpretative repertoires are discussed in terms of the possible ideological functions they perform. When considered in this way, it is concluded that individuals are not being less controlled due to the enlightened nature of workplace democracy. Rather they are merely being controlled differently insofar as it is they and they alone that take up the goal of self- development and, as such, bring their own goals, their own aspirations and their own behaviour in line with a moral and ethical code of ‘self’ development and ‘self’ mastery.