Dr Richard Stephens

BSc(Hons) PhD C Psychol.
Title	Lecturer in Psychology
Phone	(+44) 01782 733600  Internal: 33600
Fax	(+44) 01782 733387
Email	r.stephens@psy.keele.ac.uk
Room	Dorothy Hodgkin Building 1.75
Roles	3rd Year Tutor, Workplace Safety Advisor, Director of MSc in Psychological Research Methods
Contact	During semester time my office hours are Tuesday 10-12 and 3-4pm

I've been lecturing at Keele University School of Psychology since September 2001. Previously I've held the positions: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Keele University School of Psychology (1999-2001), Higher Psychologist at the Health and Safety Executive, Sheffield (1995-1999), and Research Associate at the Institute of Occupational Health in the University of Birmingham (1992-1995). My PhD, 'Chronic neuropsychological health effects in sheep dippers', was related to a Health and Safety Executive funded project supervised by Dr Anne Spurgeon and awarded by Birmingham University in 1996. My first degree, Life Sciences (Psychology) BSc (Hons) was awarded by Westminster University (formerly the Polytechnic of Central London) in 1992.

Research and Scholarship

Swearing Research

I was recently lead author of an article entitled "Swearing as a response to pain" (Stephens, Atkins & Kingston, 2009) and was delighted by the international media coverage about the paper. I was interviewed by Radio 4, Scientific American and ABC news. The research was reported in The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Observer, Newsweek, New Scientist, Time Magazine and on CBS television news. The research was for some time the most shared story on the BBC News website, and the article remains the most viewed and most e-mailed article on the NeuroReport website. I am currently writing up further research on the use of swearing to alleviate pain and stress.

My long-standing research interest is the study of a range of influences on human cognitive performance. In 2009 I was awarded a Wingate Foundation Medical Research Travel Grant which enabled me to visit Transport Research Laboratory and carry out a pilot study assessing the effects of alcohol hangover on simulated driving, in collaboration with Professor Andrew Parkes. I have also published research on cognitive effects of football heading, of repetitive movements such as hand clenching or chewing gum, of becoming dehydrated and of chemical exposure. Related to this is an interest in the psychometric properties of Digit Symbol Substitution tests.

A further research interest arises out of my teaching specialism. In collaboration, programmer and mathematician Sol Nte and I have been developing dynamic media to improve teaching of research methods and statistics, including a dynamic representation of ANOVA, funded by The Higher Education Academy Psychology Network, and a dynamic representation of the normal distribution , funded by a Keele University Faculty of Natural Sciences Teaching Innovation Award.

I have recently become interested in more diverse applied questions ranging from why people swear in response to pain to the problems associated with the private car as a means of mass transport. Researching the latter question has prompted me to seek training in qualitative research methods. To that end I have been supported via an ESRC Research Resources Board training bursary.

I am a member of the Cognitive and Neuropsychology Research Group of the Psychology Research Centre, Institute of Life Course Studies.

See my RI page for further information.

PhD Supervision

I'd be pleased to speak to prospective PhD students about supervision in any of the above areas.

Publications

Stephens, R., Atkins, J. & Kingston, A. (2009). Swearing as a response to pain. NeuroReport, 20, 1056-1060. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e32832e64b1. Click here for a copy of the article in pdf format.

Stephens, R. & Nte, S. (2009). Development and evaluation of an interactive visual workspace to aid the intuitive understanding of ANOVA (Analysis of Variance). Psychology Learning and Teaching, 8, 14-20.

Stephens, R. & Kaufman, A. (2009). The role of long-term memory in Digit-Symbol test performance in young and older adults. Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition, 16, 219-240. DOI: 10.1080/13825580802573060.

Stephens, R., Ling, J., Heffernan, T.M., Heather, N & Jones, K. (2008). A review of the literature on the cognitive effects of the alcohol hangover. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 43, 163-170 doi:10.1093/alcalc/agm160.

Stephens, R. (2006). Age-related decline in Digit-Symbol performance: Eye-movement and video analysis. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 21, 101-107 doi:10.1016/j.acn.2005.08.002

Stephens, R., Rutherford, A., Potter, D. & Fernie, G. (2005). Neuropsychological impairment as a consequence of football (soccer) play and football heading: A preliminary analysis and report on school students (13-16 years). Child Neuropsychology, 11, 513-526 doi: 10.1080/092970490959629

Stephens, R., & Tunney, R.J. (2004). Role of glucose in chewing gum-related facilitation of cognitive function. Appetite, 43, 211-213 doi:10.1016/j.appet.2004.07.006

Stephens, R., & Sreenivasan, B. (2004). The effects of long-term low-level organophosphate exposure on orchard sprayers in England: A neuropsychological investigation. Archives of Environmental Health, 59, 566-574.

Teaching

Year 1
PSY-10001 Individuals and Society 1 (Seminar Tutor)
PSY-10003 Mechanisms and Principals 1 (Lecturer and Seminar Tutor)
PSY-10004 Research Perspectives and Quantitative Methods (Module Leader and Lecturer)

Year 2
PSY-20004 Factorial Experimental Designs and ANOVA (Lecturer)

Year 3
PSY-30023 Influences on Human Cognitive Performance (Module Leader and Lecturer)
PSY-30061 Final Year Project (Project Supervisor)