Richard Stephens

Biography

Research interests

With over 30 years experience in psychology, I have developed an international reputation for research on emotional language, specifically, swearing. My pioneering research on swearing and pain using ice water has been portrayed numerous times in the media. Five papers deriving from this research are in the top 5% of all research outputs tracked by Altmetric across all science disciplines.

Engagement

I have given invited talks about my research to 31 university departments and I have given 31 talks at popular science events, schools and colleges, including a TEDx talk. I am passionately interested in science communication and have achieved some notable successes in that arena including the 2017 British Psychological Society Book of the Year Award (Popular Science Category) and the 2014 Wellcome Trust & Guardian Science Writing Prize. June 2015 marked the worldwide publication of my popular science book, Black Sheep The Hidden Benefits of Being Bad, to critical acclaim. I have had popular science articles published across print media and blogs and have recorded 1.8 million reads on The Conversation.

Leadership

I am Chair of the British Psychological Society (BPS) Research Strategy Board and a BPS Trustee (appointed January 2025). I am a former Chair of the BPS Psychologist and Digest Editorial Advisory Committee (2020-2025) and of the BPS Psychobiology Section (2013-2017).

Citizenship

I have served as external examiner for BSc Psychology courses at Brunel, Westminster, Surrey and Queen Mary University London. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (recognition number PR094004) and a member of the Experimental Psychology Society.

Research and scholarship

I have a long-standing interest in the psychological benefits of swearing, an area which I research using experimental psychology methodologies. For example, this paper, published in 2020, assessed whether we can mimic the beneficial effects of swearing on pain using newly invented swear words. This research, sponsored by Nurofen, reached an audience of 84 million people via media coverage.

I am beginning to research the psychology explaining and enhancing science communication. That is, how most effectively to engage non-scientists in science content via lay summaries written by humans or generated using AI large language models.

MSc and PhD Supervision

I'd be very pleased to speak to prospective MSc or PhD students about supervising dissertation research in any of the above areas. Please get in touch by email.

Teaching

I teach cognitive and biological psychology, quantitative and experimental research methods, the psychology underlying science communication and academic writing skills.

Videos