Dr Richard Stephens
- Title
- Senior Lecturer in Psychology
- Location
- Dorothy Hodgkin Building : DH1.75
- Role
- Research Leader of the Psychobiology Research Laboratory; Year two tutor
- Contact me
- My office hours are Mondays 1-3pm.
- Phone
- +44(0)1782 733600
- r.stephens@keele.ac.uk
Biography
I have been involved with psychology for more than 3 decades. I have developed an international reputation for research on alcohol and emotional language. My research on the benefits of swearing for pain tolerance and for performing physical tasks is very well known and has been portrayed numerous times in the media.
I have given 9 keynote lectures at academic conferences and an additional 67 conference presentations. I have given invited talks about my research to 27 university departments and I have given 29 talks at popular science events, schools and colleges, including a TEDx talk.
I am passionately interested in science communication, which is writing about science for non-academic audiences. In this arena I won the 2014 Wellcome Trust & Guardian Science Writing Prize, and 2015 marked the worldwide publication of my popular science book, Black Sheep The Hidden Benefits of Being Bad, to critical acclaim. The book won the 2017 British Psychological Society Book of the Year Award (Popular Science Category).
I have had popular science articles published across print media and blogs, with over 1 million reads on The Conversation. These include, ”Think swearing isn’t big or clever? Think again”, “The psychology of roller coasters”, “The science of saying sorry”, and “Swearing can help you boost your physical performance".
I have served on the committee of the British Psychological Society Psychologist and Digest Editorial Advisory Committee since January 2017. I am a former Chair of the British Psychological Society Psychobiology Section (2013-2017) and continue to serve as a committee member. I am or have been external examiner for the BSc Psychology courses at Westminster University, Surrey University and Queen Mary University London. I became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy on 15th October 2015, recognition number PR094004.
For latest updates follow me on twitter: @psychologyrich
I am always pleased to hear from students interested in working on a PhD under my supervision. An ideal starting point for a PhD is for me to supervise your dissertation on the MSc Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience here at Keele. Please get in touch by email.
Research and scholarship
Psychological benefits of swearing
I have a long-standing interest in the psychological benefits of swearing, an area which I research using experimental psychology methodologies. My most recent 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 stories in the media. Recent published studies have assessed taboo gesticulations, effects of swearing on strength and power performance, whether swearing shows cross-cultural effects, and a study of how altering one’s level of emotional arousal affects swearing fluency.
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
Modules lead by Dr Stephens
- PSY-30099 Key Readings in Cognitive Psychology
- PSY-40045 MSc Dissertation
Modules on which Dr Stephens is a lecturer or tutor
- PSY-10019 Applied Psychology
- PSY-10031 Introduction to statistics for psychology
- PSY-10033 Introduction to developmental and social psychology
- PSY-10034 Introduction to biological and cognitive psychology
- PSY-20044 Statistics for Psychology
- PSY-20045 Biological and Cognitive Psychology
- PSY-30061 Final Year Project
- PSY-30067 Individual Differences and Conceptual Issues
- PSY-40039 Advanced Research Skills and Design
- PSY-40075 Cognitive Neuroscience
The full text version of my 2018 paper "Effect of swearing on strength and power performance", published in the peer-review journal "Psychology of Sport and Exercise" is available to download here.
Selected Publications
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2020. Swearing as a Response to Pain: Assessing Hypoalgesic Effects of Novel "Swear" Words. Front Psychol, vol. 11, 723. link> doi> full text>
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2018. Playing in the UEFA Europa League Does Not Adversely Affect English Premier League or La Liga Performance. Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, vol. 4(1). doi> link> full text>
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2019. Taboo gesticulations as a response to pain. Scand J Pain, vol. 19(2), 397-406. link> doi> full text>
Full Publications List show
Books
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2015. Black Sheep: The Hidden Benefits of Being Bad. Hachette UK.
Journal Articles
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2020. Swearing as a Response to Pain: Assessing Hypoalgesic Effects of Novel "Swear" Words. Front Psychol, vol. 11, 723. link> doi> full text>
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2018. Playing in the UEFA Europa League Does Not Adversely Affect English Premier League or La Liga Performance. Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, vol. 4(1). doi> link> full text>
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2019. Taboo gesticulations as a response to pain. Scand J Pain, vol. 19(2), 397-406. link> doi> full text>
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2018. Effect of swearing on strength and power performance. PSYCHOLOGY OF SPORT AND EXERCISE, vol. 35, 111-117. link> doi> full text>
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2017. Swearing as a response to pain: A cross-cultural comparison of British and Japanese participants. Scand J Pain, vol. 17, 267-272. link> doi> full text>
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2017. Does familial risk for alcohol use disorder predict alcohol hangover?. Psychopharmacology (Berl), vol. 234(12), 1795-1802. link> doi> full text>
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2017. Does Emotional Arousal Influence Swearing Fluency?. J Psycholinguist Res, vol. 46(4), 983-995. link> doi> full text>
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2016. The effect of alcohol hangover on choice response time. J Psychopharmacol, vol. 30(7), 654-661. link> doi> full text>
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2013. Does the severity of hangovers decline with age? Survey of the incidence of hangover in different age groups. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. doi>
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2013. Is love a drug?. The British Psychological Society Psychobiology Section Newsletter, 5-6.
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2013. Swearing - the language of life and death. The Psychologist, vol. 26(9), 650-653.
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2013. The relationship between membership of a university sports group and drinking behaviour among students at English Universities. Addiction Research & Theory, vol. 21(4), 339-347. doi>
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2012. Rat Park – challenging ideas about addiction. The British Psychological Society Psychobiology Section Newsletter, 7-9.
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2012. Sun, Sea Shakes. The British Psychological Society Psychobiology Section Newsletter, 7-9.
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2011. Do Individual Differences Moderate the Cognitive Benefits of Chewing Gum?. Psychology, vol. 2(8), 834-840. doi>
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2010. Cognitive and Psychomotor Performance During Alcohol Hangover. Current Drug Abuse Reviews, vol. 3, 80-87. doi>
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2010. Does binge drinking in teenagers affect their everyday prospective memory?. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, vol. 109(1-3), 73-78. doi>
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2010. Editorial: The Importance of Raising the Profile of Alcohol Hangover Research. Current Drug Abuse Reviews, vol. 3, 64-67. doi>
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2010. The Alcohol Hangover Research Group Consensus Statement on Best Practice in Alcohol Hangover Research. Current Drug Abuse Reviews, vol. 3, 116-126. doi>
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2009. Do UK university football club players suffer neuropsychological impairment as a consequence of their football (soccer) play?. Journal of Clinical & Experimental Neuropsychology, 641-681. doi>
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2009. Why are some Parkinson’s disease patients unaware of their dyskinesias?. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology. doi>
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2009. Why are some Parkinson disease patients unaware of their dyskinesias?. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, vol. 22, 117-121. doi>
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2004. Neuropsychological effects of long-term low-level organophosphate exposure in orchard sprayers in England. Archives of Environmental Health, vol. 59(11), 566-574. doi>
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2003. To head, or not to head? What was the question?. PSYCHOLOGIST, vol. 16(12), 655. link>
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2003. Analysis of substitution test performance using eye movement and video data (vol 9, pg 181, 2002). APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY, vol. 10(4), 260. link>
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2001. Feasibility of the use of eye movement data in the analysis of neurobehavioral test performance. Environmental Research. doi>
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1998. Role of human neurobehavioural tests in regulatory activity on chemicals. OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE, vol. 55(3), 210-214. doi>
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1998. Role of human neurobehavioural tests in regulatory activity on chemicals. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, vol. 55(3), 210-214.
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Organophosphates: The relationship between chronic and acute exposure effects. NEUROTOXICOLOGY AND TERATOLOGY, vol. 18(4), 449-453. doi>
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1996. Abnormalities on neurological examination among sheep farmers exposed to organophosphorous pesticides. OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE, vol. 53(8), 520-525. doi>
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1995. NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF LONG-TERM EXPOSURE TO ORGANOPHOSPHATES IN SHEEP DIP. The Lancet, vol. 345(8958), 1135-1139. doi>
Chapters
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2008. Videogame aesthetics and e-learning: a retro-looking computer game to explain the normal distribution in statistics teaching. In Proceedings of the 2nd European Conference on Games-Based Learning. Connolly T and Stansfield M (Eds.). Reading: Academic Conferences Ltd..
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2007. Does football heading impair cognitive function?. In Cognitive Disorders Research Trends. Sentowski HC (Ed.). New York: Nova Science Pub Incorporated.
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2007. Expert Commentary: Does football heading impair cognitive function?. In Cognitive Disorders Research Trends. Sentowski HC (Ed.). Nova Science Pub Incorporated.
Other
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2013. HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF THE ALCOHOL HANGOVER PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM AN EU 7TH FRAMEWORK MARIE CURIE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP. ALCOHOLISM-CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH (vol. 37, p. 86A). link>
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2010. Bereavement and people with ID: developing a tool to support practice. JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES (vol. 23, p. 416). link>
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2008. Hydration and cognitive performance of secondary school children. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY (vol. 43, p. 502). link>
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2008. Videogame Aesthetics and e-Learning: A Retro-looking Computer Game to Explain the Normal Distribution in Statistics Teaching. 2ND EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON GAMES BASED LEARNING (pp. 341-348). link>
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2007. Cognitive impairment and polymorphisms of cathepsin D in multiple sclerosis. JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY (vol. 254, p. 163). link>
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2005. Neuropsychological outcome and apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 polymorphism in multiple sclerosis. JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY (vol. 252, p. 131). link>
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2005. Neuropsychological outcome and cannabinoid receptor 1 polymorphism in multiple sclerosis. JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY (vol. 252, p. 66). link>
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2005. Neuropsychological outcome and APOE polymorphism in multiple sclerosis. JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY NEUROSURGERY AND PSYCHIATRY (vol. 76, p. 158). link>
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2004. Neuropsychological outcome and APOE polymorphism in multiple sclerosis. MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (vol. 10, pp. S207-S208). link>
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2001. The use of eye movement data in the analysis of neurobehavioural test performance.
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2001. Heading the ball in amateur adult football (soccer) and neuro-psychological impairment. Some preliminary results. Proceedings of the British Psychological Society.
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2001. Is heading the ball in football a cause of neuropsychological impairment in amateur adult players?. Proceedings of the British Psychological Society.
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2000. Analysis of WAIS-R Digit Symbol performance using eye movement data.
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2000. No evidence of Chronic sub-clinical neurobehavioral effects in orchard sprayers in England with long-term, low-level organophosphate exposure: Preliminary results of a cross-sectional study.
