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Professor Ayse K Uskul

Honorary Professor of Social Psychology
Telephone
+44 (0)1227 824071
Professor Ayse K Uskul

About

Ayse is an Honorary Professor of Social Psychology in the School of Psychology.

Key publications

  • Uskul, A. K., & Cross, S. (2019). The social and cultural psychology of honour: What have we learned from researching honour in Turkey? European Review of Social Psychology, 30, 39-73. 
  • Uskul, A., Cross, S., Gunsoy, C., & Gul, P. (2019). Cultures of honor. In S. Kitayama & D. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of cultural psychology (pp. 793-821). New York: The Guilford Press.
  • Over, H., & Uskul, A. K.* (2016). Culture moderates children's responses to ostracism situations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 110, 710-724. (*joint first authors)
  • Uskul, A. K., & Over, H. (2014). Responses to social exclusion in cultural context: Evidence from farming and herding communities. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106, 752-771.
  • Cross, S., Uskul, A. K., Gercek-Swing, B., Sunbay, Z., Ataca, B., & Karakitapoglu Z. (2014). Cultural prototypes and dimensions of honor. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 232-249. 

Grants and Awards

2019-2024European Research Council Consolidator Grant
The Cultural Logic of Honor and Human Social Interaction: A Cross-Cultural Comparison
€1,998,694
2018-2020Newton International Fellowship (via the British Academy)
(to Mehmet Veysel Elgin – Uskul: Co-Applicant)
£99,000
2018Invitational Fellowship, Japan Society for Promotion ScienceJPY 924,000
2015-2018Ayse Uskul with Susan Cross - Iowa State University
National Science Foundation, Social Psychology Program Division
Honor as Goal Pursuit in Turkey and Northern and Southern US
$589,947
2014European Association for Social Psychology Small Group Meeting Competition 
Culture and Psychology: Insights from the European Context
€4,000
2013-2014British Institute at Ankara
Effects of Being Ignored vs. Slandered as Forms of Social Exclusion: Evidence from the Black Sea Region
£4,960
2013-2014British Academy MidCareer Fellowship£86,465
2011-2012The Leverhulme Trust Research Grant
Promotion of Healthy Eating using Visual Perspectives in Mental Imagery
£79,985
2010-2012Economic and Social Research Council
Promotion of Dental Care using Visual Perspectives in Mental Imagery: A Cultural Approach 
£92,343
2010-2014David Atkins, Ayse Uskul Supervisor
Economic and Social Research Council PhD Studentship
1+3 Scheme
£13,290 (per annum)
2010British Academy Conference Support Grant
Debating Honour in the Context of Group and Gender Relations, the Self and Aggression
£9,308
2010European Association for Social Psychology Small Group Meeting Competition
Debating Honour in the Context of Group and Gender Relations, the Self and Aggression
€4,000
2010-2011British Academy Small Research Grant
Economic Basis of Social Behaviour: Childrearing Practices, Sensitivity to Ostracism and Conceptions of Honour among Farmers and Herders
£7,269
2007-2012Ayse Uskul with Susan Cross - Iowa State University
National Science Foundation, Social Psychology Program Division
Cultural Construction of Honour in Turkey and the U.S
$193,631
2007-2008British Academy Small Research Grant
Modes of Subsistence and Socio-Cognitive Processes
£7,342
2007-2008Research Promotion Fund, University of Essex
Response Format Effects on Survey Responses across Cultures
£6,835
2006Summer Research Fund, Culture and Cognition Program
University of Michigan
$2,750

Research interests

Ayse's primary research interests concern how different cultural settings shape social cognition, conceptions of self, and interpersonal relationships. Her current research is organised around three major themes:

  • Socio-economic basis of interdependence
    The goal of this project, funded by two British Academy grants, is to investigate how economic activities that encourage different degrees of social interdependence shape cognitive and social functioning.
  • Cultural conceptions of honour
    In this comparative project, funded by the National Science Foundation, Ayse is investigating the cultural variations in the salience and forms of honour and emotional and behavioural responses to honour-relevant situations.
  • Culture and health behaviour change
    This line of work, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Leverhulme Trust, integrates research evidence in social, cultural and health psychology to test novel strategies in health behaviour change.

In addition, Ayse is interested in the role of self-regulatory mechanisms in social cognition (e.g. processing of messages), social interaction (e.g., aggression), and mental well-being, as well as social/cultural psychological processes in question comprehension and responding in survey contexts. She welcomes applications from prospective PhD students who are interested in questions related to these areas of research.

Supervision

Not currently available for PhD supervision  

Current research students

Past research students

  • Pelin Gul (School of Psychology Departmental Studentship): Masculine honour leads to greater reputational concerns about gender conformity
  • Courtney Allen: Exploring out-group dating preferences and the beneficial effects of intercultural romantic relationships
  • David Atkins (ESRC): Culture and empathy
  • Chanki Moon: Cultural differences in responses to hierarchical pressures: comparing Korea and the United Kingdom

Visiting scholars

  • Ángel Sanchez Rodriguez (University of Granada)
  • Chanki Moon

Professional

Special issue editing

  • Co-editor (with S. Oishi) of special issue on 'Socio-Ecological Psychology’ in Current Opinion in Psychology, April 2020. 
  • Co-editor (with V. Benet-Martinez, B. Mesquita, and M. Gobel) of special issue on 'Europe’s culture(s): Negotiating cultural meanings, values, and identities in the European context', Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, July 2018.
  • Co-editor (with Patricia Mosquera Rodriguez & Susan Cross) of special issue on social image, European Journal of Social Psychology, June 2011.

Other editing

  • Associate Editor: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, IRGP (2017-2019) 
  • Associate Editor: Psychological Science (2016-2019) 
  • Associate Editor: European Journal of Social Psychology (2015-2017)
  • Associate Editor: Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2013-2016)
  • Editorial board member:
    • European Review of Social Psychology (2019-)
    • Asian Journal of Social Psychology (2014-)
    • Culture and Brain (2012-)
    • In-Mind Magazine (2012-2018)
    • Frontiers in Cultural Psychology (2010-2017)
    • European Journal of Social Psychology (2010-2015)
    • Psychology and Health (2008-)

Grant reviewing/panel & Committee membership

  • Member of the Association for Psychological Science Fellow Committee (2020-2023) 
  • Member of the International Committee, Society for Social Psychology and Personality (2020-2023)
  • Member of the Commissioning Panel for the UK/Ireland Networking Grants Call (ESRC) (2020)
  • Elected European Representative for the Executive Council of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP)  (2016-2020)
  • Member of the Globalization Task Force of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (2018)
  • Member of the GM 3 Fellowship panel on Psychology, Pedagogy, Didactics and Social Work, Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Belgium (2020-2023) 
  • Member of the ESRC Peer Review College (2012-)
  • Member of the Ethnicity Strand Advisory Committee of the UK Household Longitudinal Survey (2010-)

External examiner 

Ayse has been external examiner for PhD theses at University College London, University of Leeds, Queen's University Belfast, University of Sussex, University of Surrey, University of Plymouth (all in the UK), University of Melbourne (Australia), University of British Columbia (Canada), University of Granada (Spain), University of Maastricht (Netherlands) and Katholieke University Leuven (Belgium). 

Selected symposia and meetings organized

  • 2018 Lead organizer of symposium 'How do members of honor cultures respond to challenges? Implications for multicultural societies' at the 24th International Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, Guelph, Canada.
  • 2017 Co-organizer of symposium 'Cultural and Situational Factors Related to Perceptions of Gender-Based Violence: Honor, Manhood Beliefs, and Labelling' at the 18th General Meeting of the European Association of Social Psychology, Granada, Spain
  • 2016 Organizer of symposium 'Economic Environment as Part of Our Ecology: Its Role in Who We Are, How We Think, and What We Do' at the 23rd International Congress of the International Association of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Nayoga, Japan
  • 2015 Organizer of symposium 'A socioecological approach to human psychology: On the role of the objective environment in psychological processes' at the 1st International Convention of Psychological Science, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
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