Professor Ayse K Uskul

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

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.

Not currently available for PhD supervision  

Current research students

• Phatthanakit (Bryan) Chobthamkit (2nd supervisor): Cultural perspectives on just world beliefs

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

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.