Psychology

Profile

Background

I joined the department as a lecturer in September 2001.  I am Associate Head for Research for the Department of Psychology.  I am also a Chartered Psychologist of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and a member of the Association for Psychological Science (APS).

Teaching responsibilities

I co-ordinate a Year 3 unit entitled The Psychology of False and Recovered Memory and the core Year 2 Cognitive Psychology unit.  I supervise dissertations at both undergraduate and postgraduate level on memory and suggestibility.

Winner- "Best Personal Tutor" in the 2011 UoP Students' Union Student Led Teaching Awards.

Research interests

My research interests fall mainly within what might loosely be called applied cognitive/social psychology and include:

•    False and recovered memory;
•    Social influences on remembering and suggestibility;
•    Bartlett's theory of reconstructive remembering.  

I am a member of the International Centre for Research in Forensic Psychology.

PhD Supervision

Ongoing: Gavin Oxburgh, Lucy Arnold (1st supervisor)
Successful completions: Jehanne Almerigogna (2008, 1st supervisor); Bridget Waller (2005, 3rd supervisor).

Recent Publications

More recent publications

Indicative publications

Note: The links at the end of each article or chapter below will take you to the ‘pre-print’ version of the manuscript, in line with publishers’  self-archiving policies.  As they are not the final proofs, they may contain small grammatical or typographical errors.  Clicking the title should take you directly to the online version via the DOI.  If you cannot access it that way then please email me for a copy of the PDF (james.ost@port.ac.uk)

• OST, J. (2010). Recovered memories (invited chapter). In T. Williamson, T. Valentine & R. Bull (Eds.), Handbook of Psychology of Investigative Interviewing. Current Developments and Future Directions. Chichester, UK: Wiley. [PDF]
• Ost, J., Ghonouie, H., Cook, L., & Vrij, A (2008). The effects of confederate influence and confidence on the accuracy of crime judgements. Acta Psychologica. 128, 25-32. [PDF]
• Wright, D. B., Ost, J., & French, C. C. (2006). Ten years after: What we know now that we didn't know then about recovered and false memories. The Psychologist, 19, 352-355. [PDF]
• Ost, J. (2006). Recovered memories. In T. Williamson (Ed.), Investigative interviewing: Rights, research, regulation (pp. 259-291). Devon, UK: Willan Publishing [ PDF]
• Ost, J., Foster, S., Costall, A., & Bull, R. (2005). False reports of childhood events in appropriate interviews. Memory, 13, 700-710. [PDF]
• Vrij, A., Pannell, H., & Ost, J. (2005). The influence of social pressure and black clothing on crime judgements. Psychology, Crime & Law, 11, 265-274. [PDF]
• Ost, J. (2005). EMDR: Of limited use, whichever way you look at it. Healthwatch Newsletter, 58, 4-5. [PDF]
• Ost, J. (2003). Essay review: Seeking the middle ground in the 'memory wars'. British Journal of Psychology, 94, 125-139. [PDF]
• Ost, J., & Costall, A. (2002). Misremembering Bartlett: A study in serial reproduction. British Journal of Psychology, 93, 243-255. [PDF]
• Ost, J., Costall, A., & Bull, R. (2002). A perfect symmetry? A study of retractors' experiences of making and repudiating claims of early sexual abuse. Psychology, Crime & Law, 8, 155-181. [PDF]
• Ost, J., Vrij, A., Costall, A., & Bull, R. (2002). Crashing memories and reality monitoring: Distinguishing between perceptions, imaginations and 'false memories'. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 16, 125-134. [PDF]
• Ost, J., Costall, A., & Bull, R. (2001). False confessions and false memories: A model for understanding retractors' experiences. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 12, 549-579. [PDF]