Psychology

Profile

MSc Psychological Research Methods (in the Study of Emotion)
BSc (Hons) Psychology


Background

Following a previous career working with children with SEN and their families, I returned to education in 2002. Having completed undergraduate study (BSc Hons) at Portsmouth, I was awarded departmental funding to complete an MSc, supervised by Professor Kim Bard, where I investigated emotion lateralisation in early infant interaction. In 2006, I was awarded full PhD funding from an EU collaborative grant, FEELIX GROWING (supervisors: Prof K Bard, Prof S Buckley, Dr A Hillstrom).


Research Interests

I am interested in the role that emotion (in particular positive emotion) plays in various aspects of social and emotional development of very young infants, both with regard typical and atypical populations (Down syndrome). I also have an interest in facial expressions of emotion, and am a qualified coder of the facial expression coding systems: FACS, Baby FACS and ChimpFACS. I am currently conducting a comparative study with Prof Bard, investigating context specific, infant facial expressions of emotion across cultures and species.


Publications

Thorsteinsson, K. & Bard, K.A. (2009). Coding infant chimpanzee facial expressions of joy.  In E. Banninger-Huber  & D. Peham (Eds).  Current and future perspectives in facial expression research: Topics and methodological questions.  Proceedings of the International Meeting at the Institute of Psychology, University of Innsbruck/ Austria, (pp. 54-61). Innsbruck, Austria: Innsbruck University Press.

Murray, J. C., Canamero, L., Bard, K. A., Davila Ross, M., and Thorsteinsson, K. (2009).  The Influence of Social Interaction on the Perception of Emotional Expression: A case study with a robot head.  In J.H. Kim et al (eds);  FIRA 2009, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 5744, pp 63-72.  Heidelberg, Berlin:Springer-Verlag.