Dr Alison Lenton
Curriculum Vitae
Education
BA, University California, Santa Barbara (Women's Studies)
MA, California State University, Long Beach (Psychology-Research)
MA, University of Colorado at Boulder (Social Psychology)
PhD, University of Colorado at Boulder (Social Psychology)
Work History
Dr Alison Lenton joined the Department of Psychology at the University of Edinburgh in 2004. Prior to this, she lectured in the Department of Social and Developmental Psychology at the University of Cambridge (2002-2004).
Current Research Interests
Social judgments and choice: With respect to this domain, I have investigated social projection in judgments of sexual intent, and I am currently working on studies that examine context effects -- such as the number of potential options and the variability of those options -- on mate choice strategies and satisfaction.
State authenticity: A new, as-yet-unpublished line of research investigates a concept I call "state authenticity", which is one's momentary sense of feeling in alignment with one's "real self". I am currently investigating the causes of (precursors to) state authenticity, how people experience it, and what are some of the outcomes of this experience. In order to collect data and share our findings with others, and with funding from the ESRC, we have set up a research group and website. See: Project S:ELF.
Previous Research Interests
Prejudice and stereotyping: My interests in this domain have centered on the structure ('breadth') of gender stereotypes and on the effectiveness of automatic stereotype reduction techniques. Other research in this domain has focused on the influence of social category cues on the allocation of (life-saving or life-compensating) resources.
Postgraduate Opportunities
I am interested in supervising postgraduate (MSc, PhD) research in the following areas:
- The causes, consequences and phenomenology of state authenticity.
Please note, I am an experimental social-cognitive psychologist and, thus, the projects I supervise must possess this same epistemological framework.
Research publications
Research grants/projects
Teaching
Year 2: Person Perception (understanding others' emotions, attribution theory, and impression formation)
Year 3: Social Psychology and the Law (eyewitness testimony, juror decision making, justice judgments, death penalty decisions, police interrogation, sexual harassment)
Year 4: Social Judgment and Decision Making (how different models of 'rationality' explain human judgment and decision making)
MSc: Research Ethics