School of Psychology

Research Summary

I am interested in the way a person’s/group’s position (status or power) in a social hierarchy influences the way they think about political and moral issues. I examine the way political attitudes and emotion influences political actions such as protesting. As an extension to the above work, I am also interested in exploring inequalities in health and well-being.

Teaching Summary

I teach on the Level 2 (2nd year) Social Psychology module (PS2007), where I lecture on intergroup perception (stereotypes), evaluation (prejudice), and behaviour (discrimination and political action).  I also teach on the Level 3 (3rd year) module on Emotion, Social Identity an Intergroup Relations (PS3411), where I lecture on social identity, intergroup emotion, and status.

Selected Publications (2008 onwards)

Spears, R., Leach, C., van Zomeren, M., Ispas, A., Sweetman, J., Tausch, N. (2010). Intergroup emotions: More that the sum of the parts. Nyklicek, I., Vingerhoets, A.J.J.M., & Zeelenberg, M. (Eds.), Emotion regulation and well-being (pp. 121-146). New York: Springer.

Spears, R., Greenwood, R., de Lemus, S., & Sweetman, J. (2010). Legitimacy, social identity, and power. In A. Guinote & T. K. Vescio (Eds.), The social psychology of power (pp. 251-283). New York: The Guilford Press.

Sweetman, J., Spears, R., & Livingstone, A. (under review). Other-Praising Emotions Regulate Social Hierarchy:  From Political Attitudes to Action

Sweetman, J., Spears, R., & Maio, G. (under review). Automatic Protest Attitudes as Predictors of Collective Political Action: The Ideology of Appropriate Political Behavior

Livingstone, A. G., Haslam, S. A., & Sweetman, J. P. (under review). ‘We have no quarrel with you’: The role of intergroup status in acknowledging or downplaying ‘conflict’ between groups.