Anna Stone

Dr Anna Stone

Senior Lecturer

Cognition and Neuroscience Research Group

Department of Psychology & Human Development , School of Childhood and Social Care

I am a senior lecturer in the School of Childhood and Social Care. I teach on undergraduate and MSc programmes, focusing on Research Methods and Applied Cognitive Psychology. My main research interests are discrimination on the basis of accent and reactions to people with visible facial difference.

Areas Of Interest

  • reactions to people with visible facial difference; my research has examined emotional responses, the assumptions we make about the skills and abilities of people with unusual faces, how we focus our attention, and discrimination in employment
  • ethical veganism
  • evaluations of eyewitnesses based on accent and other features
Anna Stone

OVERVIEW

My research interests fall into two main strands: (1) any aspects of paranormal, religious, moral, or political belief, (2) I also conduct research into the stereotypes attached to individuals with facial disfigurement and in the emotions and attitudes they invoke in the general public. 

CURRENT RESEARCH

I am interested in why people hold beliefs that are not subject to empirical validation, including moral values, religious or political beliefs or belief in the paranormal e.g., alien visitation, telepathy, pre-cognitive dreams, etc. 

I am also interested in how people react to individuals with facial disfigurement. My research has examined emotional responses, the assumptions we make about the skills and abilities of people with unusual faces, how our attention is focused, and how discrimination may arise in employment.  

I am currently carrying out research to create a new multi-dimensional questionnaire of belief in the unusual. This questionnaire will be useful to anyone in the field of paranormal belief and experience and will help to explore the origin and consequences of such belief.

I am also looking at the perceptual categorisation of facial disfigurement.

TEACHING

I am the programme leader for the BSc Psychology by Distance Learning.

I am the Responsible Officer for the Department of Psychology dealing with breaches of academic regulations.

I teach on the BSc Psychology and the MSc Psychology. I am the module leader for the modules PY6320 Anomalistic Psychology and PY6319 the Psychology of Belief, and I also teach topics in Cognitive Psychology at levels 4 and 5 (modules PY4103 and PY5203). I supervise undergraduate and post-graduate research projects.

BSc (Hons) Psychology

Studying for a BSc in Psychology, you will develop a good knowledge of the influences on, and factors involved in, human functioning in all the core areas of psychology.

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MSc Psychology

A psychology conversion course for students with a first degree in another subject area. It means you could go on and train to be a professional psychologist.

Study MSc Psychology

MODULES

  • PY4103:  Introduction to Cognitive and Developmental Psychology
  • PY5203: Topics in Cognitive and Developmental Psychology
  • PY6319: The Psychology of Belief
  • PY6320: Anomalistic Psychology
  • PY6101: BSc project supervision
  • PY7155: MSc project supervision
  • PY7153: Conceptual and Historical issues in Psychology and Social Psychology

Publications

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Full publications list

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Research repository