Our research interests
The ECHO-O Lab seeks to understand how experiences and connections we form, online and offline, may impact mental health and wellbeing.
Self-disclosure
We are interested in why do we disclose what we do? How can we create and manage our self-presentation? What impact does our disclosure(s) have on others?
Social media
We are interested in the risks and benefits of social media use, and how these vary depending on online behaviours and what is attended to.
Nature connection
We are interested in what it is about what we notice in nature and our engagement with nature that maximises benefits of spending time in nature.
Loneliness
We are interested in what are the individual factors that may explain why some people feel lonely and others do not.
Current Research Projects
Connectedness to Nature
Summary of project
Research has shown that spending time in nature has health related benefits (e.g., cardiovascular, weight), including psychological benefits. Psychological benefits have been theorised to come from our innate need to connect with nature (biophilia hypothesis), lack of requirement to sustain direct attention (attention restoration hypothesis), or the stress-reducing effects of spending time in an unthreatening nature environment (stress reduction hypothesis). In addition to these hypotheses, researchers have been exploring how feeling connected to nature may be related to mental health and wellbeing benefits.
Our work explores these factors through both considering the role of hands on engagement with science learning outdoors and the role of spending time in and noticing the natural habitats around us.
Social Media Behaviours & Mental Health
Summary of project
This research aims to explore the links between adolescents’ online social communicative behaviour and their levels of anxiety and depression. The project is focused on three areas:
- How are adolescents’ perceiving their own and their peers’ online behaviour and communicative tools (such as reactions) on social media?
- What physiological responses do adolescents’ show when interacting with social media. Does this differ for individuals with higher levels of anxiety and depression?
- Understanding adolescents’ visual interactions with immersive social media and other new social media developments.
Loneliness in Adolescence
Summary of project
The main aim of the current PhD project is to characterize the interaction between loneliness and emotion regulation, and their impact on mood and wellbeing. The project focuses on following areas.
- Is poor emotion regulation a predictor or maintenance factor of loneliness in adolescence?
- Does emotion regulation explain the link between loneliness and psychopathology in adolescence?
Online Self Disclosure
This project aims to explore students’ online self-disclosure behaviours in educational contexts such as Moodle, Blackboard, MS Teams, etc. Findings aim to support higher education teaching staff and policymakers in understanding students’ online self-disclosure behaviours and supporting them in appropriately navigating educational online contexts.
Publications
See full list of publications here.
2024
Burkitt, E., & Watling, D. (Accepted/In press). How children draw, write and tell about portraying mixed emotions in themselves and others. The International Journal of Art & Design Education.
Hayes, B. (2024). Exploring university students’ online self-presentation techniques and self-disclosure behaviours as predictors of staff response. Journal of Digital Educational Technology, 4, ep2405. https://doi.org/10.30935/jdet/14169 OSF: https://osf.io/h4q8j/
Hayes, B., & Fatima, S. (2024). ‘A language we understand’: Students’ perceptions of emojis, memes and gifs in higher education teaching. Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal, 5(3), 154-177. https://sehej.raise-network.com/raise/article/view/1187
Hayes, B., & Murniece, L. (2024). Creation and validation of the Online Self-Disclosure via Educational Platforms Scale. Journal of Digital Educational Technology, 4(2), Article ep2416. https://doi.org/10.30935/jdet/14789
Hayes, B., & Serbic, D. (2024). Wellbeing Day: Co-producing events with students to promote wellbeing. Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal, 5(2), 169–184. Retrieved from https://sehej.raise-network.com/raise/article/view/1196
Hayes, B., Suleiman, A., & Watling, D. (2024). Student’s impression management and self-presentation behaviours via online educational platforms: An archival review. First Monday, 1-12. Article 29.
Ravenhill, J., Hayes, B., Nodin, N., Ramnani, N., Sebah, I., & Bourne, V. (2024). Inclusive pedagogies for learning the Psychology of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. Psychology Teaching Review, 30(1), 84-95. https://doi.org/10.53841/bpsptr.2024.30.1.84
Spooner, R., Bird, J. M., Irigoras Izagirre, N., Clemente, R., Fernandez Fueyo, E., Budworth, G., Cocirla, D., Todd, J., Aspell, J., Leganes, M., Watling, D., Plans, D., Brewer, R., & Murphy, J. (2024). Exploring sex differences in cardiac interoceptive accuracy using the phase adjustment task. Psychophysiology, Article e14689. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14689
2023
Hayes, B. (2023). Co-producing student wellbeing events. British Psychological Society Developmental Psychology Forum. 98. https://doi.org/10.53841/bpsdev.2023.1.98.6
Nesbit, R., & Watling, D. (2023). Comparing two versions of the Chimeric Face Test: A pilot investigation. Laterality. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2023.2252569
2022
Hayes, B., James A., Barn, R., & Watling, D. (2022). Adolescents’ perceptions of the risks and benefits of social networking site use. International Journal of Cyber Behaviour, Psychology and Learning, 12, 1-22. https://10.4018/IJCBPL.306646
Hayes, B., James, A., Barn, R., & Watling, D.(2022). Children’s risk and benefit behaviours on social networking sites. Computers in Human Behavior, 130, [107147]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.107147
Marriott, J., Mersinas, K., & Watling, D. (2022). The Financial Mistreatment of Older People: Prevention Strategies. Digital or Visual Products
Montgomery, L., Gange, A., Watling, D., & Harvey, D. (2022). Children’s perception of biodiversity in their school grounds and its influence on their wellbeing and resilience. Journal of Adventure Education & Outdoor Learning. https://doi.org/10.1080/14729679.2022.2100801
Woods, C., Luo, Z., Watling, D., & Durant, S. (2022). Twenty seconds of visual behaviour on social media gives insight into personality. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 1-11. [1178]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-05095-0
Mersinas, K., Durojaiye, T., & Watling, D.(2021). What Influences People’s View of Cyber Security Culture in Higher Education Institutions? An Empirical Study. In The Sixth International Conference on Cyber-Technologies and Cyber-Systems CYBER 2021 (pp. 32-42) http://www.thinkmind.org/index.php?view=article&articleid=cyber_2021_1_100_80075
2020
Harvey, D., Montgomery, L., Harvey, H., Hall, F., Gange, A., & Watling, D. (2020). Psychological benefits of a biodiversity-focussed outdoor learning program for primary school children. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 67, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.101381
Watling, D., & Damaskinou, N. (2020). Children’s facial emotion recognition skills: Longitudinal associations with lateralization for emotion processing. Child Development, 91, 366-381. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13188