Social Processes

A person on a computer surrounded by hurtful social media messages

About us

We are home to the ESRC Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST), the UK’s hub for behavioural and social science research into security threats.

Our research is also funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as well as government agencies, industry and charitable institutions.

We specialise in the psychologically informed analysis of digital data – including digital visual data (CCTV, body-cam, smartphone videos, face recognition, face morphing); social media data (social network, Twitter and blog data); smartphone and ambient sensor data (digital traces and location data) as well as studies using virtual reality or whole-body motion capture technology in the laboratory.

We are experts in the study of trust, deception, morality, resilience and identity, and explore these as dynamic social processes at the individual, group and organisational level.

We value methodological plurality – and conduct research using both quantitative and qualitative methods. We were early and enthusiastic adopters of open science practices to guide our research work. We are also at the forefront of research exploring the ethics and values in the use of digital data and new computational techniques.

Social Processes staff are members of interdisciplinary research institutes at the forefront of contemporary data-driven research challenges including the Data Science Institute and Security Lancaster. Members of the Social Processes group also play a leading role in several UKRI multi-million pound NetworkPlus initiatives including: SPRITE+ (Security, Privacy, Identity and Trust Engagement); TAS Node in Resilience (Trustworthy Autonomous Systems); RBOC Network Plus (Resilience Beyond Observed Capabilities).

Theme Lead

Professor Mark Levine

Professor of Social Psychology

Cyber Security Research Centre (Psychology), Security Lancaster, Security Lancaster (Behavioural Science)

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Professor Mark Levine

Projects

Deception in people with ADHD
01/10/2024 → 31/03/2028
Research

Deception in autistics adults
01/10/2023 → 30/09/2026
Research

Detecting Hybrid Identities
01/12/2022 → 01/02/2023
Research

RBOC N+ - Resilience Beyond Observed Capabilities
01/03/2022 → 01/02/2026
Research

SL: Safeguarding the Legal Rights of Youth
01/05/2019 → 30/06/2020
Research

SL: Examining turning points within investigative interviews
01/01/2019 → 31/03/2019
Research

SL: CREST: An International Academic-Practitioner Sympoium on Behavioural Science and Security
01/07/2018 → 31/03/2019
Research

The Manipulative presentation techniques of control and coercive offenders
01/07/2017 → 30/04/2018
Research

GetAMoveOn: transforming health through enabling mobility
01/03/2017 → 28/04/2017
Research

If it Looks Like a Duck: Emergent Categorical Structure in the Human Conceptual System
01/04/2016 → 31/10/2018
Research

Serially missed appointments in the NHS: a linkage pathfinder project to inform interventions
01/09/2015 → 31/08/2017
Research

Effects of Types of Service Provision and Consultation Interactions on Carer Adaptation to Childhood Epilepsy
01/04/2014 → 01/07/2018
Research

Motivational configuration of social performance environments
14/03/2014 → 14/09/2015
Research

Replicating WIlliams and Bargh
01/07/2013 → 30/06/2014
Research

Deception project
01/05/2013 → …
Research

Identity conflicts of persons with a learning disability and their professional carers
01/05/2005 → …
Other