You are here: 

Staff profile

staff list  Back

  • Job title:
  • Dept:
  • Tel:
  • Campus:
R Woods

Senior Lecturer in Psychology / Year 2 Coordinator

Teaching responsibilities

  • MPSMD1PSY Introduction to Psychology
  • MPSMD2DSP Developmental & Social Psychology (Convenor)
  • MPSMD3PCP Psychology in Critical Perspective
  • MPSMD3PRP Psychology Research Project

Research interests

My research addresses how children constitute ideas about ethnicity, religion, gender and morality, in order to understand why adults generally hold a deep-seated conviction that the world conforms to their (often culture-specific) understanding of it. For example, how do children growing up in the west come to see themselves and others as individuals who freely choose their actions and can thus be held morally accountable for them? My research in these areas draws on autopoietic theory as developed by Humberto Maturana in biology and Christina Toren in anthropology. I am also interested in children's peer relations, including friendship, games, physical aggression and relational aggression.

I am also researching people's understanding of climate change and how this is informed by the way in which climate change is framed by the media and other sources. I am working on these issues with the 'Discourse and psychology of climate change' research group here at CCCU.

In 2008-9 I was a member of NESTA and UKERC’s Carbon Crucible initiative, an interdisciplinary gathering of early career researchers intended to stimulate innovative thinking and new research on climate change issues. As a result, I and fellow researchers, at University of Leeds, Heriot-Watt University and Fulcrum Consulting, have been awarded £20,000 for interdisciplinary research entitled 'Measuring climate change good practice in schools'.

Finally, I am interested in epistemological issues in psychology in general and developmental psychology in particular, in combining quantitative and qualitative methods, and in developing research methods and analytic tools which recognise the importance of context and intersubjectivity in children's learning, thinking and behaviour.

Academic history

  • MA (Hons) degree in Psychology from University of Dundee, 1997 (1st class)
  • MPhil in Cognitive Science from University of Dundee, 2000 (Distinction)
  • PhD in Developmental Psychology from Brunel University, 2005
  • PGCLT(HE) from Canterbury Christ Church University, 2006

Reviewer for:

  • International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation
  • International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses

Recent publications

  • Woods, R. (2010). A critique of the concept of accuracy in social information processing models of children's peer relations. Theory & Psychology, 20, 5-27
  • Woods, R., Coen, S. & Fernández, A. (2009). An analysis of the British public's concerns regarding climate change legislation. International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses, 1, 75-92
  • Woods, R. (2009). The use of aggression in primary school boys' decisions about inclusion in and exclusion from playground football games. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 79, 223-238.
  • Woods, R. (2008). I like to see my worst people get voted off: Big Brother viewing among British primary school children. Journal of Children and Media, 2, 129-146.
  • Woods, R. (2008). Response to Rollock. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 21, 201-204.
  • Woods, R. (2008). When rewards and sanctions fail: A case study of a primary school rule-breaker. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 21, 181-196.
  • Woods, R. (2007) Children constructing 'Englishness' and other ethnic identities at a multicultural London primary school. In C. Hart (Ed.), Approaches to Englishness: Differences, Diversity and Identities. Kingswinford: Midrash Publishing.
  • Woods, R. (2005) Evaluation, conformity and resistance in London primary school girls' fashion shows. Psychology of Women Section Review, 7, 21-30. (abstract.doc)
  • Woods, R. (2004) Book review of C. Nutbrown (Ed) Research Studies in Early Childhood Education. International Journal of Early Years Education, 12, 172-174.
  • Woods, R. (2003) British Girls playing Big Brother. Psych-Talk, 42, 4-12. Available here
  • Woods, R. (2002) Book review of Miller, Patricia H. and Ellin Kofsky Scholnick (eds), Towards a Feminist Developmental Psychology. Feminism & Psychology, 12, 411-415.

Conference presentations

  • Woods, R., Coen, S. & Fernandez, A. (2009). An analysis of the British public's concerns regarding climate change legislation. Virtual paper presented at the International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts and Responses, Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research, Pune, India, 9th to 11th January 2009.
  • Woods, R. (2008). 'If you change your religion you can't be English': Children's views on ethnic constancy are dependent on subject of question and type of transformation. Paper presented at BPS Developmental Section Annual Conference, Oxford Brookes University, 1-3 September 2008.
  • Woods, R. (2007). Children defining and experiencing racism in 21st century Britain. CRONEM conference on Nationalism and National Identities, Multidisciplinary Perspectives. University of Surrey, June 2007. Available here
  • Woods, R. (2007). Do children construct or discover ethnicity? Insights from a west London primary school. CRONEM seminar series, University of Surrey. November 2007. Available here
  • Woods, R. (2006) Understanding boys' aggression: Information processing or relational meaning-making? Invited paper presented at Linda Tosh Annual Memorial Lecture, University of Dundee, May 2006.
  • Woods, R. (2005) Using ethnography to address fictionalisation in developmental psychology. 'The Fictionalisation of Data: Data taking on a Life of its Own' conference, Canterbury Christ Church University, September 2005. (abstract.doc)
  • Woods, R. (2005) Defining 'Englishness' and 'Indianness' at a multicultural primary school. 'Englishness in all its Diversity' conference, Worcester, September 2005. (abstract.doc)
  • Woods, R. (2005) 'I'm not your friend because you're not Kirendeep's friend': London primary school girls' exclusivity demands and disputes. BPS Developmental Section Annual Conference, Edinburgh, September 2005. (abstract.doc)
  • Woods, R. (2003) Children's friendships, prejudices and assumptions in a multicultural primary school. BPS Developmental Section Annual Conference, Coventry, September 2003.
  • Woods, R. (2003) 'This is what we call rage': Children constituting moral selves in a British primary school. International Conference for Critical Psychology, Bath, August 2003.
  • Woods, R. (2003) British girls doing friendship in the playground: Playing Big Brother. BPS Psychology of Women Section Annual Conference, Northampton, July 2003.