Amanda Carr

I am a developmental psychologist with an interest in children's social-cognitive development. In particular, I am interested in how children think and learn in the course of interaction with others. I have been a Senior Lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University since 2012, and became the Director of Psychology in 2016. I teach at all levels of our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

Before joining the psychology team at Christ Church, I was a lecturer at the University of Roehampton and before that a Research Fellow at the University of Sussex, where I studied for both my PhD and BSc (Hons) in Applied Psychology. My PhD was supervised by Dr Nicola Yuill and Professor Rose Luckin.

I teach developmental and educational psychology at all levels of our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. I lead a number of core and optional undergraduate modules in this area and supervise 3rd year dissertations in areas directly connected to research projects within the learning and development lab.

I am a member of the Learning and Development research group in psychology where our work is focused on examining child and adolescent development in social contexts. My own research interests are focused around three main strands of work:

Home learning: I am particularly interested in how parents scaffold children's learning during everyday interaction and conversation. I have recently co-edited a special issue of the British Journal of Educational Psychology on Scaffolding: integrating social and cognitive perspectives on children's learning at home.

Another study underway within this strand of work is The Talk about Thoughts and Feelings Project, which is examining mothers' mental state talk and its relation to children's well-being and adjustment. This project is running in collaboration with Bechange, a local charity supporting families.

Achievement motivation: My PhD research examined the role of achievement goals, for example mastery and performance goals, in children's collaborative interaction.

Children's use of novel technology: Children, like adults, find novel technologies such as tablets and smartphones very appealing. I am interested in the effect of these technologies on 1) developmental processes such as attention and social understanding and 2) Learning and classroom interaction.

Research Projects

Cross cultural differences in maternal scaffolding efficacy: links with maternal Theory of Mind, emotional abilities and home environment.. Researcher(s): Dr Ekaterina Cooper. Supervisor(s): Dr Amanda Carr. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Developing a not-knowing approach to experiences conventionally described as severe mental illness. Researcher(s): Ms Anne Cooke. Supervisor(s): Professor Tony Lavender, Dr Amanda Carr. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Does mastery make sense? An investigation into the validity of 2x2 achievement goal framework measures.. Researcher(s): Mrs Shems Morrison. Supervisor(s): Dr Amanda Carr, Dr James Cane. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Examining the relational and dispositional correlates of mind-mindedness. Researcher(s): Mrs Sharon Good. Supervisor(s): Dr Lance Slade, Dr Amanda Carr. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Explore the Dynamic Maturational Model (DMM) of Attachment and Psychopathology applicability in assessing and resolving complex cases for family courts. Researcher(s): Mr Stuart Graham. Supervisor(s): Professor Alex Hassett, Dr Amanda Carr. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Low-level disruption: Investigating links with parenting style and technology use in the home.. Researcher(s): Dr Suzanne Bartholomew. Supervisor(s): Dr Amanda Carr, Dr David Vernon. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
Self-awareness and metacognition in a young adult student population: an autistic trait approach. Researcher(s): Miss Kirstin Holsey. Supervisor(s): Dr Amanda Carr, Dr Lance Slade. [Postgraduate Research Project]

Parent-child interactions during joint engagement with touchscreen technology: A comparison of younger versus older toddlers Carr, A., Dempster, T., (05 Jun 2021): Elsevier. [Journal article]
Designing IoT resources to support outdoor play for children Dylan, Thomas, Wood, Gavin, Durrant, Abigail C., Vines, John, Torres, Pablo E., Ulrich, Philip I. N., Cukurova, Mutlu, Carr, Amanda, Çerçi, Sena, Lawson, Shaun, (23 Apr 2020, 21 Apr 2020): ACM. [Book chapter]
The development and validation of a teacher-reported low-level classroom disruption scale (LLCD-S) Cogswell, S., Carr, A., Abbott, N., Monks, C. P., (12 Sep 2020, 01 Oct 2020): Taylor & Francis. [Journal article]
Designing for digital playing out Wood, G., Dylan, T., Durrant, A., Torres, P., Ulrich, P., Carr, A., Cukurova, M., Downey, D., McGrath, P., Balaam, M., Ferguson, A., Vines, J., Lawson, S., (May 2019), CHI '19: Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York: ACM. [Book chapter]
Minding the children: a longitudinal study of mental state talk, theory of mind and behavioural adjustment from age 3 to age 10. Carr, A., Slade, L., Yuill, N., Sullivan, S., Ruffman, T., (20 Jul 2018): Wiley. [Journal article]
Scaffolding: integrating social and cognitive perspectives on children’s learning at home Yuill, N., Carr, A., (11 May 2018): British Psychological Society. [Journal article]
Mathematics, mastery and metacognition: how adding a creative approach can support children in maths Bonnett, V., Yuill, N., Carr, A., (Mar 2017): The British Psychological Society. [Journal article]
Parent support for very young children’s interaction with digital technology Carr, A., British Psychological Society Developmental Section Conference. [Conference paper]
Digital infants: the effect of touch screen technology on focused attention and executive function Carr, A., 016 SRCD Special Topic Meeting: Technology and Media in Children’s Development. [Conference poster]
A ‘personal opposites’ approach to understanding achievement goal questionnaires Marzouq, S., Carr, A., (Oct 2012): British Psychological Society. [Journal article]
How mastery and performance goals influence learners’ metacognitive help-seeking behaviours when using Ecolab II. Carr, A., Luckin, R., Yuill, N., Avramides, K., (2012), International Handbook of Metacognition and Learning Technologies. New York: Springer. [Book chapter]
Maternal scaffolding behavior: links with parenting style and maternal education Carr, A., Pike, A., (2012): American Psychological Association. [Journal article]
Mechanisms of collaboration to support social interaction in ASC Holttum, S., Yuill, N., Carr, A., Kreitmayer, S., 1st International Conference on Innovative Technologies for Autism Spectrum Disorders. [Conference poster]
The 2 x 2 achievement goal framework in primary school: Do young children pursue mastery avoidance goals? Carr, A., Marzouq, S., (Oct 2012): British Psychological Society. [Journal article]
Towards systems that care: a conceptual framework based on motivation, metacognition and affect du Boulay, B., Avramides, K., Luckin, R., Martínez-Mirón, E., Rebolledo Méndez, G., Carr, A., (2010): IOS Press. [Journal article]

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Dr Amanda Carr

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