Professor Douglas Martin

Biography

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I am an experimental social psychologist who is primarily interested in social cognition and social bias. I received both an MA (2000) and PhD (2005) in Psychology from the University of Aberdeen. Following my PhD, I worked as a post-doc in Aberdeen for a further 3-years, before lecturing at Northumbria University for a year in 2008/09. I re-joined the School of Psychology in Aberdeen as a Lecturer in the summer of 2009.

I do research on and teach about social cognition, stereotypes, and cultural evolution. Much my research falls into two broad areas: 1. Extracting social category information from faces; 2. The formation, evolution, and influence of stereotypes. I co-lead the Person Perception Lab (http://www.personperceptionlab.org).

I am dedicated to trying to improve equality and diversity in psychology, Higher Education, and society more generally, and am currently a member of the British Psychological Society's equality, diversity, and inclusion strategy board. I am also passionate about disseminating academic research beyond the traditional confines of academe and from 2018-22 was a trustee of the Aberdeenshire Philosophy Café. I regularly do public engagement on the influence of social bias.

I became Head of School in August 2023.

Prizes and Awards

• Athena Swan Gold Department Award (co-lead, 2026)
• AUSA and University of Aberdeen Excellence Award "Most Inspiring" (2023)
• Athena Swan Silver Department Award (lead, 2020)
• Athena Swan Bronze Department Award (lead, 2019)
• College of Life Sciences and Medicine Teaching Excellence Award (2013)

Research Overview

I am an experimental social psychologist who examines social cognition - the way the brain processes information about people.

Much of my research examines social bias and in particular the influence stereotypes exert on thoughts, behaviour, and society (particularly gender stereotypes).

Some of my research examines the way people process from faces.

In collaboration with colleagues in linguistics, some of my research examines cultural evolution (the way information changes as is passes from person to person).

In collaboration with colleagues in computing science, some of my research examines the effects of social bias in AI (both how social bias transfers from humans to machines and how bias transfers from machines to humans).

Current Research

• Social bias
• Person perception
• Stereotypes
• Gender stereotypes
• Extracting social information from faces
• Cultural evolution

Funding and Grants

2026-2029: Fair Digital Transition. Ducato, R., Markovic, M., Sinclair, A., Sweeney, P., Zivkovic, P.s, Cserne, P., Lombardi, C., Shapovalova, D., & Martin, D. Erasmus + Jean Monnet Chair. £60,000.

2022-2025: Opening the black box: helping AI to persuade without bias. Allan, K., Leontidis, G., Martin, D. & Sripada, G. ESRC PhD Studentship, £66,979.

2020: An investigation of the role of statistical learning in children’s stereotype formation. Martin, D. & Jeppsson, H. Carnegie undergraduate vacation scholarship, £3,000.

2017-2020: Establishing how intergroup bias influences the formation and evolution of stereotypes. ESRC Research Grants Scheme, £294, 894.

2018-2019: Establishing how episodic memories of individual encounters with other people support the formation of semantic knowledge for social categories. Martin, D. EPS Small Grants Scheme, £3500.

2018: Experimental evidence of the interdependence between cognition and the social environment. Martin, D. Experimental Psychology Society funded symposium at the joint meeting with the Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science, St Johns, Canada, £10,000.

2017-18: The relationship between individuated and category-based person memory under illusory and spurious correlation. Martin, D.  Experimental Psychology Society Small Grant scheme. £3500.

2012-2013: Does unattended face information trigger switch costs when attending to other social categories? Martin, D. EPS Small Grants Scheme, £2500.

2011-2014: Formation of stereotypes through cumulative cultural transmission. Martin, D. ESRC First Grants Scheme, £162, 201.

Teaching Responsibilities

• Level 1: Social Psychology (PS1009)
• MSc and On-Demand: The Psychology of Social Bias (PS5036 & PS5536)