About the Project
Tactfully communicating sensitive and uncertain information to patients (e.g., advice, warnings or diagnoses) is a significant challenge for health professionals. To soften the impact of bad news this information is often communicated using indirect language; while the inherent uncertainty of advice and diagnoses must be communicated using ambiguous probability terms such as ‘possibly’, ‘maybe’, or ‘likely’. This indirect and uncertain language is used with the best of intentions, but its opacity creates the risk of misunderstandings.
The successful candidate will apply the principles of Experimental Pragmatics to identify factors that can influence the interpretation of health related information. Experiments will be conducted to better understand how people use contextual (pragmatic) information to fill in the gaps and make sense of indirect or ambiguous language. Various pragmatic factors may affect the interpretation of the health related messages, including the speaker’s choice of uncertainty term (e.g., probably, possibly, maybe) and paralinguistic cues (e.g., pauses, intakes of breath, breaking eye contact etc.), while the effects of these factors may differ depending on the listener’s state of mind (e.g., positive or negative; emotional or rational) or the mode of communication (e.g., face-to-face, telephone, online). Based in the Department of Psychology the successful candidate will experimentally manipulate these factors to examine their impact on real-time processing and the ultimate comprehension of health information. The aim is to identify optimal strategies for effectively communicating that maintain tact while accurately conveying risk and uncertainty.
Eligibility and How to Apply:
Please note eligibility requirement:
• Academic excellence of the proposed student i.e. 2:1 (or equivalent GPA from non-UK universities [preference for 1st class honours]); or a Masters (preference for Merit or above); or APEL evidence of substantial practitioner achievement.
• Appropriate IELTS score, if required.
• Applicants cannot apply for this funding if currently engaged in Doctoral study at Northumbria or elsewhere.
For further details of how to apply, entry requirements and the application form, see
https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees/how-to-apply/
Please note: All applications must include a covering letter (up to 1000 words maximum) including why you are interested in this PhD, a summary of the relevant experience you can bring to this project and of your understanding of this subject area with relevant references (beyond the information already provided in the advert).
Deadline for applications: Friday 25 January 2019
Start Date: 1 October 2019
Northumbria University is an equal opportunities provider and in welcoming applications for studentships from all sectors of the community we strongly encourage applications from women and under-represented groups.
Faculty: Health & Life Sciences
Department: Department of Psychology
Principal Supervisor: Dr Matthew Haigh
Funding Notes
The studentship is available to Home/EU students where a full stipend, paid for three years at RCUK rates (for 2018/19, this is £14,777 pa) and full fees.
References
Haigh, M., Foster, C., & Stewart, A. J. (In preparation). When ‘Maybe’ means ‘No’: How do people read between the lines during conversation?
Stewart, A.J., Le-Luan, E., Wood, J. S., Yao, B., & Haigh, M. (2018). Comprehension of indirect requests is influenced by their degree of imposition. Discourse Processes, 55,187-196.
Stewart, A. J., Wood, J. S., Le-luan, E., Yao, B., & Haigh, M. (2018). “It’s hard to write a good article.” The online comprehension of excuses as indirect replies. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71, 1265-1269.
Wray, H., Wood, J., Haigh, M., & Stewart, A.J. (2016). Threats may be negative promises (but warnings are more than negative tips). Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 28, 593-600.
Haigh, M., Wood, J., & Stewart, A.J. (2016). Slippery Slope Arguments imply opposition to change. Memory & Cognition, 44, 819-836.