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Dr Erica Hepper

Lecturer
Year 2 Placement Tutor

Qualifications: BSc Psychology, University of Southampton (2003)
PhD Psychology, University of Southampton (2007)
Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice, University of Southampton (2011)

Email:
Phone: Work: 01483 68 6888
Room no: 25 AD 02

Office hours

If my door is open, feel free to pop in at any time. 

For queries relating to professional placements, please pop in on Mondays 3-5pm.

Alternatively, please email me to make an appointment at a time that suits you.

Further information

Biography

I completed my undergraduate and postgraduate training at the University of Southampton. My PhD research focused on adult attachment and the maintenance of self-views and was conducted with the supervision of Dr Kathy Carnelley. I continued to work there as a postdoctoral fellow in the Centre for Research on Self and Identity with Professor Constantine Sedikides before joining the University of Surrey as a Lecturer in October 2012.

Research Interests

My research is located in the area of quantitative social/personality psychology. I examine individual differences in self-relevant emotions and motivation in social context, focusing on three major themes.

First, I study individual differences in self-evaluation motives (e.g., self-enhancement, and its personality correlate, narcissism) and their social/cultural moderators and consequences.

Second, I research the self-conscious and social emotion of nostalgia, and its implications for intra- and interpersonal wellbeing for different individuals across the lifespan.

Third, I examine the interplay between attachment relationships and attachment styles, and regulation of the self and emotions.

For more info and PDFs, see my webpage at http://surrey.academia.edu/EricaHepper

For more on nostalgia, see the University of Southampton's nostalgia website

Research Collaborations

Centre for Research on Self & Identity, University of Southampton

Dr Richard Gramzow, Syracuse University, NY

Dr Michelle Luke, University of Sussex

Prof Rosie Meek, Teesside University

Dr Abi Millings, Ultrasis Ltd

Dr Erin O’Mara, University of Dayton, OH

Dr Tim Ritchie, University of Limerick

Dr Angela Rowe, University of Bristol

Dr Judi Walsh, University of East Anglia

Publications

Journal articles

  • Hepper E, Sedikides C, Cai H. (2013) 'Self-enhancement and self-protection strategies in China: Cultural expressions of a fundamental human motive'. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44 (1), pp. 5-23.
    doi: 10.1177/0022022111428515
  • Hepper E, Carnelley KB. (2012) 'The self-esteem roller coaster: Adult attachment moderates the impact of daily feedback'. Personal Relationships, 19, pp. 504-520.
    doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2011.01375.x
  • Millings A, Walsh J, Hepper E, O'Brien M. (2012) 'Good partner, good parent: Caregiving mediates the link between romantic attachment and parenting style'. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,
    [ Status: Accepted ]
  • Lockwood P, Millings A, Hepper E, Rowe AC. (2012) 'If I cry, do you care? Individual differences in empathy moderate the facilitation of caregiving words after exposure to crying faces'. Journal of Individual Differences,
    [ Status: Accepted ]
  • Hepper E, Ritchie TD, Sedikides C, Wildschut T. (2012) 'Odyssey’s end: Lay conceptions of nostalgia reflect its original Homeric meaning'. Emotion, 12, pp. 102-119.
    doi: 10.1037/a0025167
  • Gregg A, Hepper E, Sedikides C. (2011) 'Quantifying self-motives: Functional links between dispositional desires.'. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41, pp. 840-852.
    doi: 10.1002/ejsp.827
  • Hepper E, Hart CM, Gregg AP, sedikides C. (2011) 'Motivated expectations of positive feedback in social interactions'. Journal of Social Psychology, 151, pp. 455-477.
    doi: 10.1080/00224545.2010.503722
  • Carnelley KB, Hepper E, Hicks C, Turner W. (2011) 'Perceived parental reactions to coming out, attachment, and romantic relationship views'. Attachment and Human Development, 13, pp. 217-236.
    doi: 10.1080/14616734.2011.563828
  • Hepper E, Gramzow R, Sedikides C . (2010) 'Individual differences in self-enhancement and self-protection strategies: An integrative analysis'. Journal of Personality, 78, pp. 781-814.
    doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00633.x
  • Hepper E, Carnelley KB. (2010) 'Adult attachment and feedback-seeking patterns in relationships and work'. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, pp. 448-464.
    doi: 10.1002/ejsp.636
  • Sedikides C, Hepper E. (2009) 'Self-improvement.'. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 3, pp. 899-917.
    doi: 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00231.x

Book chapters

  • Hepper E, Sedikides C. (2012) 'Self-enhancing feedback'. in Sutton R, Hornsey M, Douglas K (eds.) Feedback: The communication of praise, criticism, and advice London : Peter Lang Article number 4 , pp. 43-56.
  • Hepper E, Carnelley KB. (2012) 'Attachment and romantic relationships: The role of models of self and other'. in Paludi M (ed.) The psychology of love Praeger 1, pp. 133-154.

Teaching

PSY1023 Classics in Personality Theory (module convenor)

PSY2020 Personality, Intelligence and Psychopathology (module convenor)

Undergraduate and MSc Dissertation Supervision

Departmental Duties

Year 2 Placement Tutor

Affiliations

Visiting Fellow, University of Southampton