Nicholas J. S. Gibson
Positions
Profile
I joined the Group in 2000. My Ph.D. research, supervised by
Fraser Watts, involved the development of new experimental
paradigms for the investigation of religious cognition. Since 2007
I've held the Templeton Research Fellowship in Science and Religion
at
Queens'
College, and more recently I've moved from the
Faculty of
Divinity to a lecturer position at the
Department of
Social and Developmental Psychology. I've been involved in a
variety of supervision and teaching of psychology and practical
theology for colleges within the University and the
Cambridge Theological
Federation. Alongside my academic work I've held several roles
on the Steering Group of the
British Association of Christians
in Psychology (BACIP) and have been involved at
St Barnabas Church, Cambridge
in a variety of ways including lay preaching, serving on the PCC,
cluster leading, and carrying out a major consultancy.
Research Interests
My research interests mainly focus on how religious believers
and non-believers represent God in mind. I work broadly within an
information-processing framework and draw on both the social
cognition and cognition and emotion literatures as they can be
applied within the psychology of religion. So far I've been looking
at memory and reaction time biases associated with processing
God-referent information in atheists and Christians of various
flavours. Experimental paradigms involving these biases seem to
provide a good alternative to the pencil-and-paper surveys so
beloved of most psychologists of religion. My ongoing work,
supported by Claire White, seeks to better understand how and when
people use representations of God's supernatural powers and
human-like characteristics.
Ph.D. Students
If your research interests overlap with mine and you would like
to explore coming to work with me for your Ph.D. then please
contact me directly with a ~500 word research proposal and your
C.V. My current students include Bonnie Zahl (A.B., Harvard), Omar
Yousaf (B.Sc., Brunel), Carissa Sharp (B.A., Oregon; M.T.S.,
Harvard), and Shahzad Shafqat (M.Phil., Cambridge).
Ph.D. Dissertation –
The Experimental Investigation of Religious Cognition
My examiners (
Tim Dalgleish [MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit,
University of Cambridge] and
Peter Hill [Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University])
approved my dissertation without corrections and I am now preparing
various portions for submission to psychology journals. You are
welcome to cite my dissertation in the meantime; the correct
citation is as follows:
Gibson, N. J. S. (2006).
The experimental investigation of religious cognition.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Cambridge,
England.
