Colin Cooper
- Media Contact
My research at present follows three main strands. The first is in the broad area of psychometric theory. I have recently (1998) developed and programmed a new method for performing exploratory factor analysis that overcomes two major problems with conventional methods, albeit at the expense of a very considerably increased computational load. Specifically, it does not require any test for the number of factors to be rotated, and does not use a rotation algorithm (VARIMAX, OBLIMIN etc.) to reach simple structure. A Macintosh version may be downloaded from http://www.psych.qub.ac.uk/dl/ sledgehammer.hqx. I am currently testing this procedure using standard data-sets; to date the results have been most encouraging. Other projects in this area include the detection of ‘bloated specific’ factors through the analysis of semantic overlap in personality questionnaires.
A second strand may best be described as applied social psychology. Current and recent projects include determining factors associated with depression in suicide-prone prisoners, cognitive processes associated with alcohol use, and the effect of social support on psychological well-being following a diagnosis of cancer, and risk-factors for suicide amongst gay men. I am the main investigator for the first three projects; the third project is led by a colleague. Other collaborative work in this broad area involves the Applied Psychology Research Unit (personality processes in offenders) and . All these projects rely on the accurate assessment of individual differences and multivariate analyses, hence my interest.
My third major interest is in the biological and cognitive processes that underpin intelligence and personality. There is a substantial but remarkably inconclusive literature relating general intelligence to reaction time and speed of processing – inconclusive largely because of methodological and design flaws in some of the early experiments. I am actively researching two new Inspection Time paradigms and their relationship to general ability, and the relationship between the speed of reflex responses and general ability.
Primary Interests:
- Applied Social Psychology
- Personality, Individual Differences
- Research Methods, Assessment
- Social Cognition
Books:
- Cooper, C. (2010). Individual differences and personality (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
- Cooper, C. (1999). Intelligence and abilities. London: Routledge.
- Cooper, C., & Varma, V. (Eds.). (1997). Processes in individual differences. London: Routledge.
Journal Articles:
- Cooper, C., & Taylor, R. (1999). Personality and performance on a frustrating cognitive task. Perceptual & Motor Skills, 88, 1384.
- McConville, C., & Cooper, C. (1999). Personality correlates of variable moods. Personality & Individual Differences, 26(1), 65-78.
- McConville, C., & Cooper, C. (1997). The temporal stability of mood variability. Personality and Individual Differences, 23, 161-164.
- McConville, C., & Cooper, C. (1996). Mood variability and the intensity of depressive states. Current Psychology Research & Reviews, 14(4), 329-338.
Other Publications:
- Cooper, C. (1998). Course-finder 2000. In J. C. Impara & B. S. Plake (Eds.), The 13th Mental Measurement Yearbook (pp. 321-322). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
- Cooper, C. (1998). The Selby-Millsmith Adaptive Tests. In J. C. Impara & B. S. Plake (Eds.), The 13th Mental Measurement Yearbook (pp. 884-885). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
- Cooper, C. (1998). Why many personality scales may be trivial. In J Bermudez et al. (Eds.), Personality Psychology in Europe. Tilberg: Tilberg University Press.
- Cooper, C. (1997). Entries on A. Anastasi, O. Buros, C. Burt, D. Jackson, A. Jensen, P. Kline and R. Tryon. In N. Sheehy, A. J. Chapman and W. Conroy (Eds.), Biographical Dictionary of Psychology. London: Routledge. [4000 words]
- Cooper, C. (1997). Mood processes. In C. Cooper and V. Varma (Eds.), Processes in Individual Differences. London: Routledge.
Courses Taught:
- Applied Psychological Measurement
- Developmental and Individual Differences
- Everyday Psychology
- Intelligence
Colin Cooper
London, Ontario N6G 0M9
Canada
- Phone: +44 7977 517009