Division of Psychology (PSY)

Psychology, the science of human thinking and behaviour, is a fascinating subject. At the Division of Psychology we educate psychologists and psychotherapists who are well prepared to face the challenges of working life and future clients in the best possible way. We also educate students of cognitive science and students with a deep knowledge of psychology, ready to put knowledge into practice. Our research contributes among other things to pioneering knowledge on treatment of psychological health problems, cognitive abilities in children and adults, social interplay and group processes.

Research

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International Network for Well-Being

Our research comprises the whole field of the Science of Well-Being within different populations to promote health and the study of biopsychosocial resilience in the face of the challenges of the 21st century.

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The Internet, Health and Clinical Psychology Research Group

The research group works with many different areas such as anxiety, depression and health problems. Many of the projects work with internet-based CBT, and the group carries out randomised controlled clinical trials.

Three kids eating on a pre-school.

Preschool Meals

Learning doesn't take a lunchbreak, so what happens when young children eat together in preschools? This project examines the multimodal and discursive practices that scaffold eating and social interaction during preschool mealtimes.

A  person throws leftover pasta in the rubbish bin.

Try a little first: Communication strategies for reducing plate waste during preschool meals

Reducing 'plate waste' during preschool lunches is a delicate balance between food preferences, satiety and daring to taste new food. In this innovative project, we examine which communication strategies can help to reduce food waste.

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WHOLE - Research on organizational and social work environment

Management, organizational structure and reward systems are factors that may affect organizational and social work environment. How do they affect individuals’ work experience, occurrence of bullying, levels of reporting in sick and perceived health.

A refugee.s

SAHA digital interventions for refugee mental health problems

Detecting and treating mental health problems for refugees - development of and research on digital tools for the assessment and treatment of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, sleep problems and migration-related mental health problems.

An elderly man and a small child are looking at a cell phone together. They are sitting on a couch in a hospital waiting room.

Growing up with digital world

The recent surge in availability of digital media has made media accessible even to very young children. However, we know very little of the effects of digital media on infants social and cognitive development.

Rainbow toy.

Physical, mental and reproductive health among sexual and gender minorities during pregnancy, childbirth and first year of parenting

The interdisciplinary research project s will follow the health and experiences of LGBTQ people during pregnancy, childbirth, and early parenthood to contribute to important knowledge in an unexplored area.

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Social Psychology

Social relations and social interaction affect how we behave and how we see and interpret our world. We are also affected by the context and the systems or organizations that we are in - it affects what we do but also how we feel.

Publications

2025

Leelo Keevallik, Emily Hofstetter, Agnes Lofgren, Sally Wiggins Young (2025) Response cries and syntax Journal of Pragmatics, Vol. 240, p. 91-108 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Kristina Holmqvist Larsson, Erik Aspeqvist, Fredrik Falkenstrom, Gerhard Andersson, Carl Goran Svedin, Maria Zetterqvist (2025) Assessing emotion regulation difficulties in adolescents: validation and clinical utility of the difficulties in emotion regulation scale, 16-item BMC Psychology, Vol. 13, Article 237 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Sonja Togmat Malki, Peter Johansson, Gerhard Andersson, Frida Andréasson, Ghassan Mourad (2025) Caregiver burden, psychological well-being, and support needs among Swedish informal caregivers BMC Public Health, Vol. 25, Article 867 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Sally Wiggins Young (2025) Sticky Categories, Discursive Practices, and the Potential for Change: The Case of Children's Food "Likes" Journal of language and social psychology (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Hulda Karlsson, Hajdi Moche, Daniel Västfjäll (2025) Reducing overhead aversion in charitable giving through information and introspection CURRENT RESEARCH IN BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES, Vol. 8, Article 100171 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Danilo Garcia (2025) Perceptions of Monica Geller in Friends: A Pilot Study on Personality Frameworks and Parasocial Relationships Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 15, Article 146 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Carolina Lundqvist, Tim Meyer (2025) Mental disorders in athletes - A proper diagnostic pathway is important but no need to reinvent the wheel Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, Vol. 28, p. 167-169 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Jenny Kling, Robert Persson Asplund, Orjan Ekblom, Victoria Blom (2025) Psychological responses to acute exercise in patients with stress-induced exhaustion disorder: a cross-over randomized trial BMC Psychiatry, Vol. 25, Article 72 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Ulf Träff, Kenny Skagerlund, Mikael Skagenholt (2025) Development of early acquired arithmetic skills and development of reading comprehension facilitate the development of later developing arithmetic skills Educational Psychology (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Mikael Skagenholt, Kenny Skagerlund, Ulf Träff (2025) Numerical cognition across the lifespan: A selective review of key developmental stages and neural, cognitive, and affective underpinnings Cortex, Vol. 184, p. 263-286 (Article, review/survey) Continue to DOI

Annual reports

The psychology division has several researchers and research groups. We cover a broad range of topics within psychology, including cognitive, developmental, social, health and clinical psychology. Different research methods are also represented. Researchers at the division work closely with other universities both nationally and internationally. We hope that the annual report will give an overview of the research conducted here.

Contact us

Staff