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Dr Stian Reimers

Reader in Psychology

School of Arts and Social Sciences Department of Psychology

Contact details

Address

Dr Stian Reimers D413, Rhind Building
City, University of London
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom

About

Overview

Prior to coming to City, University of London, Dr Reimers held postdoctoral positions at Warwick and UCL, most recently, a fellowship from the ESRC Centre for Economic Learning and Social Evolution.

Dr Reimers is interested in high-level cognition, in particular judgement and decision making. One particular interest is in the psychology of time - how humans and other animals represent and make decisions involving time, in particular how and why people's discounting of delayed rewards varies across individuals and contexts.

Qualifications

  1. BA English Literature, Birkbeck, University of London, United Kingdom, 2009
  2. MSc Science Communication, Imperial College London, United Kingdom, 2002
  3. PhD Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2001
  4. BA Natural Sciences, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1997

Employment

  1. Reader, City, University of London, 2018 – present
  2. Senior Lecturer, City, University of London, 2012 – 2018
  3. Lecturer, City, University of London, Jan 2010 – Jan 2012
  4. Research Fellow, University College London, 2005 – 2010
  5. Research Fellow, University of Warwick, Coventry, 2002 – 2005

Teaching

Undergraduate

- PS3001 Psychology Project
- PS3024 The Psychology of Time
- PS2006 Social Psychology
- PS3025 Programming Tools for Psychologists (part module)

Postgraduate

- PEM106 Cognitive Psychology and Decision Making (MSc Behavioural Economics)

Research

Research interests

Other judgement and decision making interests include forecasting - how individuals and organisations can improve the predictions they make about future trends - and game theory - in particular, individual and contextual differences in strategies used for ultimatum, prisoner's dilemma and co-ordination games.

He also works on applying experimental psychology to policy issues, particularly the notion of what constitutes a 'fair' taxation structure. Further afield, Dr Reimers does work on executive control, cognitive ageing, sex differences and cerebral lateralisation.

He has wider interests in psychology, working regularly with the BBC and independent production companies on brain-science-related TV shows, and helping set up fun - yet valid - web-based psychology tests for the BBC website among other places. He also undertakes consultancy projects, examining consumer behaviour and the effects of interventions for major retailers and government departments.

Dr Reimers also has interests in using new technology in psychological research, extending from web-based research through running experiments on mobile phones, to work using Wii input devices - Balance Boards, accelerometers and the like - for recording behavioural data.

To see some of Dr Reimer's current web-based experiments, and to contribute to ongoing research, please see here.

Publications

Publications by category

Conference paper/proceedings

  1. Hanssen, E., Fett, A.-.K., White, T., Caddy, C., Reimers, S. and Shergill, S. (2017). REDUCED INCLINATION TO COOPERATE DURING GROUP INTERACTIONS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA.

Journal articles (31)

  1. Connor Desai, S. and Reimers, S. (2019). Comparing the use of open and closed questions for Web-based measures of the continued-influence effect. Behavior Research Methods, 51(3), pp. 1426–1440. doi:10.3758/s13428-018-1066-z.
  2. Hanssen, E., Fett, A.K., White, T.P., Caddy, C., Reimers, S. and Shergill, S.S. (2018). Cooperation and sensitivity to social feedback during group interactions in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 202, pp. 361–368. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2018.06.065.
  3. Macchia, L., Plagnol, A.C. and Reimers, S. (2018). Does experience with high inflation affect intertemporal decision making? Sensitivity to inflation rates in Argentine and british delay discounting choices. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 75, pp. 76–83. doi:10.1016/j.socec.2018.05.006.
  4. Reimers, S.J., Donkin, C. and Le Pelley, M. (2018). Perceptions of randomness in binary sequences: Normative, heuristic, or both? Cognition, 172, pp. 11–25. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2017.11.002.
  5. Reimers, S. and Stewart, N. (2016). Auditory presentation and synchronization in Adobe Flash and HTML5/JavaScript Web experiments. Behavior Research Methods, 48(3), pp. 897–908. doi:10.3758/s13428-016-0758-5.
  6. Reimers, S. and Stewart, N. (2015). Presentation and response timing accuracy in Adobe Flash and HTML5/JavaScript Web experiments. Behavior Research Methods, 47(2), pp. 309–327. doi:10.3758/s13428-014-0471-1.
  7. Stewart, N., Reimers, S. and Harris, A.J.L. (2015). On the origin of utility, weighting, and discounting functions: How they get their shapes and how to change their shapes. Management Science, 61(3), pp. 687–705. doi:10.1287/mnsc.2013.1853.
  8. Harvey, N. and Reimers, S. (2013). Trend Damping: Under-Adjustment, Experimental Artifact, or Adaptation to Features of the Natural Environment? JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-LEARNING MEMORY AND COGNITION, 39(2), pp. 589–607. doi:10.1037/a0029179.
  9. Reimers, S.J. (2013). Developments in information technology and their implications for psychological research: Disruptive or diffusive change? Learning at City Journal, 3(1), pp. 45–53.
  10. Ungemach, C., Stewart, N. and Reimers, S. (2011). How incidental values from the environment affect decisions about money, risk, and delay. Psychol Sci, 22(2), pp. 253–260. doi:10.1177/0956797610396225.
  11. Reimers, S. and Harvey, N. (2011). Sensitivity to autocorrelation in judgmental time series forecasting. International Journal of Forecasting.
  12. Manning, J.T., Reimers, S., Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S. and Fink, B. (2010). Sexually dimorphic traits (digit ratio, body height, systemizing-empathizing scores) and gender segregation between occupations: Evidence from the BBC internet study. Personality and Individual Differences, 49(5), pp. 511–515. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.05.015.
  13. Le Pelley, M.E., Turnbull, M.N., Reimers, S.J. and Knipe, R.L. (2010). Learned predictiveness effects following single-cue training in humans. Learn Behav, 38(2), pp. 126–144. doi:10.3758/LB.38.2.126.
  14. Le Pelley, M.E., Reimers, S.J., Calvini, G., Spears, R., Beesley, T. and Murphy, R.A. (2010). Stereotype formation: biased by association. J Exp Psychol Gen, 139(1), pp. 138–161. doi:10.1037/a0018210.
  15. Reimers, S., Maylor, E.A., Stewart, N. and Chater, N. (2009). Associations between a one-shot delay discounting measure and age, income, education and real-world impulsive behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 47(8), pp. 973–978. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2009.07.026.
  16. Reimers, S. (2009). A paycheck half-empty or half-full? framing, fairness and progressive taxation. Judgment and Decision Making, 4(6), pp. 461–466.
  17. Chamorro-Premuzic, T., Reimers, S., Hsu, A. and Ahmetoglu, G. (2009). Who art thou? Personality predictors of artistic preferences in a large UK sample: the importance of openness. Br J Psychol, 100(Pt 3), pp. 501–516. doi:10.1348/000712608X366867.
  18. Reimers, S. and Stewart, N. (2009). Using SMS text messaging for teaching and data collection in the behavioral sciences. Behav Res Methods, 41(3), pp. 675–681. doi:10.3758/BRM.41.3.675.
  19. Reimers, S. and Stewart, N. (2008). Using Adobe Flash Lite on mobile phones for psychological research: Reaction time measurement reliability and interdevice variability. Behav Res Methods, 40(4), pp. 1170–1176. doi:10.3758/BRM.40.4.1170.
  20. Reimers, S. and Stewart, N. (2007). Adobe Flash as a medium for online experimentation: a test of reaction time measurement capabilities. Behav Res Methods, 39(3), pp. 365–370. doi:10.3758/bf03193004.
  21. Maylor, E.A., Reimers, S., Choi, J., Collaer, M.L., Peters, M. and Silverman, I. (2007). Gender and sexual orientation differences in cognition across adulthood: age is kinder to women than to men regardless of sexual orientation. Arch Sex Behav, 36(2), pp. 235–249. doi:10.1007/s10508-006-9155-y.
  22. Reimers, S. (2007). The BBC internet study: general methodology. Arch Sex Behav, 36(2), pp. 147–161. doi:10.1007/s10508-006-9143-2.
  23. Collaer, M.L., Reimers, S. and Manning, J.T. (2007). Visuospatial performance on an internet line judgment task and potential hormonal markers: Sex, sexual orientation, and 2D:4D. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36(2), pp. 177–192. doi:10.1007/s10508-006-9152-1.
  24. Peters, M., Manning, J.T. and Reimers, S. (2007). The effects of sex, sexual orientation, and digit ratio (2D:4D) on mental rotation performance. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36(2), pp. 251–260. doi:10.1007/s10508-006-9166-8.
  25. Chamorro-Premuzic, T., Furnham, A. and Reimers, S. (2007). The ARTistic personality. Psychologist, 20(2), pp. 84–87.
  26. Peters, M., Reimers, S. and Manning, J.T. (2006). Hand preference for writing and associations with selected demographic and behavioral variables in 255,100 subjects: The BBC internet study. Brain and Cognition, 62(2), pp. 177–189. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2006.04.005.
  27. Reimers, S. and Maylor, E.A. (2006). Gender effects on reaction time variability and trial-to-trial performance: reply to Deary and Der (2005). Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn, 13(3-4), pp. 479–489. doi:10.1080/138255890969375.
  28. Reimers, S. and Maylor, E.A. (2005). Task switching across the life span: effects of age on general and specific switch costs. Dev Psychol, 41(4), pp. 661–671. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.41.4.661.
  29. Stewart, N., Chater, N., Stott, H.P. and Reimers, S. (2003). Prospect relativity: how choice options influence decision under risk. J Exp Psychol Gen, 132(1), pp. 23–46. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.132.1.23.
  30. Wills, A.J., Reimers, S., Stewart, N., Suret, M. and McLaren, I.P. (2000). Tests of the ratio rule in categorization. Q J Exp Psychol A, 53(4), pp. 983–1011. doi:10.1080/713755935.
  31. Wills, A.J., Reimers, S., Stewart, N., Suret, M. and McLaren, I.P.L. (2000). Tests of the ratio rule in categorization. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology A, 53(4), pp. 983–1011. doi:10.1080/02724980050156263.

Professional activities

Editorial activity (2)

  1. Associate Editor: Behavior Research Methods, Associate Editor, Feb 2017 – present.
  2. Editorial Board Member: Journal of Behavioral Decision Making.

Online articles (2)

  1. When it comes to tax, how do we decide what’s fair? (2016). The Conversation
  2. The ‘tax aversion’ effect is real, and can sway our opinion on anything. (2016). The Conversation

Radio programmes (7)

  1. The Human Zoo. BBC Radio 4 Programme on behavioural science of success and failure judgements.
  2. The Human Zoo. BBC Radio 4 Programme on disruption, and the significance of cognitive biases.
  3. Sunday Breakfast with Jake Yapp. talkRADIO
  4. The Psychology of Money. BBC Radio 4
  5. The Philosopher's Arms. BBC Radio 4 I was a panel member on this pub-philosophy programme, talking about behavioural game theory and free-riding.
  6. Science in Action. BBC World Service Very short commentary on a recent decision making article, in this weekly science magazine programme. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0104gsw.
  7. All in the Mind. BBC Radio 4 A ten minute interview on this weekly psychology science programme.