Psychology Colloquium - Professor Ottmar Lipp
| Psychology | Psychology Research | Colloquia Program |
| Topic: | Stimulus fear-relevance: From animal to intergroup fear? | |
| Presenter: | Professor Ottmar Lipp, School of Psychology, University of Queensland | |
| Time: Date: | 3:30pm * | |
| Locations: | Lecture Hall D350 (Coffs Harbour campus) |  |
| About the colloquium: |
We fear snakes and spiders more than cars, although the latter pose a greater threat to us. Öhman and Mineka (2001) suggested that this difference depends on an evolved fear module that permits preferential processing of, and rapid responding to, animal fear-relevant stimuli. The notion that such stimuli are processed preferentially has received support from a number of sources, including studies of fear conditioning and visual search. Recently, similar findings have emerged for social fear-relevant stimuli, both interpersonal: angry faces, and intergroup: other-race faces, suggesting a wider conceptualisation of fearrelevance. I review studies of whether animal and social fears depend on a common learning mechanism. I provide evidence that animal and social fear-relevant stimuli are processed differently. |
| About the speaker: |
After completing a PhD at the University of Giessen, in 1990 Ottmar Lipp came to University of Queensland, where he has stayed ever since. He became Professor there in 2006 and is currently an ARC Australian Professorial Fellow. His research interests are in basic and applied aspects of emotion, attention, and their interaction, particularly in how we acquire likes and dislikes. He has published 105 papers in peer-reviewed, international journals, one book, and three book chapters. He has won more than $3M in competitive grants. He has received numerous awards for his research and teaching. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Biological Psychology, an Australian Reader for the ARC, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences. See also: Professor Ottmar Lipp (opens in new page) |
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Colloquium Flyer - Professor Ottmar Lipp |
Updated: 29 October 2012