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Geoff Haddock BSc Toronto, MA PhD Waterloo

Professor Geoff Haddock

BSc Toronto, MA PhD Waterloo

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Available for postgraduate supervision

Teams and roles for Geoff Haddock

Overview

Research summary

My primary area of research is the psychology of attitudes.  Within this area, I have a number of research interests, including: (a) the role of affective and cognitive processes in attitudes, (b) attitude ambivalence, (c) how individual differences influence attitude processes, (d) how child salience influences behaviour and (e) mindfulness and attitudes.  This research is being undertaken in collaboration with colleagues in Cardiff University, the University of Bath, as well as collaborators in Israel, Italy and the Netherlands.

Teaching summary

In year 2, I teach on the Social Psychology module, where my lectures cover the topics of altrusism, aggression, and health behaviour.

In the final year, I teach and serve as module co-ordinator for PS3403 - Attitudes and Attitude Change.  The aims of the module are: (a) to develop students’ understanding of the concept of attitude and its importance in social psychology and (b) make students familiar with theories of attitude and, especially, the research that has been used to test these  theories.

Undergraduate and postgraduate project supervision is in the area of the psychology of attitudes.

Publication

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

1994

1993

Articles

Book sections

Books

Conferences

  • Esses, V. M., Haddock, G. and Zanna, M. P. 1994. The role of mood in the expression of intergroup stereotypes. Presented at: Ontario Symposium on Personality and Social Psychology 1991, Waterloo, Canada, 1991 Presented at Zanna, M. P. and Olson, J. M. eds.The Psychology of Prejudice: Proceedings of the Ontario Symposium on Personality and Social Psychology, Waterloo, Canada, 1991. Ontario Symposium Vol. 7. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum pp. 77-101.
  • Haddock, G. and Zanna, M. P. 1993. Predicting prejudicial attitudes: the importance of affect, cognition and the feeling-belief dimension. Presented at: Association for Consumer Research 1992 Annual Conference, Vancouver, Canada, 8-11 October 1993 Presented at McAlister, L. and Rothschild, M. L. eds. Advances in Consumer Research Vol. 20. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research pp. 315-318.

Research

Research topics and related papers

My research concentrates on the psychology of attitudes.  I am interested in questions such as how do we form and organise our opinions?  How do our opinions change and evolve over time?  For example, here are different types of questions I have been studying:

How do different people respond to different types of persuasive appeals?

When I was growing up, there used to be a series of famous television advertisements in which former professional athletes exalted their preference for a particular brand of beer.  While some of the athletes noted that the beer tasted great, others replied that it was less filling than other beers.  From an attitudes point of view, the first part of the message highlights a positive affective response  associated with the beverage (i.e., its taste), whereas the second part highlights a positive attribute about the beverage (i.e., its low caloric intake).  Using this analogy, my colleagues and I have been interested in knowing whether some people are more persuaded by an affective people and others more persuaded by a cognitive appeal (see Haddock & Maio, 2019; Maio et al., 2025).

How do people mentally represent attitude objects?

I have become interested in how people mentally represent attitude objects. When you ask different people to think about a group (e.g., people from Canada) or a concept (e.g., narcissism), to what extent do these representations differ, and to what extent do such differences matter? Using reverse correlation, we have found that people mentally and visually represent objects in very different ways, and that these differences have important consequences for social perception and behavior (see e.g., Han et al., 2023; Itzchakov et al., 2025; Proulx et al., 2023; Smith et al., 2025). 

How does child salience influence behaviour? What do adults think about children?

In one strand of work, my collaborators and I have investigated how thinking about child influences affect, cognition, and behaviour.  For example, we have found that priming people with the concept of children leads to more importance attached to self-transcendence values and less importance attached to self-enhancement values (Wolf et al., 2022). In other research, we have expored adults' attitudes toward children, and the consequences of these attitudes (Wolf et al., 2024). 

https://childsalience.wordpress.com/

Funding

2004-2006: "Implicit and explicit bases of values: Implications for behaviour change" - Economic and Social Research Council (£46890 - with Prof. G. R. Maio).

2004-2006: "Do memory-impaired individual retain access to their attitudes" -   Alzheimer's Research Trust (£6820 - with Dr. M. A. Newson and Prof. G. Wilcock).

2004-2007: "Effects of affective, cognitive, and behavioural anti-racism advertisements" - Economic and Social Research Council (£136236 - with Prof. G. R. Maio).

2009-2013: "Lifestyle change: Values and volition" - Economic and Social   Research Council (FEC £424490 - with Dr. K. Tapper and Prof. G. R. Maio).

2015-2018: “The impacts of mindfulness on values and attitudes” – The  Leverhulme Trust (£153878)

2017-2020: “Effects of mental representations of children on prosocial motivation” - Economic and Social Research Council (FEC £533021 - with Prof. G. R. Maio, Dr. C. Foad, Dr. J. Karremans and Prof. E. Webb)

2018-2020: “Pilot real-time REF review” – Research England (£20000 – with Dr. N. Weinstein and Professor J. Wilsdon)

2020: PPE use among police officers in response to COVID-19 – Research contract with the National Police Coordination Centre (£17243 – with Dr. E. Collins)

2020-2021: The relationship between religion and science in practice: The role of religiosity in complying with scientific health - Science and Religion Project Research Network (£19925 – with Dr. N. Zarzeczna, Dr. P. Hanel, & Dr. B. Rutjers)

2021-2022: Adults' decision-making regarding teenagers' culpability in a forensic context - British Academy (£8355 - with Dr. L. Wolf and Prof G. Maio)

2025-2026: The two faces of ambivalence: Unmaking cros-cultural differences in perceptions of dispositional attitudinal ambivalence. (with Dr. T. Proulx, Dr. T. Vaughan-Johnston and Dr. R. Han).

Research group

I am a member of the social and environmental psychology research group.

Research collaborators

Within the School, my primary collaborators are Thomas Vaughn-Johnston, Travis Proulx, and Ulrich von Hecker.  Recent external collaborators include colleagues from the University of Bath, City Univerity, the University of Reading and the University of Essex. International collaborations with colleagues in Israel, Italy, and the Netherlands.

Teaching

In year 2, I teach on the Social Psychology module, where my lectures cover the topics of altrusim, aggression, and health behaviour.

In the final year, I teach on the Attitudes and Attitude Change module.  The aims of the module are: (a) to develop students’ understanding of the concept of attitude and its importance in social psychology and (b) make students familiar with theories of  attitude and, especially, the research that has been used to test these  theories.

Project supervision is in the area of the psychology of attitudes.

Biography

Undergraduate education

I attended the University of Toronto, where I received my B.Sc. in 1989.

Postgraduate education

I completed my Ph.D. at the University of Waterloo.  My Ph.D. thesis explored the extent to which affective and cognitive information differentially influence attitudes across individuals.  Upon completion of my Ph.D., I spent a year as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Michigan before moving to the United Kingdom in 1995.

Employment

1994-1995: Lecturer and Visiting Scholar, The University of Michigan

1995-1999: Lecturer, University of Exeter

1999-2000: Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter

2000-2001: Lecturer, University of Bristol

2001-2006: Senior Lecturer, Cardiff University

2006-2010: Reader, Cardiff University

2010-present: Professor, Cardiff University

Honours and awards

Awards/external committees

2019: Society of Personality and Social Psychology Attitudes and Social Influence Group Mid-Career Award

2023: Cardiff University Doctoral Supervisor of the Year: Cardiff Student Union Enhancing Student Life Awards

Editorial Duties

1999-2003: Associate Editor: British Journal of Social Psychology

2007-2011: Associate Editor: British Journal of Psychology

2011-2012: Associate Editor: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

2013-2015: Associate Editor: Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

2020-2023: Associate Editor, Royal Society Open Science

Examination Duties

2003-7: External Examiner, Undergraduate Degrees in Psychology, University of Surrey

2006-2010: External Examiner, Undergraduate Degrees in Psychology, University of Sheffield

2011-2015: External Examiner,  M.Sc. Degrees, University of Kent

2011-2015: External Examiner,  Undergraduate Degrees in Psychology, University of Aberdeen

2015-2020: External Examiner,  Undergraduate Degrees in Psychology, University of Essex

2017-2021: External Examiner, Undergraduate Degrees in Psychology, City University

2017-2023: External Examiner, M.Sc. Degrees, University College London

2020-2024: External Examiner, Undegraduate Degrees in Psychology, University of Reading

Review Boards

2010-present: Member of ESRC Peer Review College

2016-2022: Academic Advisor, Commonwealth Scholarship Commission

2017-2021: Member of ESRC Grants Assessment Panel (Panel A)

2021-2025: Memeber of ESRC Strategic Advisory Network

International Research Conference Organisation

2000: European Association of Experimental Social Psychology conference   titled “Attitudes Research in the 21st Century: Integrating Mental Models and Motivation”, Gregynog, Wales (with G. R. Maio)

2004: European Association of Experimental Social Psychology conference   titled “Conscious and Unconscious Attitudinal Processes”, La Cristalera, Spain (with G. R. Maio, P. Briñol, & R. E. Petty)

2008: European Association of Experimental Social Psychology conference   titled “Affective Processes in Evaluation”, Nijmegen, The Netherlands (with G. R. Maio, P. Briñol, R. Holland, & R. E. Petty)

2012:  European Association of Social Psychology conference titled “Motivational  components of attitudes”, Ghent, Belgium (with G. R. Maio, P. Briñol, R. Holland, R. E. Petty,  & A. Spruuyt)

2016: European Association of Social Psychology conference titled “Experience-based  versus information-based attitude processes: On the psychology of attitudes”, Cologne, Germany (with C. Unkelbach, A. Gast, S. Topolinski, P. Briñol, R. Holland, G. Maio, R.  Petty, & D. Wegener)

2023: European Association of Social Psychology conference titled "Social processes in evaluation", Bath, England (with L. Wolf, G. Maio, P. Brinol, T. Garcia-Marques, R. Holland, R. Petty, I. Schneider, and D. Wegener)  

Professional memberships

European Assocation of Social Psychology

Society of Experimental Social Psychology (Fellow)

Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Fellow)

Supervisions

Postgraduate research interests

My primary area of research is the psychology of attitudes.  Within this area, I have a number of  research interests, including: (a) the role of affective and cognitive  processes in attitudes, (b) the impact on mindfulness on attitudes and attitude change, (c) attitude ambivalence, (d) how individual differences influence attitude processes, and (e) how child salience influences behaviour.

If you are interested in applying for a PhD, or for further information  regarding my postgraduate research, please contact me directly (contact details available on the 'Overview' page), or submit a formal application.

Current supervision

Joseph Newton

Joseph Newton

Contact Details

Email HaddockGG@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone +44 29208 75373
Campuses Tower Building, 70 Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3AT
Researchers develop scale to assess differences between ‘Progressives’ and ‘Traditional Liberals’

Researchers develop scale to assess differences between ‘Progressives’ and ‘Traditional Liberals’

13 October 2022

Being around children makes adults more generous, say researchers

Being around children makes adults more generous, say researchers

07 May 2021

External profiles