Professor Eric Vanman
Professor

Eric Vanman

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 336 56213

Background

Eric Vanman is a Professor at the University of Queensland's School of Psychology in Australia. He earned his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1994. Following that, he served as a post-doctoral fellow specialising in cognitive and behavioural neuroscience at USC, then spent a year as a research scientist in the Environmental Psychophysiology Laboratory at Texas A&M. He also held short-term positions at Emory University before being appointed an Assistant Professor at Georgia State University in 2000, where he taught until 2007. He then transitioned from Georgia State as an Associate Professor to his current role. His research centres on the social neuroscience of emotion and intergroup prejudice, utilising various psychophysiological and neuroimaging techniques. Currently, he is focused on projects involving social robots and social media.

Availability

Professor Eric Vanman is:
Available for supervision

Fields of research

Information and Computing Sciences Psychology

Qualifications

  • Masters (Coursework), University of Southern California
  • Doctor of Philosophy, University of Southern California

Research interests

  • How Do We Really Feel About Robots?

    Can we have empathy for robots? Why do we fear them? Is it a good idea to design robots that look like humans? This is the newest line of research in our laboratory.

  • How Stressful is it to Use Social Media?

    We have studied how constantly keeping up with friends via social media such as Facebook can have both positive and negative benefits. We found in once recent study, for example, that giving up Facebook for five days was associated with negative feelings about being socially disconnected, but stress (as measured via salivary cortisol) decreased during the same time period.

  • Why Do We Cry? How Do People Respond to Others Who are Crying?

    We are currently investigating the functions of crying by asking people to cry in the laboratory and taking various behavioural and physiological measurements while they do. In other studies, participants view pictures or videos of people who are crying to examine how we respond to those showing tears.

  • Why Do We Have Less Empathy for People in Other Groups?

    It is well known now that we naturally have less empathy for people who belong to different social groups to our own. This line of research investigates some of the reasons why such empathic biases occur.

Research impacts

Professor Vanman is primarily known for his studies on racial prejudice. His research has indicated that the activation of facial muscles, specifically those that create frowning and smiling expressions, is linked to prejudiced and discriminatory behaviour, even in the absence of detectable facial displays of emotion. His early work on unconscious bias and its connection to psychophysiological measures laid the foundation for research on implicit measures that have been prominent in this research area for the last three decades. Recently, his research has focused on studying the mechanisms of empathy using a social neuroscience approach. He has investigated factors that may contribute to a lack of empathy for individuals who are different from us but has also extended this to human-robot interaction.

Engagement with the media is an effective way to communicate the knowledge we have acquired in our research to the general public. Prof Vanman has appeared on several radio and television programs for Australian and international media, often as an expert commenting on recent news events. For example, ABC’s Catalyst program featured his lab's research on crying, in which a documentary crew came to the laboratory. In 2022, he appeared on SBS’s Insight program to talk about what we know about “catfish”—people who use false identities to develop close relationships with others while online.

Search Professor Eric Vanman’s works on UQ eSpace

86 works between 1996 and 2024
All (86) Journal Article (68) Book Chapter (8) Conference Publication (8) Book (1) Other Outputs (1)

81 - 86 of 86 works

2002

Journal Article

Maternal Depressive Symptoms and 6-Month-Old Infants' Sensitivity to Facial Expressions

Striano, Tricia, Brennan, Patricia A. and Vanman, Eric J. (2002). Maternal Depressive Symptoms and 6-Month-Old Infants' Sensitivity to Facial Expressions. Infancy, 3 (1), 115-126. doi: 10.1207/S15327078IN0301_6

Maternal Depressive Symptoms and 6-Month-Old Infants' Sensitivity to Facial Expressions

2000

Journal Article

Personality, emotional experience, and efforts to control emotions

Tobin, RM, Graziano, WG, Vanman, EJ and Tassinary, LG (2000). Personality, emotional experience, and efforts to control emotions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79 (4), 656-669. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.79.4.656

Personality, emotional experience, and efforts to control emotions

1998

Journal Article

Affective reactions in the blink of an eye: Individual differences in subjective experience and physiological responses to emotional stimuli

Vanman, EJ, Dawson, ME and Brennan, PA (1998). Affective reactions in the blink of an eye: Individual differences in subjective experience and physiological responses to emotional stimuli. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24 (9), 994-1005. doi: 10.1177/0146167298249007

Affective reactions in the blink of an eye: Individual differences in subjective experience and physiological responses to emotional stimuli

1997

Journal Article

The modern face of prejudice and structural features that moderate the effect of cooperation on affect

Vanman, Eric J., Paul, Brenda Y., Ito, Tiffany A. and Miller, Norman (1997). The modern face of prejudice and structural features that moderate the effect of cooperation on affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73 (5), 941-959. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.73.5.941

The modern face of prejudice and structural features that moderate the effect of cooperation on affect

1997

Journal Article

Connectionism, parallel constraint satisfaction processes, and Gestalt principles: (Re)introducing cognitive dynamics to social psycholog

Read, Stephen J., Vanman, Eric J. and Miller, Lynn C. (1997). Connectionism, parallel constraint satisfaction processes, and Gestalt principles: (Re)introducing cognitive dynamics to social psycholog. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 1 (1), 26-53. doi: 10.1207/s15327957pspr0101_3

Connectionism, parallel constraint satisfaction processes, and Gestalt principles: (Re)introducing cognitive dynamics to social psycholog

1996

Journal Article

The varying time courses of attentional and affective modulation of the startle eyeblink reflex

Vanman, EJ, Boehmelt, AH, Dawson, ME and Schell, AM (1996). The varying time courses of attentional and affective modulation of the startle eyeblink reflex. Psychophysiology, 33 (6), 691-697. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1996.tb02365.x

The varying time courses of attentional and affective modulation of the startle eyeblink reflex

Current funding

  • 2023 - 2026
    Robots as a Social Group: Implications for Human-Robot Interaction
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2020 - 2025
    Reducing social frailty in late adulthood
    ARC Linkage Projects
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2016
    A brain physiology laboratory for neuropsychological research in the new Queensland Neuropsychology Research Centre
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant
  • 2013
    A brain stimulation and portable eye-tracking suite for human behavioural research
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant
  • 2013 - 2015
    Advancing the science of willpower: Investigating the mechanisms and processes of self-control (ARC Discovery Project administered by Curtin University)
    Curtin University of Technology
    Open grant
  • 2009 - 2011
    Emotional and political reactions to representations of terrorism
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2008 - 2009
    Somatic Markers of Social Prejudice
    UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund
    Open grant
  • 2008
    User-friendly equipment for central nervous and cardiovascular psychopshysiology
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant

Availability

Professor Eric Vanman is:
Available for supervision

Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.

Available projects

  • Social Robots: The ROSIE Project

    In collaboration with international partners in Switzerland and Germany, Prof Vanman has received funding to study human-robot interaction from the perspective of intergroup relations. As robots become increasingly integrated into our daily lives, from assisting in homes to collaborating in workplaces, understanding the social dimensions of human-robot interactions becomes crucial. This project, funded by the Australian Research Council, aims to bridge the gap by examining robots through the lens of social psychology, focusing on their acceptance as part of our social fabric.

    The project will explore innovative strategies to enhance empathy towards robots, aiming to improve coexistence and collaboration. Through a series of cutting-edge experiments, the research team will provide invaluable insights for robot designers and pave the way for a more inclusive future where humans and robots work side by side, enriching each other's lives.

  • Catfshing: Antecedents and Consequences

    Prof. Vanman's research team has conducted some initial pilot work involving online interviews with people who catfish. He would welcome a new PhD project focused on conducting an investigation into the motivations of people who catfish, identifying their likely victims, and understanding the consequences for people who have been catfished.

Supervision history

Current supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

    The Effects of Acting Prosocially on Well-being and Neural Networks

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Julie Henry

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Exploring the Quality and Impact of Human-AI Relationships on Social Connection and Well-being

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Marie Boden

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Robots as Social Groups: A Social Neuroscience Approach

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Jess Taubert

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Eye of the beholder: Toward an evolutionarily informed theory of threat-based prejudice.

    Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy

    AI as a Tool for Truth and Empathy: Exploring the Impact of AI-driven Interactions on False Beliefs and Intergroup Empathy

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Leah Henrickson

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Why Do People Seek Anonymity?

    Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Comparing Inward and Outward, Upward but not Downward: The Self-Evaluative and Emotional Effects of Exposure to Idealised Social Media Content, and the Interplay of Dual Comparison Processes

    Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy

    The impact of social media on self-perception

    Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Exploring the Quality and Impact of Human-AI Relationships on Social Connection and Well-being

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Marie Boden

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Why Do People Seek Anonymity?

    Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy

    The role of breathing in human social intelligence.

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Julie Henry, Associate Professor Jess Taubert

Completed supervision

Enquiries

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communications@uq.edu.au