Dr Margaret McRorie

Background

I studied Psychology at Queen’s University, Belfast, graduating with a BA in 1997, followed by a PhD (2001) on relationships between response time and general mental ability. I was appointed lecturer in the Psychology Department at Queen’s in 2002, and I work in the area of Individual Differences.

Research Interests

I am a member of the Emotion, Perception and Individual Characteristics (EPIC) research cluster in the School of Psychology and my research interests are central to one of the main programmes of research in that cluster – individual differences and emotion research.

In collaboration with Colin Cooper, I am currently developing work in exploring the biological foundations of ability processes. Despite substantial renewed interest regarding elementary processes, the relationship between intelligence and reaction time is controversial, and the literature relating ability to speed of neural transmission remains inconclusive. These problems are currently addressed by investigation of relationships between ability and reflex response speed. Our research to date (McRorie & Cooper, 2003, 2004) has shown a substantial relationship between intelligence and reflex latency within student samples. Current work is attempting to address the sequence of events which combine to produce reflex behaviour by including direct assessment of underlying electrophysiological processes. Future research plans are to extend this work outside the laboratory.

Further research interests relate to the concept of Emotional Intelligence (EI) and individual differences issues within the area of emotion research. I am a member of the HUMAINE network of excellence, and have collaborated with Dr I Sneddon to develop collections of naturalistic data, and to use these to study individual differences in the expression and perception of emotion. Linked to this work, we have been exploring the importance of context in the study of emotional expression. Research to date (Sneddon & McRorie, 2005) suggests that agent characteristics, social setting, etc. could be experimentally manipulated systematically. A series of studies are planned to determine the level and nature of emotional expression in a range of contexts.

Current supervision of a PhD student relates to the role of emotion and intelligence within the concept of Emotional Intelligence. This work interfaces the intelligence and affective sciences literature and pulls together my two main areas of research interest.

Other interests relate to personality, and I was recently invited to participate in a large-scale cross-cultural personality project supported by the National Institute on Ageing. This work tested hypotheses concerning universality of personality traits, and the accuracy of national character stereotypes in 49 cultures worldwide. The work is currently being extended.

Key Publications

Terracciano, A., and 78 members of the Personality Profiles of Cultures Project (2005). National character does not reflect mean personality trait levels in 49 cultures. Science, 310, 96-100.

McCrae, R. R, Terracciano, A., and 78 members of the Personality Profiles of Cultures Project. (2005) Personality profiles of cultures: Aggregate personality traits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(3), 407-425.

McCrae, R. R, Terracciano, A., and 78 members of the Personality Profiles of Cultures Project. (2005). Universal features of personality traits from an observer’s perspective: Data from 50 cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(3), 547-561.

McRorie, M. and Cooper, C. (2004). Synaptic transmission correlates of general mental ability. Intelligence, 32 (3), 263-275.

McRorie, M. and Cooper, C. (2004). Psychomotor movement and IQ. Personality and Individual Differences, 37 (3), 523-531.

McRorie, M. and Cooper, C. (2003). Neural transmission and general mental ability. Learning and Individual Differences, 13 (4), 335-338.

Recent Talks and Conference Presentations

Contextual and Individual Differences in Expressing Natural Emotion. Poster presented at the 14th European Conference on Personality, Tartu, Estonia, July, 2008

Contextual and Individual Differences in Expression of Induced Emotion. Poster presented at HUMAINE Plenary Meeting, Paris, 2007

Vigilance, Visual Distraction and Personality. Poster presented at 13th European Conference on Personality, Athens, July, 2006

Perception of Emotional Expression. Poster presented at 13th European Conference on Personality, Athens, July, 2006

Intelligence, Reflex latency and Electromyography (EMG). Paper presented at the BPS Quinquennial Conference, Manchester, July, 2005

The Importance of Context in Emotional Expression. Poster presented at the HUMAINE Plenary Meeting, Newcastle, May, 2005

Reflex Behaviour, Electromyography (EMG), and General Mental Ability. Paper presented at the 5th Annual Conference of the International Society for Intelligence Research, New Orleans, December, 2004

Patellar electromyography (EMG), reflex latency and general mental ability. Paper presented at the 12th European Conference on Personality, Gronnigen, July, 2004

Motor Speed and IQ. Poster presented at the 12th European Conference on Personality, Gronnigen, July, 2004

Links

I am a member of HUMAINE (Human-Machine Interaction Network on Emotion). This is a major EC project, which has brought together leading EC teams to work on the task of developing emotion-oriented technology. This has led to links with European researchers in the fields of emotion and affective computing.

Other international links relate to the Personality Profiles of Cultures Project (PPOC), funded by the National Institute on Ageing (NIA) and conducted by Terracciano and McCrae, (leading investigators in the NIA’s Laboratory of Personality and Cognition, Baltimore, USA). Membership of PPOC has led to cross-cultural collaboration with other researchers in the field of personality.