13 Last checked 3 July 2020

I am a Reader in Cognitive Psychology and Associate Director of the Centre for Cognition and Neuroscience. My work is at the intersection of human cognition and psychology and law to understand how people decide when and why to trust or distrust information. My work takes three broad approaches.

Theoretical Understanding of Decisions to (Dis)Believe

Having a deeper, evidence-based impact on society requires establishing and testing basic psychological theory. The Adaptive Lie Detector theory (Street, 2015) provides a process-oriented explanation of when and why people decide what to believe. The theory has been supported by behavioural and modelling work and has received support in independent laboratories.

Real-World Decisions to Trust

I have led and am leading projects seeking to develop evidence-based interventions to reduce susceptibility to phishing and other forms of fraud while also seeking overt markers and indicators of trust. I have carried out this work in collaboration with local and national agencies and organisations, and am always excited to discuss problems that industry and public sectors are facing that may be addressed through academic research.

Decisions Under Uncertainty

I am fundamentally interested in the simple penny problem: which hand is it hidden in? My work has considered how people decide to deceive, how the decision to cheat waivers and unfolds over time, and whether people are able to recognise their own uncertainty in making lie-truth judgments.

My research has included working with national organisations to create evidence-based interventions to reduce susceptibility to phishing and smishing scams. I make use of a combination of behavioural, eye tracking and modelling techniques. This work has been recognised through funded projects and an APS Rising Stars award.

I have been fortunate enough to have collaborated with North Yorkshire Police, Bob's Business, Bradford Safeguarding Children Board, among others.

Funded projects have included

• An evidence-based psychological intervention to improve cyber security behaviour (Innovate UK)
• A computational model of engagement with SMS scams (ESRC)

I am a keen advocate of working and communicating with the public.

I am happy to supervise projects that fall within my area of expertise. I am particularly interested in supervising projects that develop a theoretical understanding of how people make lie-truth judgments, but I will consider supervising in other areas too. 

Click Here to see all postgraduate research opportunities with Dr Chris Street.