Professor Viren Swami

Professor of Social Psychology Anglia Ruskin University

  • Cambridge England

His research focuses on the psychology of body image, human appearance, and attraction in relationships.

Contact

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Areas of Expertise

Impact of Nature on Healthy Living
Tattoos
Body Image
Psychology of Attraction
Relationships
Body Art
Post-natal Depression in Fathers

Biography

Professor Viren Swami is Professor of Social Psychology in the School of Psychology and Sport Science at Anglia Ruskin University. His research focuses on the psychology of body image, human appearance, and attraction in relationships. He has a particular interest in cross-cultural differences in body image and beauty ideals. He also explores the impact of physical appearance in how relationships are formed as well as body art (particularly tattoos). Recent studies include women’s perceptions of their satisfaction with their breast size, the benefits of gardening and nature to well-being self-esteem, and post-natal depression among fathers.

Viren is a Director at the Centre for Psychological Medicine (a joint centre between Anglia Ruskin and Perdana universities). He is the author of Attraction Explained - The Science of How We Form Relationships. He is also a Chartered Psychologist, an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and an Associate Editor for the journals Body Image and PLOS One. He works with Guerilla Science - which connects public audiences to scientific thinking - and is the Convenor of Anglia Ruskin’s Mind-Body Matters events.

Media Mentions

COVID-19 anxiety linked to body image issues, finds study

Times of India  online

2020-10-24

The research, led by Professor Viren Swami of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, involved 506 UK adults with an average age of 34.

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COVID-19 anxiety linked to body image issues

Science Daily  online

2020-10-23

The research, led by Professor Viren Swami of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, involved 506 UK adults with an average age of 34.

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Warning as pandemic stress leads to body image issues

Surrey Comet  online

2020-10-22

Lead author Viren Swami, professor of social psychology at Anglia Ruskin University, said: “In addition to the impact of the virus itself, our results suggest the pandemic could also be leading to a rise in body image issues.

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Multimedia Appearances

Education

University College London

Ph.D.

Psychology

2005

University College London

B.Sc.

Psychology

2002

Affiliations

  • Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow, British Psychological Society
  • Fellow, Advance HE
  • Associate Editor, Body Image
  • Associate Editor, PLOS One
  • Board Director, Asian Psychological Associations

Articles

The Body Acceptance by Others Scale: An assessment of its factorial validity in adults from the United Kingdom

Body Image

2020

The construct of body acceptance by others (i.e., the degree to which an individual perceives acceptance for their appearance by others) is central to conceptual models of positive body image and adaptive eating styles.

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Investigating the Links Between Cultural Values and Belief in Conspiracy Theories: the Key Roles of Collectivism and Masculinity.

PsyArXiv

2020

Research suggests that belief in conspiracy theories (CT) stems from basic psychological mechanisms and is linked to other belief systems (eg religious beliefs). While previous research has extensively examined individual and contextual variables associated with CT beliefs, it has not yet investigated the role of culture.

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COVID-19-related stress and anxiety are associated with negative body image in adults from the United Kingdom

Personality and Individual Differences

2020

The stress and anxiety caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic presents a serious threat to psychological well-being in populations worldwide and may also extend to body image outcomes.

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