My research focuses on the interpersonal effects and functions of emotion.  A primary function of emotion is relation alignment: adjusting orientations to other people and objects in the shared field of action.  From this perspective, emotions do not necessarily depend on prior appraisals but instead are read by others as conveying appraisals (e.g., Parkinson, 1997; 2008).  Further emotions may intensify when interpersonal feedback indicates that their functions are not being met (e.g., Parkinson, 2001; 2008).  Recent studies have investigated how other people's expressed worry can change appraisals of and emotional responses to potentially risky situations using diary (e.g., Parkinson & Simons, 2009), observational and experimental methods (e.g., Parkinson, Phiri, & Simons, submitted). Current research into interpersonal emotion regulation is supported by the ESRC as part of project EROS.

I completed my undergraduate and postgraduate training at Manchester University under the supervision of Tony Manstead.  Subsequent academic posts have been at Liverpool, Sheffield, Leicester, and Brunel Universities. I was associate editor of Cognition and Emotion from 1998 to 2003, and chief editor of the British Journal of Social Psychology from 2004 to 2008.  Books I have written include Ideas and Realities of Emotion (1995), Changing Moods (with Peter Totterdell, Rob Briner, and Shirley Reynolds, 1996) and Emotion in Social Relations (with Agneta Fischer and Tony Manstead, 2005).