About

I am currently a Senior Lecturer in Psychology. I have been teaching psychology for the past 27 years, initially at the University of Manchester, then at Staffordshire University and from 2006 here at the University of Derby.

Research interests

My current (personal) research interests are in the area of eating behaviours. Specifically developmental food neophobia, stigma consciousness, weight stigma and weight bias. 

Recent publications

• Gaffiero D, Staples P, Staples V and Maratos FA (2022) Interpretation Biases in Pain: Validation of Two New Stimulus Sets. Front. Psychol. 12:784887. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.784887
• Bunten, A., Porter, L., Burgess-Allen, J., Howell-Jones, R., Jackson, J., Ward, D., Staples, V., Staples, P., Rowthorn, H., Saei, A., van Schaik, P., Tydeman, E., Blair, P., Hugueniot, O., Gold, N., & Chadborn, T. (2021). Healthy Packed Lunch Survey [Database record]. APA PsycTests
• Amanda Bunten, Jilla Burgess-Allen, Rebecca Howell-Jones, Jessica Jackson, Derek Ward, Paul Staples, Vicki Staples, Harriet Rowthorn, Paul van Schaik, Ayoub Saei, Elizabeth Tydeman, Penny Blair, Orla Hugueniot, Lucy Porter & Tim Chadborn (2021).  The Derby Packed Lunch Trial; using behavioural insights to reduce primary school children’s sugar consumption. Appetite. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2020.104987
• Batashvili, M., Staples, P.A., Baker, I.S., and Sheffield, D. (2020). The neurophysiological relationship between number anxiety and the EEG gamma-band. The Journal of Cognitive Psychology. DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2020.1778006
• Schofield, M.B., Baker, I.S., Staples, P., & D. Sheffield. (2020). Modelling Supernatural Belief: Cognition and Personality. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. 84, No. 3, 129–156
• Batashvili, Staples, Baker and Sheffield (2019). Exploring the relationship between gamma-band activity and maths anxiety. Cognition and Emotion, Vol. 33, pages 1616 – 1626. DOI:10.1080/02699931.2019.1590317
• Natasha Beeson, Edward J. N. Stupple, Malcolm Schofield, and Paul Staples (2019). Mental Models or Probabilistic Reasoning or Both: Reviewing the Evidence for and Implications of DualStrategy Models of Deductive Reasoning/ Psychological Topics
• Petronzi, D., Staples, P., Sheffield, D., & Hunt, T.E. (2019). Acquisition, development and maintenance of maths anxiety in young children. In I. Mammarella., S. Caviola., & A. Dowker (Eds), Mathematics Anxiety. London: Routledge
• Petronzi, D., Staples, P., Sheffield, D., Hunt, T., & Fitton-Wilde, S.  (2018). Further development of an assessment scale for numeracy apprehension in children aged 4-7 years. Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics. Published online 31/10/2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-018-9860-1
• Schofield, M.B., Baker, I.S., Staples, P., & D. Sheffield. (2018).The creation and validation of the Belief in the Supernatural Scale. Journal of Parapsychology Vol. 82 (1), pages 41-64
• Petronzi, D., Staples, P., Sheffield, D., Hunt, T., & Fitton-Wilde, S.  (2017). Numeracy apprehension in young children - insight from children aged 4-7 years and primary care providers. Psychology and Education
• Schofield, M. B., Baker, I. S., Staples, P., & Sheffield., D. (2016). Mental representations of the supernatural: A cluster analysis of religiosity, spirituality and paranormal belief. Personality and Individual Differences, 101, 419–424
• F. Maratos & P.A Staples (2015). Attentional biases towards familiar and unfamiliar foods in children. The role of food neophobia. Appetite (91) 220-5
• Baker, I. S., Schofield, M. B., & Staples, P. (2014). Book review: Education in parapsychology - student and instructor perspectives by Harvey J. Irwin, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 78.4, 917, 240-241
• T.M. Dovey, V.K. Aldridge, W. Dignan, P.A. Staples, E.L. Gibson. & .J.C.G. Halford (2012). Developmental differences in sensory decision-making involved in deciding to try a novel fruit. The British Journal of Health Psychology DOI: 10.1111
• T.M. Dovey, P.A. Staples, E.L. Gibson. & J.C.G. Halford (2008). Food Neophobia and Picky/Fussy Eating: A Review. Appetite 50 (2-3), 181-193

Teaching responsibilities

I teach across all levels of the UG Psychology curriculum. My teaching areas are Cognitive Psychology (Memory and Visual Perception), Parapsychology (Anomalous Cognition) and Research Methods and Statistics. As well as supervising final year undergraduate research projects I am also a supervisor on a range of doctoral research packages. 

Courses

• Health Psychology MSc (online)
• Forensic Psychology MSc
• Psychology BSc (Hons)
• Forensic Psychology BSc (Hons)