Helen joined the School of Psychology in August 2018. She is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a chartered psychologist and an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society. Helen teaches modules including Conceptual and Historical Issues in Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Individual Differences, and Research Methods and Statistics. She also supervises undergraduate dissertations and MSc and PhD students.
Helen studied at The University of Liverpool for her BSc (Hons) in Anatomy and Human Biology. After training and working for some time in the NHS as a psychiatric nurse, she then studied for an MA in Cognitive Evolution at the University of Reading and then completed her PhD in evolutionary approaches to creativity at the Open University.
Research Interests
Helen’s research interests focus on individual differences, in particular, creativity, from a variety of psychological perspectives. Most recently she has developed and managed projects in dance psychology with a particular focus on; gender in dance, psychological factors in dance performance, and psychological aspects of dance injury. She uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods and analysis to answer her research questions.
Gender in dance: Helen’s interests are in dance teachers’ experiences and perceptions of boys who dance as well as the experiences of men in dance. The aim of the research is to help to engage and retain boys in dance and to challenge perceptions of boys and men who dance by giving them a voice through the research. The perceptions of boys and men in dance can impact on the experiences of girls and women in dance and so Helen is also interested in this dynamic which can lead to inequalities for both males and females.
Psychological factors in dance performance: Helen has worked in vocational dance schools to consider the factors that impact on performance, including performance anxiety, perfectionism, and flow, as well as considering the interventions that can enhance dance performance.
Psychological aspects of dance injury: Helen is interested in pain and injury in dancers and the interplay of dancer identity and individual differences alongside social and cultural aspects that impact dancers’ understandings and perceptions of pain and injury.
Helen is also interested in other areas of dance psychology including creativity within dance, developing psychological measures for use with dancers, and the experiences of dance parents.
Publications
Journal Articles
Clegg, H., & Clements, L. (2022) From the wings to the stage and beyond: Performance anxiety and flow in UK vocational dance students. Journal of Dance Education, DOI: 10.1080/15290824.2021.2004604
Clegg, H., Collings, R., & Roxburgh, E.C. (2019) Therianthropy: Wellbeing, schizotypy and autism in individuals who self- identify as non-human. Society and Animals, 27(4) 403-426.
Clegg, H.,Owton, H., & Allen-Collinson, J. (2019) Attracting and retaining boys in dance: a qualitative study of female dance teachers. Journal of Dance Education, 19(4) 158-167.
Clegg, H.,Owton, H., & Allen-Collinson, J. (2018) Challenging conceptions of gender: UK dance teachers’ perceptions of boys and girls in the ballet studio. Research in Dance Education, 19(2), 128-139 DOI: 10.1080/14647893.2017.1391194
Saunders, D., Clegg, H., Roe, C.A., & Smith, G. (2017) Exploring the role of Need for Cognition, Field Independence and Locus of Control on the incidence of lucid dreaming during a 12-week induction study, Dreaming, 27(1) 68-86.
Clegg, H., Owton, H., & Allen-Collinson, J. (2016) “The Cool stuff!”: gender, dance and masculinity, Psychology Of Women Section Review, 18(2) 6-16.
Owton, H., Clegg, H., & Allen-Collinson, J. (2016) “I wanted to be Darcey Bussell”: Motivations and experiences of female dance-teachers, Qualitative Methods in Psychology, 22 55-64
Lazard, L., Bolak Boratav, H., & Clegg, H. (2016) Special focus: Revisiting “the woman question”, Feminism & Psychology, 26(3) 245-253
Saunders, D., Roe, C.A., Smith, G., & Clegg, H. (2016). Lucid dreaming incidence: A quality effects meta-analysis of 50 years of research. Consciousness and Cognition, 43, 197-215.
Grivell, T., Clegg, H., & Roxburgh, E.C. (2014). An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Identity in the Therian Community. Identity. An International Journal of Theory and Research, 14(2), 113-135.
Clegg, H., Nettle, D., & Miell, D. (2011). Status and Mating Success Amongst Visual Artists [Electronic version]. Frontiers in Personality Science and Individual Differences, 2 (310), 1-4
Johns, S.E., Dickins, T.E., & Clegg, H. (2011). Teenage Pregnancy and Motherhood: How Might Evolutionary Theory Inform Policy? Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 9(1), 3-19.
Clegg, H., Nettle, D., & Miell, D. (2008). A Test of Miller’s Aesthetic Fitness Hypothesis. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 6(2), 101-115.
Nettle, D.,& Clegg, H. (2006). Schizotypy, Creativity and Mating Success in Humans. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences 273, 611-615.
Book Chapters
Clements, L. & Clegg, H. (2022). Parental Perspectives on their Sons’ Motivation to Dance. In D. Risner & B. Watson (Eds.) Masculinity, Intersectionality and Identity. Why Boys (Don’t) Dance (pp. 123-143). Palgrave Macmillan. *Recipient, 2023 Board of Governors Faculty Recognition Award, Wayne State University (US).
Nettle, D., & Clegg, H. (2008). Personality, Mating Strategies and Mating Intelligence. In G. Geher & G. Miller (Eds.) Mating Intelligence (pp.121-134). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Clegg, H. (2007). Evolutionary Psychology. In D. Miell, A. Phoenix, & K. Thomas (Eds.) Mapping psychology (2nd ed.) (pp. 105 – 165). Milton Keynes: The Open University.
Conference Presentations
- 2023. “We don’t make performers we make warriors”: the negotiation and performance of masculinity by men in dance. Psychology of Women and Equalities Section Annual Conference, Windsor
- 2023. “We don’t make performers we make warriors”: the negotiation and performance of masculinity by men in dance. Dance Medicine and Science Research Symposium, The University of Wolverhampton
- 2021. From the wings to the stage. Performance anxiety and flow in UK vocational dance students. Associate Lecturer Psychology Conference 2021, The Open University
- 2017. Challenging conceptions of gender: UK dance teachers’ perceptions of boys and girls in the ballet studio. 2nd Annual Dance Medicine and Science Research Workshop, The University of Wolverhampton
- 2016. Tensions and Gendered Opportunities in Dance Special Sports Symposium, BPS Psychology of Women Section Annual Conference, Windsor
- 2016. Gendered Tensions in Dance Teaching, Gender and Inequalities in Sports Conference, The Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology, The Open University
- 2015. Therianthropy; the integration of animal and human identities, The Association of Social Anthropologists Annual Conference, The University of Exeter
- 2014. Phantom Limbs in the Therian Community, Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Section Conference, BPS, Cambridge
- 2012. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Identity in the Therian Community, The First Conference on Applied Qualitative Research in Psychology, The University of Derby
- 2009. Testing the Sociometer Hypothesis: The Effect of Mate Value on Self Esteem, European Human Behaviour and Evolution Conference, University of St Andrews
- 2006. The Reproductive Success and Personalities of Artists, Evolution and Human Nature Conference, London School of Economics, London.
- 2005. Do Visual Art Products Act as Fitness Indicators in Mate Choice? Human Behaviour and Evolution Society Conference, Austin, Texas, USA
- 2004. Testing the Sexual Selection Hypothesis of Human Creativity, Human Behaviour and Evolution Society Conference, Berlin.
- 2001. Early Hominid Burials and the Evolution of Grief, Human Behaviour and Evolution Society Conference, London