Dr COLLETT Peter

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Dr Peter Collett was born in Zambia and educated in South Africa and the UK. He is a Research Psychologist and a staff member of the Department of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University. He is the author of "Gestures: Their Origins and Distribution" (with Desmond Morris, Peter Marsh & Marie O'Shaughnessy), "Driving Passion: The Psychology of the Car" (with Peter Marsh) and "Foreign Bodies: A Guide to European Mannerisms". He is also the editor of "Social Psychology at Work" (with Adrian Furnham).

Peter's main interests are television audiences, cross-cultural management and body language. In media circles he is known for his observational research on television viewing, where he has placed video cameras in people's homes so that he can record and analyse what happens when the TV is switched on. He has consulted with a broad range of advertisers, agencies and media companies on the findings from this research.

Peter Collett has also coordinated an EC-funded research project on "The Values and Practices of European Managers" which covered France, Germany, UK, Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic. He has done experimental research on the impact of cultural diversity on team performance, and a survey on diversity policies and practices in the United Kingdom. His research on non-verbal behaviour has taken him to Africa, India, the United States and all over Europe. He has appeared on various television programmes to talk about body language, and he was the psychology consultant to the British "Big Brother" TV programme.


Proposed themes

Dr Peter Collett combines research skills with keen observation of human behaviour. His preferred themes include the people/technology interface (TV, cars, etc), non-verbal communications (intercultural comparisons of body language, gestures, etc), and culture and teamwork. "Watching People Watching Television" "Management Style and Values in Europe" "Euro-watching -- Reading the Body Language of Europeans"