Faculty and Staff — Psychology

Undergraduate Courses

• PSYC 1100 Introduction to Psychology
• PSYC 1500 Psychology of Adjustment
• PSYC 2825 Introduction to Research Methods
• PSYC 3000 Topics in Psychology: Motivation and Emotion
• PSYC 3000 Topics in Psychology: Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences
• PSYC 3000 Topics in Psychology: Non-verbal Behavior
• PSYC 3550 History, Philosophy, and Systems of Psychology
• PSYC 3600 Social Psychology
• PSYC 4400 Human Sexuality

Graduate Courses

• PSYC 5400 Research Design
• PSYC 5900 Applied Statistics and Research Methods

Marc Méhu studied Psychology at the University of Liège (Belgium) with specializations in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Ethology. After two ethnological field studies on non-human primate behavior in South India and West Africa (Republic of Guinea), he completed a PhD in Evolutionary Psychology and Behavioral Ecology at the University of Liverpool in 2007. Méhu's doctoral thesis investigated the function of smiling and laughter in social interactions.

In the final years of his PhD, he spent several months as a visiting researcher at the (former) Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology, hosted by the Department of Anthropology at the University of Vienna. He then moved to the University of Geneva for a postdoctoral position at the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences. Méhu was appointed Assistant Professor of Psychology at Webster Vienna in October 2013 and was promoted to Associate Professor of Psychology in January 2019.

Research interests

Méhu's main interests lie in the study of affective phenomena and social behavior from an evolutionary perspective. In particular, he is interested in the role of emotion and nonverbal behavior in competitive and cooperative social interactions. In 2004, he became a certified coder of the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) and has used it extensively in his research.

As a member of the Social Signal Processing Network (SSPNet), he also has a great interest in the automatic analysis of communicative behavior and in Affective Computing. More recently, he has moved towards applying his research to the fields of negotiation, political communication and clinical psychology.

Méhu is currently involved in several research projects in relation to nonverbal communication, emotion and social interaction:

• Negotiation and Emotion (NEMO): An interdisciplinary project on individual differences in socio-emotional skills in relation to dyadic negotiation.
• Analysis of facial, vocal, and bodily cues in naturally occurring social interactions (political debates) with a focus on the expression of agreement, disagreement, and dominance.
• The role of cognitive appraisal bias in the generation and maintenance of emotional disorders.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

• Korb, S., Mikus, N., Massaccesi, C., Grey, J., Xanthate, D.S., Kotz, S.A., & Mehu, M. (2022). EmoSex: Emotion prevails over sex in implicit judgments of faces and voices. to appear in Emotion.
• Aranguren, M., Madrisotti, F., Durmaz-Martins, E., Gerger, G., Wittmann, L., Mehu, M. (2021). Responses to the Islamic headscarf in everyday interactions depend on sex and locale: A field experiment in the metros of Brussels, Paris, and Vienna on helping and involvement behaviors. PLoS ONE 16(7): e0254927.
• Schlegel, K., Mehu, M., M. van Peer, J., Scherer, K. R. (2018). Sense and Sensibility: The role of cognitive and emotional intelligence in negotiation. Journal of Research in Personality, 74, 6-15.
• Allen, J.A., Fisher, C., Chetouani, M., Chiu, M.M., Gunes, H., Mehu, M., & Hung, H. (2017). Comparing social science and computer science workflow processes for studying group interactions. Small-Group Research, 48(5), 568-590.
• Mehu, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2015). Emotion categories and dimensions in the facial communication of affect: An integrated approach. Emotion, 15(6), 798-811.
• Stewart, P. A., Bucy, E. P., Mehu, M. (2015). Strengthening bonds and connecting with followers. Politics and the Life Sciences, 34(1), 1-20.
• Mehu, M. (2015). The integration of emotional and symbolic components in multimodal communication. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 961.
• Scherer, K. R., & Mehu, M. (2015). Normal and abnormal emotions - the quandary of diagnosing affective disorder: Introduction and overview. Emotion Review, 7(3), 201-203.
• Mehu, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2015). The Appraisal bias model of cognitive vulnerability to depression. Emotion Review 7(3), 272-279.
• Stewart, P. A., Mehu, M., & Salter, F. K. (2015). Sex and leadership: Interpreting competitive and affiliative facial displays based on workplace status. International Public Management Journal, 18(2), 190-208.
• Mehu, M., & van der Maaten, L. J. P. (2014). Multimodal integration of dynamic audio-visual cues in the communication of agreement and disagreement. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 38, 569-597.
• Bousmalis, K., Mehu, M., & Pantic, M. (2013). Towards the automatic detection of spontaneous agreement and disagreement based on nonverbal behavior: A survey of related cues, databases, and tools. Image and Vision Computing, 31(2), 203-221.
• Scherer, K. R., Mortillaro, M., & Mehu, M. (2013). Understanding the facial expression and perception of emotion: A Componential Perspective. Emotion Review, 5(1), 47-53.
• Mehu, M., D’Errico F., & Heylen, D. (2012). Conceptual analysis of social signals: the importance of clarifying terminology. Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces, 6(3-4), 179-189.
• Mehu, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2012).  A psycho-ethological approach to Social Signal Processing. Cognitive Processing, 13(2), 397-414.
• Mehu, M., Mortillaro, M., Bänziger, T., & Scherer, K. R. (2012). Reliable facial muscle activation enhances the recognisability and credibility of emotional expression. Emotion, 12(4), 701-715.
• Valstar, M., Mehu, M., Jiang, B., Pantic, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2012). A meta-analysis of the first facial expression recognition and analysis challenge. Systems, Man, & Cybernetics-Part B: Cybernetics, 42(4), 966-979.
• Mehu, M. (2011).  Smiling and laughter in naturally occurring dyadic interactions: relationship to the conversation, body contacts, and displacement activities. Human Ethology Bulletin, 26(1), 10-28.
• Mortillaro, M., Mehu, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2011). Subtly different positive emotions can be distinguished by their facial expressions. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2(3), 262-271.
• Mehu, M., & N'Diaye, K. (2010). The proximate mechanisms and ultimate functions of smiles [Commentary]. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(6), 454-455.
• Stewart, P. A., Salter, F. K., & Mehu, M. (2009). Taking leaders at face value: Ethology and the analysis of televised leader displays. Politics and the Life Sciences, 28(1), 48-74.
• Mehu, M., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2008). Naturalistic observations of smiling and laughter in human group interactions. Behaviour, 145(12), 1747-1780.
• Mehu, M., Little, A. C., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2008). Sex differences in the effect of smiling on social judgments: an evolutionary approach. Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology, 2(3), 103-121.
• Mehu, M., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2008). Relationship between smiling and laughter in humans (Homo sapiens): testing the Power Asymmetry Hypothesis. Folia Primatologica, 79(5), 269-280.
• Mehu, M., Little, A. C., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2007). Duchenne smiles and the perception of generosity and sociability in faces. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 5(1-4), 133-146.
• Mehu, M, Grammer, K., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2007). Smiles when sharing. Evolution & Human Behavior, 28, 415-422.
• Mehu, M., Huynen M-C., & Agoramoorthy G. (2006). Social relationships in a free-ranging group of bonnet macaques (M. radiata) in Tamil Nadu, India. Primate Report, 73, 49-55.

Book chapters

• Scherer, K. R., Mortillaro, M., & Mehu, M. (2017). Facial expression is driven by appraisal and generates appraisal inference. In J.-M. Fernández-Dols; & J. A. Russell (Eds.), “The science of facial expression,” (pp. 353-373). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• Mehu, M. (2017). Sex differences in emotional communication. In T. K. Shackelford; & V. A. Weekes-Shackelford (Eds.), “Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science,” DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1462-1.
• Mortillaro, M., & Mehu, M. (2015). Emotions: Methods of assessment. In J. D. Wright (Ed.), “International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed),” (pp. 519-525). London: Elsevier Ltd.
• Mehu, M. (2014). An evolutionary perspective on facial behavior. In C. Müller; A. Cienki; E. Fricke; S. H. Ladewig; D. McNeill, & J. Bressem (Eds.), “Body – Language – Communication: Multimodal perspectives on language in communication, vol. 2,” (pp. 1962-1968). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. ISBN 9783110302028
• Mortillaro, M., Mehu, M., and Scherer, K. R. (2013). The evolutionary origin of multimodal synchronization and emotional expression. In E. Altenmüller; S. Schmidt; & E. Zimmermann (Eds.), “Evolution of Emotional Communication: From Sounds in Nonhuman Mammals to Speech and Music in Man,” (pp.3-25). New York: Oxford University Press.
• Pantic, M., Cowie, R., D'Errico, F., Heylen, D., Mehu, M., Pelachaud, C., Poggi, I., Schröder, M., and Vinciarelli, A. (2011). Social signal processing: The research agenda. In T.B. Moeslund; A. Hilton; V. Krüger; L. Sigal (Eds.), “Visual analysis of humans: Looking at people” (pp. 511-538). London: Springer.
• Stewart, P. A., Salter, F. K., & Mehu, M. (2011). The face as a focus of political communication: Evolutionary perspectives and the ethological methods. In E. P. Bucy; R. L. Holbert (Eds.), “Sourcebook for political communication research (pp. 165-193). New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415964951
• Mehu, M. (2009). The social context of smiling. In E. Bänninger-Huber & D. Peham (Eds.), “Current and Future Perspectives in Facial Expression Research: Topics and Methodological Questions,” (pp. 47-53). Innsbruck: Innsbruck University Press. ISBN 9783902719225

Conference proceedings (peer-reviewed)

• Ringeval, F., Marchi, E., Mehu, M., Scherer, K. R., Schuller, B. (2015). Face reading from speech – Predicting facial Action Units from audio cues, Proc. INTERSPEECH 2015, 16th Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association (ISCA), Dresden, Germany. sewaproject.eu/files/6ba55a1a-61be-4887-8163-3995843f8454.pdf
• Valstar, M. F., Girard, J., Almaev, T., McKeown, G., Mehu, M., Yin, L., Pantic, M. and Cohn, J. (2015). FERA 2015 - Second facial expression recognition challenge, Proc. IEEE Int’l Conf. Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition, Ljubljana, Slovenia. sewaproject.eu/files/c6443331-933f-4ae7-cb53-f15659374dda.pdf
• Valstar, M. F., Jiang, B., Mehu, M., Pantic, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2011). The first facial expression recognition and analysis challenge. Proc. IEEE Int’l Conf. Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition, Santa Barbara, California, USA.
• Bousmalis, K., Mehu, M., & Pantic, M. (2009). Spotting agreement and disagreement: A survey of audiovisual cues and tools. Proc. IEEE Int'l Conf. Affective Computing and Intelligent Interfaces, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Miscellaneous

• Mehu, M. and Mehu-Blantar, I. (2015). Emotionen von Vorgesetzten lesen sich leichter: Wie Geschlecht und berufliche Position die emotionale Wahrnehmung am Arbeitsplatz beeinflussen. Personal Manager, 5, 40-42.
• Dunbar, R. I. M. and Mehu, M. (2003). “Patterns of grooming and self-touching in naturalistic situations.” Commissioned Report for Unilever Research Laboratories, Port Sunlight; 73pp.

Email: marc.mehu@webster.ac.at

 

Karim Elatraby first joined Webster Vienna in 2017 as an undergraduate majoring in Business Administration, with a minor in German Language. In 2019, he was granted a scholarship to pursue his post-graduate studies at Webster Vienna Private University in Finance. He graduated with the highest academic honors in May 2021 and was the valedictorian for 2020 and 2021. His master’s thesis studied the influence of COVID-19 on global financial and energy markets, which led to him being awarded the prestigious Schön Nobel award for Excellence in Research 2021.

Elatraby has over two years of experience in academic research. Through his affiliation with Webster Vienna Private University, he also gained valuable experience throughout his time working as a Trading Associate at the WU Trading and Investment Society. His work focused on the implementation, backtesting and optimization of algorithmic trading strategies.

Education

• Msc – Finance (Webster Vienna Private University)
• BSc – Business Administration (Webster Vienna Private University)
• BSc – Computer Science (German University in Cairo)

 

Email: karim.elatraby@webster.ac.at

Graduate Courses

• PSYC 5100 Approaches to Counseling and Therapy
• PSYC 5000 Bases of Counseling Psychology
• PSYC 5600 Group Processes and Group Therapy
• PSYC 6000 Special Topics in Counseling Psychology

Didem Kepir Savoly received her bachelor, master and doctorate degrees in Counseling in Turkiye. She specialized in the field of career counselling in her master thesis and doctoral dissertation.

As a part of her doctoral work, she was awarded scholarship and continue her work as a visiting scholar at Kent State University, Ohio and collaborated with the developer of Career Construction Theory, Dr. Mark Savickas.

She has worked at several universities in Turkiye, the USA and Hungary as a research assistant, guest lecturer as well as adjunct professor. After moving to Europe, she set up her private practice offering online counselling to English and Turkish speaking expats and immigrants.  She is certified basic consultant of positive psychology (issued by the World Association for Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy, Germany).

She has also completed courses in Mindfulness, Brief Solution Focused Therapy and Art Therapy. During her studies, she was trained in Gestalt Therapy and continues her training in Transactional Analysis.

Research Interests

Kepir Savoly’s research interests are in the area of emotion regulation and co-regulation, career transition, career adaptability, and intervention programs, and counsellor education. Her research groups focus on underrepresented groups or disadvantaged groups such as international students, immigrants, women etc.

Published Papers

Akın, Z. & Kepir, D. D. (2012). Impact of communication apprehension with lecturers on teachers’ academic achievements. Practice and Theory in Systems of Education, 7 (2), 188-194.

Korkut-Owen, F., Kepir, D. D., Ulaş, Ö. & Yılmaz, O. (2012). Üniversite öğrencilerinin bölüm seçme nedenleri [The Examination of the University Students’ Choices of Their Majors]. Mersin Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi [Journal of Mersin University’s Faculty of Education], 8 (3), 135-151

Kepir Savoly, D. D., Demirtaş Zorbaz, S.  & Ulaş, Ö. (2014). Üniversite öğrencilerinin çiftler arası şiddeti kabul düzeylerini etkileyen etmenler [Factors That Influence Level of the Acceptance of Couple Violence Among University Students]. Türk Psikolojik Danışma ve Rehberlik Dergisi [Journal of Association of Turkish Psychological Counseling and Guidance], 5 (42), 173-183

Demirtaş, Zorbaz, S. Ulaş, Ö. & Kepir Savoly, D. D. (2015). University students’ relationship believes: Sample of Turkey. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 185, 495-499.

Kepir Savoly, D. D. & Korkut Owen, F. (2015). Üniversite adaylarında meslek seçimine ilişkin akılcı olmayan inançlar [Irrational vocational beliefs among university candidates]. International Journal of Human Sciences, 12 (2), 820-836.

Kepir Savoly, D. D. & Tuzgol Dost, M. (2020). Effectiveness of a school-to-work transition skills program in a collectivist culture. Australian Journal of Career Development, 29 (2), 127-136.

Kepir Savoly, D. D. & Tuzgol Dost, M. (2021). Üniversite öğrencileri için kariyer iyimserliği (Career optimism scale for university students). Journal of Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Education Faculty, 57, 126-149.

Balin, E., Korkut-Owen, F., Kepir Savoly, D. D. & Owen, D. (2021). University career services centers in Turkey: A sequential mixed-method study. Journal of Career Counseling, 4 (2), 1-35.

Author of Book Chapter(s)

Voltan-Acar, N., Acar, T., Arıcı, F., Haskan Avcı, Ö., Dinçel, E. F., Kepir, D. D., Kızıldağ, S., Ulaş, Ö. & Demirtaş Zorbaz, S. (2012). Psikolojik Danışma ve Rehberlik Terimleri Sözlüğü [Dictionary of the Terms in Counseling and Guidance]. Nobel Akademik Yayıncılık, Ankara, Turkey.

Kepir Savoly, D. D. (2016). Umut ve Kariyer Olgunluğu [Hope and Career Maturity]. İçinde Pozitif Psikoloji Bağlamında Umut [In The Book of “Hope in the approach of positive psychology”] (Ed. Aylin Demirli). Nobel Akademik Yayıncılık, Ankara, Turkey.

Conference Papers and Presentations

Akın, Z. & Kepir, D. D. (2011). Impact of Fear of Communication with Instructors on Teachers’ Academic Achievements. International Conference for Theory and Practice in Education. 09-11 June 2011, Budapest, Hungary.

Kepir, D. D. (2011). Üniversite Adaylarında Meslek Seçimine İlişkin Akılcı Olmayan İnançlarının Mesleki Olgunluk ve Umut Düzeyleri Açısından İncelenmesi. Ulusal Psikolojik Danışma ve Rehberlik Kongresi 03-05 October 2011, İzmir, Turkey.

Korkut-Owen, F., Kepir, D. D., Ulaş, Ö. & Yılmaz, O. (2012). Üniversite Öğrencilerinin Bölüm Seçme Nedenleri. Psikolojik Danışma ve Rehberlik Kongresi, 03-05 October 2011, İzmir, Turkey.

Arıcı, F. & Kepir, D. D. (2012). Submissive Behaviors and Gender Roles Perceptions of University Students. World Conference on Educational Sciences, 02-05 February 2012, Barcelona, Spain.

Mutlu, T. & Kepir, D. D. (2012). Subjective Well-Being and Culture. World Conference on Psychology and Sociology, 28 Kasım-01 December 2012, Antalya, Turkey.

Demirtaş Zorbaz, S., Dinçel, E., Ulaş, Ö., Kızıldağ, S., Kepir Savoly, D. D., Özer, A., Ceylan, S., Metin Camgöz, S. & Bayhan Karapınar, P. (2014). Kariyer konusunda son beş yılda yapılan lisansüstü tezlerin incelenmesi. II. Uluslararası İş ve Meslek Danışmanlığı Kongresi, 26-27 November 2014, Antalya, Turkey.

Kepir Savoly, D. D., Kızıldağ, S., S., Metin Camgöz, S., Bayhan Karapınar, P., Demirtaş Zorbaz, S., Dinçel, E. & Ulaş, Ö. (2014). Dünyadaki en başarılı ilk 10 üniversitenin kariyer merkezlerinin incelenmesi. II. Uluslararası İş ve Meslek Danışmanlığı Kongresi, 26-27 November 2014, Antalya, Turkey.

Ulaş, Ö., Özer, A., Ceylan, S., Demirtaş Zorbaz, S., Dinçel, E., Kızıldağ, S., Kepir Savoly, D. D., Metin Camgöz, S. & Bayhan Karapınar, P. (2014). Dünyanın en iyi 100 üniversitesi kariyer merkezlerinde kullanılan psikolojik testler.  II. Uluslararası İş ve Meslek Danışmanlığı Kongresi, 26-27 November 2014, Antalya, Turkey.

Yıldırım, İ., Acar, T., Kepir Savoly, D. D. & Arıcı, F. (2015). Akademik başarıyı etkileyen faktörlere ilişkin öğrenci ve öğretim elemanı görüşleri: Hacettepe Üniversitesi örneği. II. Uluslararası Avrasya Eğitim Araştırmaları Kongresi, 8-10 June 2015, Ankara, Turkey.

Akçıl, S. & Kepir Savoly, D. D. (2016). Clinical supervision in Turkey: Current issues and challenges. Twelfth International Interdisciplinary Conference on Clinical Supervision, 15-17 June 2016, New York, US.

Lara Hilton, T., Kepir Savoly, D. D. & Glavin, K. (2016). Integrated model of career services at international universities: Maximizing resources at start-ups. The National Career Development Association Global Conference, 30 June-2 July 2016, Chicago, US.

Kepir Savoly, D. D. (2023). A Psychoeducational Approach for Teaching Self-Regulation Skills. International Early Childhood Conference, April 19, Sopron, Hungary.

Translation of Book Chapters

Kepir, D. D. (2012). Tek Ebeveynli Ailelerle Çalışma. İçinde Aile Terapisi (Ed. İbrahim Keklik). Türk PDR Derneği Yayınları, Ankara, Türkiye.

Kepir, D. D. (2013). Ruhsal Bozuklukların Tanısal ve Sayımsal Elkitabını Farklı Olarak Ele Almak. İçinde Gelişimsel Psikolojik Danışma ve Terapi, Yaşamboyunca İyilik Halini Artırmak (Ed. Fidan Korkut Owen). Türk PDR Derneği Yayınları, Ankara, Türkiye.

Arıcı F. & Kepir Savoly, D. D. (2014). Feminist Terapi. İçinde Psikoterapi ve Psikolojik Danışma Kuramları (Ed. Nilüfer Voltan Acar). Nobel Akademik Yayıncılık, Ankara, Türkiye.

Kepir Savoly, D. D. (2017). Yetişkin Kariyer Krizi ve Geçişleri. İçinde Kariyer Gelişim kuramlarının Kariyer Danışmasına Uygulanması (Ed. Feride Bacanlı & Kemal Öztemel). Pegem Akademi Yayıncılık, Ankara. Türkiye.

Kepir Savoly, D. D. (2017). 8-9-10-11-12-13. Bölümler. İçinde Yaşam Kurguları: Farkında Olunmayan İlişkisel Örüntülerin Transaksiyonel Analizi (Ed. Muzaffer Sahin). Nobel Yayıncılık, Ankara. Türkiye.

Kepir Savoly, D. D. (2018). 4 Cases. İçinde Kariyer Danışması Vaka Kitabı: Öğrenciler, Uygulayıcılar ve Psikolojik Danışman Eğiticileri için Bir Kaynak. (Eds. Turkan Dogan & Ozlem Ulas). Nobel Akademik Yayıncılık, Ankara, Turkey.

Kepir Savoly, D. D. (2019). Chapter 4. İçinde Sihirli Yıllar: Erken Çocukluk Döneminde Karşılaşılan Sorunlar ve Çözüm Önerileri. (Eds. Sebnem Soysal Acar & Aktan Acar). Nobel Akademik Yayıncılık, Ankara, Turkey.

Didem.Savoly@webster.ac.at