Nickola Christine Overall (born 1974) is a New Zealand academic, and is a professor of psychology at the University of Auckland, specialising in relationship, family and couples psychology. She is especially interested in communication strategies to overcome conflict.

Early life and education

Overall was born in Te Kūiti in 1974 and completed a PhD titled Why do people try to change their intimate relationships?: the regulation function of ideal standards at the University of Canterbury, supervised by Garth Fletcher.[1][2]

Academic career

After completing her doctorate, Overall joined the faculty of the University of Auckland, rising to full professor.[2][3][4]

Overall's research focuses on healthy relationships, and how to achieve them, or as she describes it, "I study why relationships screw us up and what we can do about it".[5] This involves researching topics such as emotional regulation, attachment insecurity, attitudes to power, and sexist attitudes.[6][7] She has also studied the effect of lockdowns on family relationships.[8] Overall is especially interested in communication strategies used by couples in relationships to overcome conflict.[6] Overall's research has found that most people in a relationship want to change something about their partner, but few have success in doing so and trying in the wrong way can negatively affect the relationship.[9]

Overall was a principal investigator on a 2017 Marsden grant Conflict recovery in families: Why inevitable conflict does not have to be detrimental, in collaboration with Annette Henderson and Elizabeth Peterson.[10][4] Overall has also received research funding from the Auckland Medical Research Foundation and the Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust.[4]

Overall has served on the editorial boards of a number of journals, including the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.[2]

Honours and awards

Selected works

Scholia has a profile for Nickola C Overall (Q56516218).

References

  1. ^ Overall, Nickola (2005). Why do people try to change their intimate relationships?: the regulation function of ideal standards (PhD thesis). UC Research Repository, University of Canterbury. hdl:10092/4772.
  2. ^ a b c Overall, Nickola (2016), "Overall, Nickola C.", in Zeigler-Hill, Virgil; Shackelford, Todd K. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 1–2, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_273-1, ISBN 978-3-319-28099-8, retrieved 29 March 2024
  3. ^ University of Auckland REACH lab. "Nickola Overall".
  4. ^ a b c d University of Auckland. "Academic profile: Professor Nickola Overall". profiles.auckland.ac.nz. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  5. ^ "Take 10 with... Nickola Overall – The University of Auckland". www.auckland.ac.nz. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Nickola Overall". Association for Psychological Science – APS. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  7. ^ "Member spotlight: Nickola Overall | SPSP". spsp.org. 11 January 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  8. ^ "The idea of a new normal is a mistake, say wellbeing researchers". tewahanui.nz. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  9. ^ "You can change your partner – but beware". NZ Herald. 30 March 2024. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  10. ^ "Search Marsden awards 2008–2017". Royal Society Te Apārangi. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  11. ^ "Fellows | SPSP". spsp.org. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  12. ^ "APS Fellows". Association for Psychological Science – APS. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  13. ^ LLC, Sanibel Technologies. "IARR – Award Winners". iarr.org. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  14. ^ "Rusbult Young Investigator Award | SPSP". spsp.org. Retrieved 29 March 2024.

External links