Psychology Colloquia Series: Dr Luiz Silva Souza

The Department of Psychology presents a series of ten colloquia each year, featuring both our own researchers and invited experts from the UK and around the world. These sessions highlight current research and developments across areas such as developmental, cognitive, social, and clinical psychology, as well as neuroscience.

Seminars are held online from 12:00 to 13:00 on the last Friday of each month, except on Friday 19 December 2025 and Friday 22 May 2026. The first 45 minutes are dedicated to the presentation, followed by 15 minutes for questions and discussion.

The series is designed to encourage discussion, knowledge exchange, and collaboration within the psychology community.

The Psychology Colloquia events are open to the public and free to attend.

The talks will be recorded on MS Teams.

We’re very pleased to welcome our colleague Dr Luiz Silva Souza, Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology at Kingston University, who will be presenting at this month’s seminar:

Veganism and (Social) Psychology

In this talk, Dr Souza discuss some connections between veganism and psychology, focusing on social psychology. 

Psychological research has explored human-animal relations from a developmental perspective as well as motivations for veganism, especially ethical, environmental, and health-related motivations. It has also examined social and cognitive dynamics, including identity formation, reactions from non‑vegans, speciesism, stereotypes and prejudice against vegans, and the role of cognitive dissonance and gender in attitudes towards animals. 

From a social-psychological point of view, the animal-rights movement may be considered as an active minority, with the potential to be a catalyst for large-scale transformations of culture, identities, representations, and practices. 

Dr Souza describe some of his research in this area, including perceptions of veganism, cognitive dissonance and attitude change, and reactions to arguments that challenge the use of animals in scientific experimentation. In conclusion, he highlights some possibilities for future research.

You are welcome to join us online for the talk on the 27  February, 12:00 – 13:00.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Dr Luiz Silva Souza, Kingston University

Luiz Silva Souza is a Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology at the Department of Psychology at Kingston University. He is an associate editor for Papers on Social Representations and co-editor of the book Psychosocial Perspectives on Community Responses to Covid-19: Networks of Trust and Social Change. He is a consulting editor for the journal Psychology of Human-Animal Intergroup Relations (PHAIR) and a member of the Research Advisory Committee of The Vegan Society.

More about Luiz Silva Souza

The Psychology Colloquia series is organised by Dr Goffredina Spano from the Department of Psychology at Kingston University.

Dr Goffredina Spano is a developmental cognitive neuropsychologist, with research focus on exploring the relationship between learning, memory, and sleep variability across the lifespan, with a particular emphasis on neurodevelopmental and memory disorders.

For more information about this event, please email Goffredina at [email protected].