Rob Booth
robertbooth.bsky.social
Rob Booth
@robertbooth.bsky.social
Psychology researcher at Sabanci University. Interested in cognition in anxiety and depression. Also, diving!
New preprint!

Not a headline-grabber, but an important step for my lab group: Demonstrating the good psychometric properties of my probability bias (expectancy bias) measure.

The preprint, and the measure in both English and Turkish, are freely available here:

doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/GXJK8
October 7, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Turns out @mikeflanaganfilm.com , @stephenking.bsky.social and @markhamillofficial.bsky.social were right: I just saw The Life of Chuck, and it really is excellent.

Well done, lads.
August 3, 2025 at 8:54 PM
New preprint!

"Increasing Depressive Symptoms of Students in Turkey (Türkiye), 1990-2023: Effects of Gender, Socioeconomic Status, Anxiety, and the COVID-19 Pandemic"

This is under review: the final published version may end up looking very different to this ;)

doi.org/10.17605/OSF...
Increasing Depressive Symptoms of Students in Turkey (Türkiye), 1990-2023: Effects of Gender, Socioeconomic Status, Anxiety, and the COVID-19 Pandemic
Manuscript under review. This project includes the dataset, and the preprint. Hosted on the Open Science Framework
doi.org
July 28, 2025 at 6:12 AM
Trying to submit my paper from the cafe at Dolmabahçe Palace today ... Keep getting distracted by dolphins 😍
July 15, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Really enjoyed @helenlewis.bsky.social 's new book, The Genius Myth. Interesting historical perspective, and I love the idea of 'scenius'

Pairs nicely with The Intelligence Trap ( @davidarobson.bsky.social )
July 13, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Had a nice little rec dive in Cyprus last week. Thanks to Ray at Dive Point Cyprus!

youtu.be/7RxSp_naDiU?...
Diving at Cynthiana Beach, Paphos, July 2025
YouTube video by GUE TR
youtu.be
July 11, 2025 at 2:17 PM
I'm very late mentioning this, but I had a good time at the European Congress of Psychology in Cyprus last week!

Spoke about my recent paper on the Best Possible Self intervention, and met some nice people :)
July 10, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Just bagged tickets to see @danielsloss.bsky.social in Istanbul... Again!

Said to my wife: "Daniel Sloss is coming back"

She said: "Why..?"
July 10, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Rob Booth
“I asked chatGPT-“ ok, and I asked Tinsel, and she said you’re an uninspired, vapid dork who needs a computer to think for them.
May 10, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Reposted by Rob Booth
The wildest thing about being a professor is that it's somehow acceptable to email the smartest experts in the world to help you with your homework, and they just...write you back with help.

Sometimes they compliment your question, or even thank you for asking.

It's bonkers.
May 8, 2025 at 9:05 PM
I'm gonna give my barista the benefit of the doubt, and assume this was meant to be a heart
May 6, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Sabanci University, Istanbul, is accepting applications for master's and PhD programs in Psychology!

There will be events on 8th May (Tuzla campus; 14:30, FASS 1089) and 13th May (Minerva Han, Karaköy; 16:00-19:00) where you can meet some of us, and learn about the programs and scholarships.
May 5, 2025 at 6:51 PM
New preprint!

Probability Bias Predicts Depressive Symptom Severity, Independently of Optimism/Pessimism and Intolerance of Uncertainty

By Robert W. Booth (me!) and Dinkar Sharma. Freely available from the link below.

NOT YET PEER REVIEWED, will probably change!

doi.org/10.17605/OSF...
Fork of Probability bias, optimism/pessimism, intolerance of uncertainty
Manuscript submitted for publication. Hosted on the Open Science Framework
doi.org
April 28, 2025 at 6:56 PM
PC did a weird update today, and threw me a spectacular error message.

I guess it HAS been a while since I worked on that document!
April 28, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Interesting time at the International Conference on Positive Psychology at Üsküdar U. last weekend. Thanks to Ebru Morgül for chairing the session!

Presented my recent work, showing that optimism bias (optimistic expectancies) predict positive mood up to 4 weeks later. Preprint coming soon ...
April 22, 2025 at 7:03 AM
Reposted by Rob Booth
We are so excited to announce our Free Summer Prize Draw!​

Spotted any ghost gear whilst diving?

You can win a GFUK prize bundle worth up to £100!
It includes a hoody, tee and a bracelet.

Competition information and full T&Cs here

www.ghostfishing.co.uk/competition/
April 18, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Just sharing this interesting new paper from Duffy et al. In two studies, the Best Possible Self intervention reduced anxiety scores, by about half a standard deviation.

This is consistent with my recent RCT. Can the BPS be useful for anxious people? Worth following up!

doi.org/10.1080/1743...
Efficacy of the Best Possible Self intervention for generalised anxiety: exploration of mediators and moderators
Generalised anxiety is increasingly prevalent, yet access to therapeutic interventions remains limited. We present two randomised control trials aimed to investigate the efficacy of the Best Possib...
doi.org
April 9, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Reposted by Rob Booth
Happy to share this new article published open access in BRAT🎉📢:
In a relatively large experimental study funded by @dfg.de, we examined cognitive immunisation as a mechanism of biased belief updating in depression. Results suggest a nuanced picture. See more 👇
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
How people with major depression adjust their expectations of future life events in response to other patients’ reports of the positive effects of psychotherapy
Research proposed the devaluation of positive information, referred to as cognitive immunisation, as a mechanism underlying the persistence of negativ…
www.sciencedirect.com
April 6, 2025 at 6:31 PM
I've recently finished A Human History of Emotion by Richard Firth-Godbehere, and it was excellent!

@profrichfg.bsky.social has written an authoritative, accessible book about the history of emotions and emotion concepts, which goes right up to the present day. Highly recommended!
April 5, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Back home from my Erasmus visit to the Trinity Centre for Global Health, at @tcddublin.bsky.social. Had a great time talking about social emotions!

Thanks to Frédérique Vallieres for hosting and good conversation 🤓
April 5, 2025 at 11:07 AM
If you are visiting Istanbul's old town, why not try some traditional Smurf meatballs?
January 31, 2025 at 11:00 AM
My recent paper was, apparently, very much appreciated by Sabanci University's Foundations Development Directorate, who posted about it on Insta 🤓

(Come on people, join us cool kids on Bluesky ...)

www.instagram.com/p/DEhrfoWtx_...
January 7, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Just walked in on this.
January 6, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Istanbul-style driving lessons.
İstanbul'daki sürücü eğitimi.

"Who'd I hit? Oh, right."
January 1, 2025 at 9:25 AM