Dr Lewis Doyle
Pronouns: he/him
ºÚÁÏÉç
Biography
I completed my PhD in Psychology at the University of Sussex in 2023, with my thesis exploring the social psychology of educational inequalities. Following this, I had the roles of Research Fellow at the National Institute of Teaching and Senior Postdoctoral Researcher at the Université de Poitiers in France. I joined the ºÚÁÏÉç as a Lecturer in Social Psychology in the summer of 2025.
My qualifications
News
In the media
ResearchResearch interests
I am interested in a range of topics including—but not limited to—prejudice and discrimination, inequality, intergroup relations, morality, and empathy.
Research interests
I am interested in a range of topics including—but not limited to—prejudice and discrimination, inequality, intergroup relations, morality, and empathy.
Teaching
Social Psychology with Research Methods 2 (PSY2016)
Fundamental Concepts in Social Psychology with Research Methods (PSYM093)
Advanced Research Methods and Design (PSYM147)
Publications
Highlights
Doyle, L., Cimpian, A., Goupil, L., & Goudeau, S. (2025). Preschool teachers provide fewer participation opportunities to working-class students than those from more privileged backgrounds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(36), e2515833122.
Doyle, L., Nash, R. A., Jakcsiova, V., & Turner, E. (2025). ‘They want you to read their work’: Teachers’ and students’ perspectives on the use of AI for school feedback. Technology, Knowledge and Learning, 1-25.
Doyle, L., Tropp, L. R., & Easterbrook, M. J. (2025). Examining How White Teachers’ Interracial Contact Experiences Shape Their Self-Efficacy and School Choices. Educational Researcher, 54(5), 247-257.
Doyle, L., Harris, P. R., & Easterbrook, M. J. (2025). An empathy intervention reduces the gender gap in school discipline and facilitates belonging. European Journal of Social Psychology, 55(2), 327-341.
Easterbrook, M. J., Doyle, L., & Talbot, D. (2025). Using social psychology to create inclusive education. British Journal of Social Psychology, 64, e12867.
Hadden, I. R., Darnon, C., Doyle, L., Easterbrook, M. J., Goudeau, S., & Cimpian, A. (2025). Why the belief in meritocracy is so pervasive. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 29(2), 101-104.
Doyle, L., & Easterbrook, M. J. (2024). Biased career choices? It depends what you believe: Trainee teachers’ aversions to working in low-income schools are moderated by beliefs about inequality, meritocracy, and growth mindsets. Journal of Social Issues, 80, 1262–1288.
Doyle, L., Easterbrook, M. J., & Tropp, L. R. (2024). Who you know influences where you go: Intergroup contact attenuates bias in trainee teachers' school preferences. British Journal of Social Psychology 63(3), 1497-1514.
Doyle, L., Harris, P. R., & Easterbrook, M. J. (2024). Quality and quantity: How contexts influence the emergence of teacher bias. Social Psychology of Education, 1-28.
Doyle, L., Easterbrook, M. J., & Harris, P. R. (2023). It’s a problem, but not mine: Exploring bias-related message acceptance among teachers. Social Psychology of Education, 27. 1-25.
Doyle, L., Easterbrook, M. J., & Harris, P. R. (2023). Roles of socioeconomic status, ethnicity and teacher beliefs in academic grading. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 00, 1– 22.
Easterbrook, M. J., Doyle, L., Grozev, V. H., Kosakowska-Berezecka, N., Harris, P. R., & Phalet, K. (2023). Socioeconomic and gender inequalities in home learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: examining the roles of the home environment, parent supervision, and educational provisions. Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 40(1), 27-39.
Social class disparities exist from the earliest stages of education. Research has suggested that class-based differences in factors such as socialization practices and access to resources partly explain this phenomenon, but less work has explored whether teachers’ practices also exacerbate these inequalities. Using whole-class observations of 63 preschool classroom discussions (N = 226 students, 10 teachers), we coded 7,941 student participation attempts and subsequent responses from teachers. Mixed-effects Bayesian logistic regressions showed that whether students played by the rules by raising their hands or broke the rules by calling out, they were less likely to have their participation attempts accepted if they came from a working-class background, even when their perceived language skills were matched to their middle- and upper-class peers. These results suggest that early schooling experiences may serve to exacerbate inequalities rather than level the playing field.
Providing feedback is time-consuming for teachers, but new Artificial Intelligence tools aim to reduce this burden and improve feedback quality. We asked teachers (N = 12) to trial an AI tool for providing feedback on students' work. In semi-structured interviews they reflected on the positive and negative implications of such tools. In focus groups, secondary school students (N = 9) also shared their views on the use of AI feedback tools. Results showed that teachers believed AI tools could save time and reduce subjectivity in the feedback process. However, they also shared concerns about these tools' potential impact on teacher-student relationships, their ability to meet individual students' needs, and a potential deskilling of the teaching workforce. Many of these views were largely echoed by students in our sample. We conclude that AI tools for feedback are promising but need further development, and should include teachers' and students' voices as key to this work.