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BA (Hons), MA (Hons) (Cambridge), DPhil (Oxford), GMBPsS

Philip joined the University of ������ý�ٷ���վ in 1996. He is a Graduate member of the BPS, a member of its Cognitive Psychology and Cyberpsychology sections, and was Honorary Secretary of the Cognitive Psychology Section until 2023. He is a registered test user on the BPS RQTU. Philip is the University Joint Lead in Academic Integrity and Misconduct and a member of the GenAI Working Group.

Research interests: Philip is a founding member of the CREATE hub. His research interests include expertise, problem solving and creativity, fake news and misinformation, cyberpsychology (including cyberbullying), music psychology, and time perception. Current research topics include expert cryptic crossword solving, quizzing expertise, and individual differences in time-related behaviours (‘time personality’). He has recently co-edited this .

Research supervision: Philip has supervised both PhD and MSc students in a variety of areas, including insight moments, quizzing expertise, divergent thinking in medical education, characteristics of eccentricity, pain and spinal cord injury, cyberbullying in adolescents and children, and video gaming. He welcomes enquiries from prospective doctoral students.

Undergraduate teaching: At UG level he teaches modules in Cognitive Psychology, Biological Psychology, and Skills for Psychologists, as well as being module leader for the final year project.

Outside research and teaching, Philip is an actor, singer and pianist. He also publishes the blog .

Selected recent publications

Foster, E. J., Friedlander, K. J., & Fine, P. A. (2025). Mastermind and Expert Mind: A Qualitative Study of Elite Quizzers. Journal of Expertise/March, 8(1).

Morse, K. F., Fine, P. A., & Friedlander, K. J. (2025). How Medical Diagnosticians Earn their Stripes: Horses, Zebras, and Divergent Thinking. Journal of Expertise/March, 8(1).

Popovac, M., Fine, P.A., & Hicken, S-A (2024). Children and Adolescents’ Experiences of Cyberaggression and Cyberbullying on social media and priorities for intervention and prevention efforts. In Handbook of Social Media Use: Online Relationships, Security, Privacy, and Society Vol. 2. Ed. Benson, V. Elsevier.

Popovac, M., Fine, P.A., & Hicken, S-A (2023). The Harms and Benefits of Social Media. In Social Media and Mental Health. Ed. House, A. & Brennan, C. Cambridge University Press.

Friedlander, K. J., Lenton, F. H., & Fine, P. A. (2022). A multifactorial model of visual imagery and its relationship to creativity and the vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 1-19.

Morse, K. F., Fine, P. A., & Friedlander, K. J. (2021). Creativity and leisure during COVID-19: Examining the relationship between leisure activities, motivations, and psychological well-being. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1–22.

Friedlander, K. J., & Fine, P. A. (2020). Fluid Intelligence is Key to Successful Cryptic Crossword Solving. Journal of Expertise, 3(2), 101–132.

Fine, P. A., Danek, A. H., Friedlander, K. J., Hocking, I., & Thompson, W. F. (2019). Editorial: Novel Approaches for Studying Creativity in Problem-Solving and Artistic Performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 10 (September), 1–4. [and joint editor of the accompanying 27-article Research Topic]

Friedlander, K. J., & Fine, P. A. (2018). “The Penny Drops”: Investigating Insight Through the Medium of Cryptic Crosswords. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1–22.

Friedlander, K. J. & Fine, P.A. (2016). The grounded expertise components approach in the novel area of cryptic crossword solving, Frontiers in Psychology 7, 1-21:

Fine, P.A., Wise, K.J., Goldemberg, R. & Bravo, A., (2015) Performing musicians’ understanding of the terms ‘mental practice’ and ‘score analysis’, Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain 25.1, 69-82: read more.

Fine, P.A. & J. Ginsborg, (2014) Making myself understood: perceived factors affecting the intelligibility of sung text, Frontiers in Psychology 5: read more.

See also: School of Psychology