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Ted Ruffman

Email ted.ruffman@otago.ac.nz
Tel 64 3 479 7670

Professor Ted Ruffman examines social understanding in infants, children and in young and older adults. He has explored whether human infants understand mental states such as desires and beliefs, whether children can recognise emotional expressions as well as young adults. He has studied whether emotion recognition, understanding of social gaffes, and the ability to detect a lie deteriorate in older adulthood. Recently, he has also begun to examine dogs' social understanding, for instance, whether dogs understand human emotional expressions such as sadness, anger and fear.

He has authored over 60 articles on these topics.

Ted joined the department in 2002. He has 20 years of university lecturing experience, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, having previously worked in England for 13 years at the University of Sussex.

Teaching

Find out more about Professor Ruffman's research interests

Publications

Sullivan, S., Campbell, A., Hutton, S. B., & Ruffman, T. (2017). What's good for the goose is not good for the gander: Age and gender differences in scanning emotion faces. Journals of Gerontology Series B, 72(3), 441-447. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbv033 Journal - Research Article

Ruffman, T. (2014). To belief or not belief: Children’s theory of mind. Developmental Review, 34(3), 265-293. doi: 10.1016/j.dr.2014.04.001 Journal - Research Article

Campbell, A., Ruffman, T., Murray, J. E., & Glue, P. (2014). Oxytocin improves emotion recognition for older males. Neurobiology of Aging, 35(10), 2246-2248. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2014.04.021 Journal - Research Article

Redman, K., Ruffman, T., Fitzgerald, P., & Skeaff, S. (2016). Iodine deficiency and the brain: Effects and mechanisms. Critical Reviews in Food Science & Nutrition, 56(16), 2695-2713. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2014.922042 Journal - Research Article

Ruffman, T., Sullivan, S., & Dittrich, W. (2009). Older adults' recognition of bodily and auditory expressions of emotion. Psychology & Aging, 24(3), 614-622. doi: 10.1037/a0016356 Journal - Research Article

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