Our faculty
Dr. Kirill Fayn
Associate Professor of Psychology
Dr Kirill Fayn holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Sydney, specialising in the field of personality and individual differences. His doctoral research focused on the role of curiosity in learning and engagement with complex information. Following his PhD, he moved to Europe to complete a postdoc at KU Leuven in Belgium, where his research focused on the affective dynamics of epistemic engagement. He then took up a postdoctoral position as a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, investigating epistemic and aesthetic engagement in response to complex puzzle films and auditory illusions. Dr Fayn then spent several years outside of academia working as an R&D scientist, with a focus on user experience and psychographics.
In his current role as an Associate Professor, he continues his work on the affective dynamics of watching films and experiencing auditory illusions. His research is also shifting towards evaluating the validity and reliability of using AI for educational and psychotherapeutic purposes, such as automated note-taking and diagnosis.
Educational background
- PhD in Psychology [Personality and Individual Differences], University of Sydney.
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow, KU Leuven, Belgium [Affective Dynamics of Epistemic Engagement].
- Senior Research Fellow (Postdoc), Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics [Epistemic and Aesthetic Engagement].
Research Interests
- Personality traits and engagement with complex information
- Reliability and validity of AI applications for education and psychotherapy
- Affective dynamics during film watching
- Individual differences in susceptibility to auditory hallucinations
Currently teaching
- Occupational psychology
- Forensic psychology
- Mental health around the world
- Research project 1: foundation
- Research project 2: consolidation
Selected publications
- Fayn, K., Silvia, P. J., Dejonckheere, E., Verdonck, S., & Kuppens, P. (2019). Confused or curious? Openness/intellect predicts more positive interest-confusion relations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 117(5), 1016.
- Fayn, K., Willemsen, S., Muralikrishnan, R., Castano Manias, B., Menninghaus, W., & Schlotz, W. (2022). Full throttle: Demonstrating the speed, accuracy, and validity of a new method for continuous two-dimensional self-report and annotation. Behavior Research Methods, 54(1), 350–364.
- Fayn, K., Heathers, J. A., Silvia, P. J., Tiliopoulos, N., & Goodwin, M. S. (2018). The voluntary control of piloerection. PeerJ, 6, e5292.
- Silvia, P. J., Fayn, K., Nusbaum, E. C., & Beaty, R. E. (2015). Openness to experience and awe in response to nature and music: Personality and profound aesthetic experiences. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 9(4), 376.
- Christensen, J. F., Wesseldijk, L. W., Mosing, M. A., Fayn, K., Schmidt, E. M., Blattmann, M., … & Ullén, F. (2024). The dancer personality: Comparing dancers and non-dancers in Germany and Sweden. Personality and Individual Differences, 222, 112603.
- Fayn, K., MacCann, C., Tiliopoulos, N., & Silvia, P. J. (2015). Aesthetic emotions and aesthetic people: Openness predicts sensitivity to novelty in the experiences of interest and pleasure. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1877.
- MacCann, C., Erbas, Y., Dejonckheere, E., Minbashian, A., Kuppens, P., & Fayn, K. (2020). Emotional intelligence relates to emotions, emotion dynamics, and emotion complexity. European Journal of Psychological Assessment.
- Fayn, K., Silvia, P. J., Erbas, Y., Tiliopoulos, N., & Kuppens, P. (2018). Nuanced aesthetic emotions: Emotion differentiation is related to knowledge of the arts and curiosity. Cognition and Emotion, 32(3), 593–599.
- Fayn, K., Silvia, P. J., MacCann, C., & Tiliopoulos, N. (2017). Interested in different things or in different ways? Journal of Individual Differences.
