Nickola Christine Overall (born 1974) is a New Zealand academic, and is a professor of psychology at the University of Auckland, specialising in relationship, family and couples psychology. She is especially interested in communication strategies to overcome conflict.
Early life and education
Overall was born in Te Kūiti in 1974 and completed a PhD titled Why do people try to change their intimate relationships?: the regulation function of ideal standards at the University of Canterbury, supervised by Garth Fletcher.[1][2]
Academic career
After completing her doctorate, Overall joined the faculty of the University of Auckland, rising to full professor.[2][3][4]
Overall's research focuses on healthy relationships, and how to achieve them, or as she describes it, "I study why relationships screw us up and what we can do about it".[5] This involves researching topics such as emotional regulation, attachment insecurity, attitudes to power, and sexist attitudes.[6][7] She has also studied the effect of lockdowns on family relationships.[8] Overall is especially interested in communication strategies used by couples in relationships to overcome conflict.[6] Overall's research has found that most people in a relationship want to change something about their partner, but few have success in doing so and trying in the wrong way can negatively affect the relationship.[9]
Overall was a principal investigator on a 2017 Marsden grantConflict recovery in families: Why inevitable conflict does not have to be detrimental, in collaboration with Annette Henderson and Elizabeth Peterson.[10][4] Overall has also received research funding from the Auckland Medical Research Foundation and the Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust.[4]
