Peter was born in Zambia and he went to school in South Africa.

He has a first degree in Psychology and Economics from the University of Natal, an Honours degree in Psychology from the University of Cape Town, and a doctorate from the University of Oxford.
 
For many years he was a member of staff at the Department of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, where he taught and did research. His academic interests covered a broad range of topics, including body language, culture, management style, personality and television audiences.
 
He is widely known for his research on TV audiences, where tiny TV cameras were used to record what happens in people’s homes when the TV is switched on. He is also known for his research on body language.

Peter is the author of numerous journal articles and chapters on body language and culture.
 
He is the co-author of Gestures: Their Origins and Distribution and Driving Passion: The Psychology of the Car. He is the author of Foreign Bodies: A Guide to European Mannerisms, which was published in the UK and Japan, and in Germany with a foreword by Sir Peter Ustinov. His latest book, The Book of Tells: How To Read People’s Minds From Their Actions was published in May last year. It is appearing in several languages.
   
Peter has been a consultant and one of the resident psychologists for the UK Channel 4 series, Big Brother, since in began four years ago. This involves analysing the behaviour of the participants and appearing each week on the Monday show.
 
In May he presents Body Talk on Channel 4 – two one-hour programmes based on The Book of Tells . The first programme is about power, the second about love and sex.
 

Published Books
Collett, P. (ed.) Social Rules and Social Behaviour. Oxford: Blackwell, 1976.
Morris, D., Collett, P., Marsh, P. & O’Shaughnessy, M. Gestures: Their Origins and Distribution, London: Cape, 1979.
Marsh, P. & Collett, P. Driving Passion: The Psychology of the Car. London: Cape, 1986.
Collett, P. Foreign Bodies: A Guide to European Mannerisms. London: Simon & Schuster, 1993.
Collett, P. & Furnham, A. (eds) Social Psychology at Work. London: Routledge, 1995.
Collett, P. The Book of Tells: How To Read People’s Minds From Their Actions. London: Doubleday, 2003.